ONE Championship Heavy Hitters line-up features China’s Meng Bo at new weight class
- Asian martial arts promotion ONE has revealed the line-up for its first event of 2022, slated for January 14
- Long-time atomweight contender Meng Bo will climb up to strawweight on the card, taking on former title challenger Tiffany Teo
China’s Meng Bo will seek out a fresh start on ONE Championship’s first card of 2022.
ONE: Heavy Hitters is slated for January 14, and is likely to take place in Singapore, where the promotion is based and has staged all of its events for the past 14 months amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tentative line-up for the event was posted on the official ONE Championship website on Friday, and it features a number of compelling fights – including Meng’s move to a new weight class.
The 25-year-old Chinese fighter (17-5) has long been a fixture of ONE’s atomweight roster. Yet after missing weight for a January win over Samara Santos, and blowing an early lead to lose a decision to Ritu Phogat in September, she has elected to move up to strawweight.
She will make her debut in the division against Singapore’s Tiffany Teo (9-2), who has twice challenged for the title to no avail.
A win for Meng could well fast track her to a shot at the strawweight title, which will be up for grabs in the ONE: Heavy Hitters main event, when the division’s long-reigning champion, Xiong Jingnan (16-2) of China, will attempt to defend her belt against Japan’s Ayaka Miura (11-3).
ONE Championship gold will also be on the line in the co-main event, as light heavyweight kick-boxing king Roman Kryklia of Ukraine looks to thwart the attack of Turkish challenger Murat Aygun.