Last month, ONE Championship announced a pair of Grand Prix tournaments featuring former UFC champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez for both the promotion’s flyweight and lightweight divisions respectively. Last week, ONE Championship announced another Grand Prix tournament, ONE Super Series, which will be under kickboxing rules in the featherweight division. All eight competitors in the tournament has been a champion in their career.
President of ONE Championship, Chatri Sityodtong, made the announcement via Twitter:
I'm thrilled to announce the 2019 ONE Super Series Featherweight World Grand Prix with 8 of the greatest strikers on the planet! In this tournament, every single fight is World Champion vs World Champion. BOOM!!! #WeAreONE pic.twitter.com/QKZtUw7K2j
— Chatri Sityodtong (@yodchatri) December 27, 2018
“I’m thrilled to announce the 2019 ONE Super Series Featherweight World Grand Prix with 8 of the greatest strikers on the planet! In this tournament, every single fight is World Champion vs World Champion. BOOM!!! #WeAreONE”
This announcement brings an end to an eventful end of the year for ONE Championship, which began with the first publicized trade in the history of mixed martial arts when Demetrious Johnson was traded to the organization for former ONE Championship welterweight champion Ben Askren. The promotion would then go on to make two additional major signings: Eddie Alvarez and Sage Northcutt, both of whom have a wide fan base in the United States. The company then made a blockbuster television deal with Turner Sports, which will likely feature the announced Grand Prix tournaments, the latest of which will be a striker’s delight.
The lineup for the kickboxing tournament features:
Andy Souwer (160-21-1), 13-time champion
Yodsanklai Fairtex (201-71-4), 8-time champion
Dzhabar Askerov (107-35-2), 7-time champion
Phetmorakot Petchyindee Academy (157-34-2), 5-time champion
Giorgio Petrosyan (98-2-2), 4-time champion
Samy Sana (103-8-3) 3-time champion
Smokin’ Jo Nattawut (66-6-2), 3-time world champion
Charlie Peters (45-14, Muay Thai), 3-time world champion
Will you be tuning in to watch the ONE Super Series kickboxing tournament?
