Former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Renato “Babalu” Sobral will face Dutch striker Melvin Manhoef in the ONE FC 3 main event March 31 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
ONE FC announced the match-up during a press conference on Tuesday.
After going 1-1 in 2010 with a decision win over Robbie Lawler and a KO loss to Dan Henderson, Sobral spent 2011 on the sidelines nursing a shoulder injury.
Manhoef has only won two of his last seven MMA bouts, and lost his last three in a row. He has also lost his last three kickboxing bouts, most recently this past weekend, dropping a unanimous decision to Tyrone Spong at It’s Showtime 55 in Amsterdam.
Also announced for the DREAM co-promoted event is a bantamweight match-up between 24-year-old undefeated Filipino Kevin Belingon and Japanese submission specialist Masakazu Imanari.
In related news, it was also announced during the press conference that ONE FC has signed a new 10 year partnership with ESPN STAR Sports, Asia’s biggest sports content provider.
ONE FC CEO Victor Cui commented:
“Asia has been the birthplace and home to martial arts for the last 5,000 years and ONE Fighting Championship has a vision of bringing mixed martial arts to the 3.9 billion people living in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports, Asia’s biggest provider of sports content, is a wonderful partner to help with that mission.”
Stay tuned as more ONE FC 3 fights will be announced in the near future.
NOTE: ProMMAnow.com’s Jack Bratcher also contributed to this article.
I think he could work his way into the top of the class. Not saying he will be champ, but he will contend. He is a beast.
Apparently Dana White has said he’d be welcome, but he’s making more money with Affliction and Strikeforce than he was in the UFC so it’s unlikely that he will.