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The MMA Daily: Alistair Overeem enquires into ONE’s open-weight Grand Prix

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The MMA Daily: Alistair Overeem enquires into ONE’s open-weight Grand Prix

“You’re going to see big guys and small guys. You’re going to see some really wacky stuff.”

That was ONE Championship’s Chairman/CEO Chatri Sidyodtong at the ONE Fight Night 6 press conference on Wednesday as he announced the promotion’s open-weight Muay Thai Grand Prix. And it looks like he’s not wrong.

The line-up has not yet been made official, but on top of names mentioned by Sidyodtong – that being flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon, featherweight kickboxing champion Superbon Singha Mawynn, Bantamweight Muay Thai contender Jonathan Haggerty, and former title challenger Liam Harrison – is former UFC Heavyweight Alistair Overeem, who has signaled his interest in competing for the $1 million championship purse according to the South China Morning Post.

Overeem, fondly referred to as the ‘Demolition Man’, formerly held both the Dream kickboxing championship, as well as the K-1 World GP title in the heavyweight division. He stands at 6’4″ tall and weighs over 250 pounds, towering over the aforementioned Rodtang, who stands just 5’6″.

‘Wacky stuff’ indeed seems like it’s on the horizon.

The AllStar MMA roundup

  1. Roxanne Modafferi: Judging is difficult, but I think it could be simplified

The best of the rest

  1. Sources: Suspended MMA coach James Krause worked with offshore sportsbook – ESPN.com
  2. Inaugural PFL Europe season schedule announced – MMAJunkie.com
  3. ONE Championship: Stamp Fairtex faces ‘Supergirl’ Jaroonsak in shake-up, as Anissa Meksen denies illness – SCMP.com
  4. Dana White won’t face punishment by UFC, Endeavor for NYE incident – MMAFighting.com
  5. ONE Championship unveils openweight Muay Thai grand prix featuring ‘16 of the world’s best’ and US$1 million prize – SCMP.com

The soapbox

Cyril Gane gets his Nate Diaz on:

And calls his shot:

The only UFC card one would ever need:

Rumors of another French UFC event:

Bantamweight watch:

And Cejudo dissecting Andrew Tate, for a laugh:

The morning view

Featherweight prospect Isaac Dulgarian makes his pick for Makhachev vs Volkanovski:

Dan Hardy breaks down this weekend’s UFC main event:

What is it with Volk and playing with fire:

The worst crowd reactions in MMA’s history:

Done Deals

Friday:

  • Carlston Harris to fight Ramiz Brahimaj at UFC Vegas 69 on February 18th (per Carlston Harris on IG)
  • Veronica Macedo to fight Juliana Miller at UFC 286 on March 18th (per Juliana Miller)
  • Alex Caceres to fight Nate Landwehr at UFC San Antonio on March 25th (per The Breakers on IG)
  • Jordan Wright to fight Zac Pauga at UFC event on February 18th (per Nolan King)

Thursday:

  • Chris Duncan to fight Michal Figlak at UFC 286 on March 18th (per Combat Sports UK)

Wednesday:

  • Gunnar Nelson to fight Daniel Rodriguez at UFC 286 on March 18th (per Daniel Rodriguez IG)

Tuesday:

  • Kelvin Gastelum to be replaced by Sean Strickland opposite Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Vegas 67 (per Brett Okamoto)
  • Da Un Jung to fight Devin Clark at UFC Vegas 69 on February 4th (per Cole Shelton)
  • Lerone Murphey to fight Nathaniel Wood at UFC 286 on March 18th (per UFC)

Monday:

  • Guram Kutateladze to be replaced by Melquizael Costa opposite Thiago Moises at UFC 283 on January 21st (per Guilherme Cruz)
  • Nurullo Aliev to fight Rafael Alves at UFC Vegas 70 on February 25th (per Nolan King)

UFC Roster Watch

Fighters removed this week:

  • Mike Jackson
  • Leah Letson

Fighters Added this week:

  • Nick Aguirre
  • Claudio Ribeiro
  • Mateusz Rebecki
  • Mateus Mendonca
  • Jimmy Flick
  • Francisco Prado
  • Melquizael Costa

Credit to UFC Roster Watch

On this day in MMA…

On the 13th of January, 2018, Loma Lookboonme made and won her debut as a professional mixed martial artist at Invicta 27 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Loma, The former Muay Thai practitioner of over 200 fights, took on Melissa Wang, 1-0, defeating her opponent via unanimous decision across three rounds.

It was the following year, in 2019, that Loma would go on to make her debut in the UFC, becoming the first Thai-born fighter to do so in the process.

Now 26, Loma has amassed a 4-2 record in the promotion (7-3 overall), only dropping decision losses to a higher echelon of competition in the strawweight division. She’s currently set to face Elise Reed at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia on February 14.

Chris Ferguson is a combat sports reporter hailing from the land down under in Australia. He runs short-format interviews with mixed martial arts prospects hailing from the Oceanic region, as well as a weekly newsletter on Substack, breaking down every debuting fighter on each coming weekend’s UFC card. Catch his hot takes on Twitter @CFerg_mma.

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