ONE Championship: Aung La N Sang getting ‘ready for war’ after signing contract for next fight
- N Sang is a former two-division champion in ONE, but has won only once in his last four fights in the Circle
- Burmese-American says contract for pivotal next bout is signed, with Japan’s Yushin Okami among the possible opponents
Aung La N Sang has signed the contract for his next fight in ONE Championship.
The 37-year-old Burmese-American, who previously held the Singapore-based promotion’s middleweight and light heavyweight titles, teased an imminent match-up announcement on Instagram this week, but did not specify a date or opponent.
“Contract signed,” he wrote. “I know my team [Kill Cliff FC] will get me ready for war.”
“He has the body type that gives me trouble: A longer, rangier grappler,” N Sang told the Post earlier this year. “That would be a fun fight.
“I’m down. It’s up to [ONE].”
Okami has reciprocated N Sang’s interest on several occasions, even proclaiming the fight could crown the sport’s top Asian middleweight.
“Let’s fight,” he wrote on Instagram earlier this year, calling out N Sang. “Let’s decide who is Asia’s No 1 in the middleweight division.”
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While it would not be surprising to see Okami matched up with N Sang, that is not the only possibility.
Despite a recent rough patch, the former two-division champion is still among ONE’s biggest stars, and would be a worthy adversary for anybody from Chinese contender Fan Rong, to Japanese fan-favourite Yoshihiro “Sexyama” Akiyama, to new signee Roberto Soldic.
“He already has a lot of accolades to his name,” N Sang told ONE’s official website, speaking about the Croatian Soldic, who joined the promotion after a two-division title reign in Poland’s KSW organisation.
“He’s not a new talent. He’s been around the block. And he’s been competing at a high level.”
N Sang (27-13) was last in the Circle at ONE: Full Circle in February, when he lost to Vitaly Bigdash by unanimous decision, finishing 1-2 in an exciting three-fight series with the Russian.
Before that, the Burmese-American posted a vintage performance, shutting the lights out on Brazilian contender Leandro Ataides in the first round.
That victory was preceded by a pair of losses to Reinier de Ridder, which ended his title reigns at middleweight and light heavyweight.
