We are just seven weeks away from “ONE FC: Pride of a Nation”. Last week was a pretty interesting week for the event with reports that former UFC veterans Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver had signed with the promotion and will appear on the card.
Both fighters are huge names and will be big draws for the event which is expected to be the biggest MMA event in the Philippines ever.
Pulver vs. Kelly
Jens Pulver will be facing Asia’s very own Eric “The Natural” Kelly and Andrei Arlovski will go one on one with Australian mixed martial artist Soa Palelei.
Pulver (26-16-1) is a pioneer in the lighter weight categories of MMA. He has faced the best of the best including BJ Penn, Caol Uno and Urijah Faber, just to name a few. He is 4-2 in his past six fights.
Eric Kelly is undoubtedly one of the best MMA fighters to ever come out of the Philippines. We last saw Kelly at “ONE FC: Destiny of Warriors” only last month where he defeated top Korean featherweight Bae Young Kwon via decision. Kelly is still undefeated with a perfect 7-0 record.
Expect this to be a very technical and fast paced match. A win for Kelly would be huge as Pulver is definitely his biggest challenge to date and a win for Pulver would be the perfect way for him to put his name on the Asian MMA map.
Arlovski vs. Palelei
Over in the heavyweight division, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski (17-9) will be facing Australian powerhouse Soa Palelei (17-3). Much like Pulver, Arlovski has faced the best fighters in the world and has competed on the biggest stages.
Arlovski fights out of Jackson’s MMA and has seen a new found rejuvenation in his career since being part of that team. He enters this fight having put together back-to-back wins, but will have a big task at hand as Palelei is riding a seven fight win streak, with all wins coming via KO or TKO.
“ONE FC: Pride of the Nation” will be taking place on the 31st of August at the legendary Araneta Coliseum. The 16,500 seat arena is expected to be completely sold out making this ONE FC’s biggest event thus far. Besides the names above, expect to see Shinya Aoki, Bibiano Fernandes, five URCC Champions, Phil Baroni and three Gracies competing on the card as well.