This week, ONE FC revealed some more of its plans for the future with news that upcoming events were in the works for Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Hanoi, Taipei, New Delhi and Moscow. With Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta already having hosted shows, this would put the promotion in 12 countries across Asia and beyond.
There will be a minimum of 11 more ONE FC events this year with the next one, which will be headlined by a title bout between Kotetsu Boku and Shinya Aoki, set for April 5th at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and a card in Manila rumored to already be confirmed for May.
Sandwiched in between those two events will be the ONE Asia Summit which is scheduled for May 2nd to May 4th at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, the most expensive casino resort in the world. Representatives from major MMA promotions and gyms across the region will be in attendance including DREAM, ROAD FC, URCC and GLORY.
GLORY now owns DREAM outright after resurrecting the ailing Japanese promotion last year and both organizations are signed up to the ONE FC Network which led to Shinya Aoki, Bibiano Fernandes and Melvin Manhoef's involvement on the New Year's Eve Card with another DREAM event reportedly in the works for May.
ROAD FC 11 was also recently booked for April 13th and will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between the resurgent Ikuhisa Minowa and the reigning champion Eun Soo Lee while URCC Baguio 5 is set for March 2nd and will be headlined by a bout between seasoned American Will Chope and the unbeaten Egly Diaz.
The Asian MMA scene has been buoyant in recent months with promotions exploiting the partnerships they have forged under the ONE FC banner to expand their rosters and allow existing fighters to raise their profiles by competing overseas.
Honorio Banario, Eduard Folayang and Kevin Belingon are among the URCC fighters who have featured for ONE FC while Road FC veterans Bae Young Kwon, Soo Chul Kim and Jung Hwan Cha have all been given opportunities by Asia's biggest MMA organization as have DREAM veterans Tatsuya Kawajiri and Masakatsu Imanari.
There is likely to be even more movement between these various promotions in the aftermath of the 2013 ONE Asia Summit and ONE FC will be on the lookout for prospects from around the network to fill the 11 cards with are set to take place before the end of the year.
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