Demetrious Johnson And Eddie Alvarez Will Make Their Highly Anticipated Debut With One Championship In Japan On March 31
After signing with Singapore-based combat promotion, ONE Championship both former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson are set for their debut fight which takes place inside the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on March 31.
ONE Championship announced earlier this week that both former UFC contenders “The Underground King” and “Mighty Mouse.” will make their highly anticipated debut on promotions first ever fight event in Japan. (h/t ESPN)
LOS ANGELES — Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez will make their One Championship debuts at the mixed martial arts promotion’s first show in Japan on March 31. One Championship on Wednesday revealed several bout matchups to The Associated Press for its landmark event in Tokyo. The show at the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena will feature Atomweight champion Angela Lee’s move up to challenge One strawweight champion Xiong Jing Nan. Middleweight champion Aung La N Sang and lightweight champ Eduard Folayang also will defend their belts against Japanese challengers. Johnson and Alvarez are two former UFC champions who moved to the Singapore-based One Championship earlier this year.
First battle in 🇯🇵 😊👊🏾 pic.twitter.com/ttVC5QL23l
— Demetrious Johnson (@MightyMouse) December 20, 2018
Demetrious Johnson’s thirteen fight win streak snapped at UFC 227 when he lost his flyweight title to Henry Cejudo back in August, is widely considered as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters of all time. In ONE Championship debut ‘Mighty Mouse’ (27-3-1) is going to face Yuya Wakamatsu that’ll be Johnson’s first non-title fight in six years.
Meanwhile, former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez who signed with ONE Champion back in October and is going to face Russian contender Timofey Nastyukhin in his debut match. Alvarez holds a professional record of 29-6 (1 NC) and holds wins over the likes of Shinya Aoki, Rafael Dos Anjos, Michael Chandler, Anthony Pettis, Justin Gaethje and Gilbert Melendez. Most recently, ‘The Underground King’ suffered a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in their rematch in July at UFC on FOX 30 event.
Three title fights also included in this card, as ONE ‘Atomweight’ champion Angela Lee move up in the weight class to meet ONE strawweight champion Xiong Jing Nan. Eduard Folayang will look to defend his lightweight title against Shinya Aoki, as well Aung La N Sang will also look to defend his middleweight title against Ken Hasegawa.
