One Championship ‘Heavy Hitters’ Preview & Predictions

Keith Shillan is back to give his breakdown and predictions for the first One Championship event of 2022: “Heavy Hitters.”

The card is headlined by "The Panda" Jingnan Xiong vs. Ayaka Miura for the women's flyweight title. Can Miura be the one to stop the long reign of Xiong via her incredible grappling background? If she loses, who could be left for XJN?

Also, 170-pound standouts James Nakashima and Saygid Izagakhmaev will collide. Izagakhmaev is a longtime friend and training partner of Khabib Nurmagomedov, who had this to say about Saygid:

On training with Saygid:

“I grew up with Saygid the last, almost like 15-years. We were training together. He began training with my father when he was very young and I know him very, very well since he was a kid. He was always focused and he was a very hard trainer. We have a little bit similar fighting styles because we’ve trained together a long time. You know, like grappling, wrestling, clinching, how we move. How we use our body, hips on the ground, like we have a lot of similar things but he’s a little bit taller than me and he had a good time boxing, good technique. His elbow, his knee is very good. Of course, we have a similar base but he very little bit different than me.”

On Saygid signing with ONE:

“I know ONE Championship owner Chatri and we have a good relationship with him. My manager Ali and I talked for a long time and I was thinking about ONE Championship because, from my school, we don’t have a fighter there right now and we have good a good opportunity now that he’s signed. That’s why we signed with ONE and we’re very happy.”

On Cornering Saygid at ONE: Heavy Hitters:

“Yes, I’m going to be with him in Singapore. It’s gonna be my first time. I’ve been almost everywhere around the world and Singapore is one of the countries where I wanna go and, of course, inshallah, I’m gonna be there.I have so much knowledge I can share with him. I can give him good energy. I can motivate him and give him good knowledge. I think I can give him good advice. Nakashima is a very good fighter. I watched a couple of his fights. He has good wrestling but I don’t think Nakishima can control him. We have a good plan. We’re going to defend his wrestling and we’re gonna give him some damage and I really believe Saygid can finish him.”

On what’s next for Saygid:

“You know, let’s finish this guy. Saygid has almost 25 professional fights and he is ready for anyone, you know. Let’s finish him and then we can talk what’s next.”

Timestamps:

(00:00) - A quick look back at 2021
(02:29) - Senzo Ikeda vs. Elipitua Siregar
(05:42) - James Nakashima vs. Saygid Izagakhmaev
(10:01) - Jingnan Xiong vs. Ayaka Miura