ONE Championship will return to Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand for a fight card loaded with high-stakes matchups. ONE Fight Night 7: Andrade vs. Lineker II on Prime Video will play host to the organization’s biggest stars and most entertaining athletes.
Airing live in U.S. prime time, the card represents an opportunity for every competitor to make waves in the martial arts world, propelling their careers forward in a big way. With that in mind, these are three underdogs that could pick up career-defining wins at ONE Fight Night 7 this Friday, February 24.
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#1 Jamal Yusupov
Knockout artist Jamal “Yeniceri” Yusupov will venture into enemy territory to battle Thai phenom Tawanchai PK.Saenchai for his ONE Featherweight Muay Thai World Title in the co-main event. Despite his trio of sensational victories inside the Circle, the challenger finds himself as an underdog to the 23-year-old kingpin.
But with his devastatingly powerful left hand and crispy boxing combinations, Yusupov presents a stiff test to Tawanchai in his first World Title defense.
READ MORE – 3 Reasons Why You Wouldn’t Want to Miss ONE Fight Night 7: Lineker vs. Andrade II on 24 February
If he scores the upset win, “Yeniceri” will have not only knocked off one of Muay Thai’s most dangerous young talents but will also take home 26 pounds of gold and etch his name in the history books.
#2 Ayaka Miura
Ayaka “Zombie” Miura will go toe-to-toe with Danielle Kelly in the night’s second and final submission grappling bout, set at the 119-pound mark. The Japanese athlete will aim to pick apart one of the most elite submission grapplers on the planet. And a triumph over the American BJJ sensation would give her more confidence to compete in another discipline other than MMA.
However, getting past Kelly’s constant pressure and bag of submissions will be no easy task. But as fans have witnessed over the years in ONE, Miura can hunt for a finish with the slightest openings.
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#3 Uali Kurzhev
Four-time Sambo World Champion Uali Kurzhev will try to do what no other athlete from the discipline before him has been able to accomplish in ONE’s submission grappling division–defeat a BJJ black belt. In what will be his second appearance in ONE, the Russian squares off with Europe’s top Jiu-Jitsu competitor, Tommy Langaker.
READ MORE – ”I Know How He Fights” – Fabricio Andrade Expects to Dominate John Lineker at ONE Fight Night 7
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A win for Kurzhev would be significant on multiple levels. For one, it would immediately establish him as one of the planet’s top submission grapplers. Perhaps more importantly, an upset would prove to the world that sambo, as a martial art, can compete alongside and even defeat BJJ in a submission grappling context.
Who do you think has the highest chance of achieving an upset? Let us know in the comments below.