What's Next For The Big Winners At ONE: HERO'S ASCENT?

After an exciting night of high-octane action and world-class performances, ONE: HERO’S ASCENT is officially in the books.

Every athlete that took home a hard-earned victory on Friday, 25 January in Manila, Philippines will be rewarded for their efforts. They will move a step up the ladder and open up new opportunities.

The dust has barely settled inside the Mall Of Asia Arena, but the victorious superstars will already have their next assignment in mind as they aim for the top.

Here are the bouts that could be next on their journey.

Adriano Moraes

Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes ended his rivalry with Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio as the victor in their three-bout series. He reclaimed the ONE Flyweight World Title by out-grappling the Team Lakay man over a tough five-round battle.

Reece “Lightning” McLaren was scheduled to challenge the Brazilian for the World Title last year, but Moraes was forced to withdraw due to injury.

McLaren kept on winning – he picked up two victories in 2018 – to maintain his top-contender status.

Moraes and McLaren are two of the best grapplers in the flyweight division. In fact, both are extremely skilled Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts.

With his strong skill set and current form, “Lightning” could be the best man to test “Mikinho” in his third reign, as he waits for the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix to determine a challenger for later in the year.

Danny Kingad

Danny “The King” Kingad put in a sublime performance to overcome Tatsumitsu “The Sweeper” Wada in their flyweight battle in Manila. The Filipino’s well-rounded skill set was impressive, as he attacked his foe on the feet and on the ground.

With this win, the Team Lakay representative has earned a spot in the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix, which will feature the best talent in the weight class.

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu are all booked up for the first quarter-final at ONE: A NEW ERA, but pairing Kingad with former World Champion Kairat “The Kazakh” Akhmetov could be intriguing.

He would provide the right stylistic challenge for “The King,” as an elite wrestler who will attempt to expose any weaknesses in the Baguio City athlete’s ground game. That would be an amazing addition to the highly-anticipated tournament.

Reinier De Ridder

Promotional newcomer Reinier De Ridder extended his perfect record to 10-0 with a first-round submission of Fan Rong in their middleweight clash.

He needed less than two minutes to dispatch the Chinese star with a D’Arce choke.

Former ONE Middleweight World Champion Vitaly Bigdash would be a great test to see if the Dutchman can step up and threaten the division’s upper echelon.

Bigdash has nine finishes among his 10 wins – compared to De Ridder’s 10 in 10 – and his ground skills are of the highest caliber, as he displayed with the reverse triangle he locked on Yuki Niimura in his last bout.

He would push De Ridder in every area, and the numbers tell us it is more than likely that one man would find a win inside the distance.

Lowen Tynanes

Lowen Tynanes dusted off the cobwebs in style, as he took out Honorio Banario with a first-round TKO courtesy of some heavy ground and pound.

No need for musing about his next assignment — it has already been prescribed, and you would struggle to find a more appetizing match-up for Tynanes than the winner of the Eddie Alvarez VS Timofey Nastyukhin bout, which takes place on 31 March in Tokyo, Japan.

Tynanes looked as strong as ever despite a three-year layoff, but whoever he meets in the semi-final will provide a stern test.

Both Alvarez and Nastyukhin have the grappling that could negate Tynanes’ wrestling, which looked as strong as ever, and the striking skills to force a spectacular stand-up battle.

Rodtang Jitmuangnon & Elias Mahmoudi

Rodtang “Iron Man” Jitmuangnon and Elias “The Sniper” Mahmoudi were both in action at ONE: HERO’S ASCENT, and they were both victorious in their flyweight encounters.

Rodtang used his typically relentless pressure to overwhelm Fahdi “The Gladiator” Khaled, and Mahmoudi used a more diverse attack to defeat Yukinori Ogasawara.

The Thai star is one of the shorter athletes in the weight class, but he will plow forward and throw punches no matter who stands in front of him. Mahmoudi is rangy and can land with longer kicks and punches, but he is also effective in the close range with knees and elbows.

Pitting these two contrasting, but complementary, styles against each other would lead to a gripping Muay Thai battle.