ONE 166: Qatar is set to make a massive debut for ONE Championship in the region on Friday, March 1. However, the card has seen a bit of a shakeup just a couple of weeks out from the event.
The upcoming title defenses for ONE Atomweight MMA World Champion Stamp Fairtex and ONE Welterweight Submission Grappling World Champion Tye Ruotolo have been postponed.
Stamp will still defend the title against Denice Zamboanga, but the bout has been pushed back to June. The decision was made so the athletes could participate in an upcoming docuseries production.
Ruotolo’s title defense against Izaak Michell will now happen in April.
But the card does not suffer a loss of bouts as two striking bouts take their place with local talent.
Zakaria El Jamari battles Ali Saldoev in a flyweight Muay Thai affair. The bout will mark the debuts for each athlete in ONE and give them a massive platform to make a statement right out of the gate.
Vladimir Kuzmin will have a new opponent for his Muay Thai contested at ONE 166. Nong-O Hama will no longer compete, and in his place will be Turkey’s Zafer Sayik. The match will be contested at 147.75 pounds.
The evening will still be headlined by three incredible World Championship matches, all featuring rematches between global martial arts superstars.
ONE Middleweight MMA World Champion Reinier De Ridder defends against ONE Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight MMA World Champion Anatoly Malykhin, Tang Kai and Thanh Le run it back to unify the ONE Featherweight MMA World Championship, and ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Jarred Brooks defends against Joshua Pacio.
ONE 166 airs live on Friday, March 1, beginning at 7:30 a.m. EST/4:30 a.m. PST.