ONE Championship’s Only the Brave card goes down this Friday in Singapore, and while the event has been rocked by several Covid-19-related shake-ups, it still looks like it will be a lot of fun to watch. The card will be topped by the semi-finals of ONE’s star-studded featherweight kick-boxing grand prix, as Thailand’s Sitthichai takes on Georgia’s Davit Kiria, and Azerbaijani-Belarusian talent Chingiz Allazov battles Jo Nattawut, also of Thailand. Beyond those two high-stakes kick-boxing bouts, the line-up is highlighted by appearances from several rising contenders and resurgent veterans. Here are a few storylines to pay attention to when it all goes down this Friday. Kick-boxing grand prix semi-finals From its inception, the ONE featherweight kick-boxing grand prix was loaded with top talent. The semi-finals of that stacked tournament go down in the main and co-main events of ONE: Only the Brave. First up, Allazov will take on Nattawut. Allazov was originally slated to take on Marat Grigorian on the card. Unfortunately, Grigorian was forced off the event because of Covid-19 health and safety protocols, and replaced by the experienced Nattawut, who will look to pull off an upset for the ages on short notice. Then, in the evening’s final fight, Sitthichai will put his vicious striking skill to the test against Georgia’s Davit Kiria. Grigorian out of ONE Championship kick-boxing grand prix semi These are four of the best strikers in the world. Come Saturday morning, they’ll be down to just two. Sometime in the coming months, those two will collide for a crack at the ONE featherweight kick-boxing title, currently held by Thailand’s Superbon, who earned the division’s top prize with a stunning knockout of the great Giorgio Petrosyan in October. In the kick-boxing world, the stakes do not get much higher. A featherweight contender clash ONE Championship’s featherweight MMA division is no less stacked than its featherweight kick-boxing division. The weight class is currently bursting with dangerous fighters, including the champion Thanh Le, and No 2 contender Garry Tonon, who is expected to get the next title shot. At ONE: Only the Brave, two other top featherweights will collide, as China’s Tang Kai and South Korea’s Kim Jae-woong both look to earn a title shot at the other’s expense. Ningbo’s Tang (13-2), ranked No 4 at featherweight, has won five straight since he signed with ONE in 2019. Three of those victories came by knockout. In his most recent appearances, he put down Ryogo Takahashi and Yoon Chang Min, both in the first round. ONE: Aung La staying ready to slide into middleweight title fight The 28-year-old Kim (12-4), meanwhile, has gone 3-1 since joining ONE Championship in 2019. In his most recent appearance, he picked the biggest win of his career, knocking out former featherweight king Martin Nguyen with a volley of first-round punches. That win earned him the No 1 spot in the division’s rankings. An impressive win for either man could easily set up a fight with the Le vs Tonon winner. Zhang Lipeng’s Resurgence When Zhang Lipeng left the UFC after back-to-back decision losses to Chris Wade and Kajan Johnson in 2015, he could have easily faded into obscurity. Instead, the 31-year-old fighter from Inner Mongolia (31-11-2) embarked on a frenetic journey through the Chinese regional MMA scene, racking up 21 victories and just two losses. That stupendous post-UFC run earned Zhang a contract with ONE Championship. He made his debut with the Asian promotion in the main event of ONE: Battleground II in August, defeating two-time former champion Eduard Folayang with a statement-making decision. On the ONE: Only the Brave main card, Zhang will look to make it 2-0 in the promotion against Kyrgyzstan’s Ruslan Emilbek (16-2), who recently entered the lightweight rankings conversation with a decision win over Pieter Buist. If the Chinese fighter wins in impressive fashion, he could find himself cracking ONE’s lightweight top five, which would have been unfathomable after his UFC release back in 2015. Jarred Brooks’ Rise Zhang is not the only UFC veteran who will look to make a splash on the ONE: Only the Brave main card. Earlier in the night, former UFC flyweight Jarred Brooks will also look for his second ONE Championship victory, when he takes on Japan’s Hiroba Minowa at strawweight. Brooks (17-2) made his ONE debut at the NextGen III event in November, defeating the highly-regarded Lito Adiwang by second-round submission. That impressive victory earned Brooks the No 3 spot in the ONE strawweight rankings – and a fight with the No 4-ranked Hiroba, whom he called out after the fight. ONE Championship books Zamboanga-Ham rematch Brooks is already being touted as a future opponent for ONE strawweight king Joshua Pacio. While Yosuke Saruta and Bokang Masunyane are still both ahead of him in the rankings, he could definitely earn the opportunity to fight for the title with an impressive win over Hiroba (13-2). Beating the Japanese fighter, however, will be no cake walk. Minowa has won his last six fights, including a title win in storied Japanese promotion Shooto, and a pair of split decision wins over Adiwang and Alex Silva in ONE.