Bibiano Fernandes vs Kevin Belingon Credit score: ONE Championship
ONE Championship has introduced a trio of thrilling combined martial arts fights for his or her return to Qatar this February.
In a latest press launch, promotion officers revealed that ONE 171: Qatar will embody the fifth combat between bantamweight rivals Bibiano Fernandes (24-6) and Kevin Belingon (20-10). As well as, former ONE double-champ Martin Nguyen (15-7) will tackle Shamil Gasanov (14-1) at featherweight, whereas welterweight Roberto Soldic (20-4, 1NC) returns towards Dagi Arslanaliev (9-2).
The fights be part of two beforehand introduced contests on the Lusail Sports activities Enviornment on February 20, 2025: Jonathan Haggerty vs. Wei Rui, which sees Haggerty put his bantamweight kickboxing championship on the road, and a strawweight MMA title bout between champ Joshua Pacio and Jarred Brooks.
The quintilogy between Fernandes and Belingon is sort of unprecedented in MMA. Fernandes, now 44, was as soon as extremely coveted by the UFC, and in 2012 they introduced he’d agreed to combat with Roland Delorme at UFC 149. Shortly after, Fernandes revealed that whereas he had been in negotiations with the corporate, he had by no means really signed a contract. As a substitute, he inked a take care of ONE Championship, happening to turn into a multi-time bantamweight champion.
Fernandes has not fought since 2022, nevertheless, and is coming off back-to-back losses. In his collection with Kevin Belingon, he’s up 3-1. As for fellow ex-champ Belingon, he has likewise been out of motion since 2022, and sits on a five-fight skid together with two losses to his rival.
Martin Nguyen will likely be returning to motion for the primary time since a loss to Garry Tonon final January. The previous bantamweight and featherweight champ has been buying and selling wins and losses since 2021. Gasanov in the meantime has gained three straight, and has managed to maintain busy, selecting up three victories in ONE Championship in 2024.
Roberto Soldic, who’s 1-1 in a pair of fights with UFC middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis underneath the KSW banner, was a giant free agent signing for ONE a few years again. He’s fought simply twice, nevertheless, together with his promotional debut ending in a No Contest attributable to an unintended groin strike. His subsequent bout noticed him completed by former ONE welterweight champ Zebastian Kadestam.
His opponent at ONE 171, Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (a.ok.a. “Dagi”), has not competed in MMA since a 2021 knockout of Timofey Nastyukhin.
