2 Incredible Bouts Added To Blockbuster Card In Jakarta

ONE Championship’s return to Jakarta, Indonesia, has just got even bigger and better.

Two high-stakes bouts have been added to the ONE: CONQUEST OF HEROES bill to complete a fantastic bout card at the Jakarta Convention Center on 22 September.

On the main card, Marat “Cobra” Gafurov (16-1) returns to action. The former ONE Featherweight World Champion will take on Koyomi Matsushima (9-3).

The 25-year-old Matsushima from Japan is one of his country’s very best featherweight martial artists, but he will have a tough test for his ONE debut.

After all, Gafurov has only been defeated once in his mixed martial arts career – when he lost his belt to Martin Nguyen – and is coming off a dominant performance.

Despite coming up against formidable foe in Emilio “The Honey Badger” Urrutia, “Cobra” won in style with a first-round arm triangle choke.

That bout is joined by another mouth-watering match-up, as Timofey Nastyukhin (12-3) takes on Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (5-1) in a pivotal lightweight encounter.

The only thing that has stopped Russia’s Nastyukhin in the last two years was a freak accident against Kotetsu “No Face” Boku.

Now that he’s back at full health, the 28-year-old has been in frightening form – battling hard against Koji “The Commander” Ando and Amir Khan to earn unanimous decision victories.

Arslanaliev is not as experienced as his rival, but he has shown his world-class credentials in his first five bouts in ONE.

The 23-year-old from Turkey began his tenure with three first-round finishes, and in his most recent performance, broke down the defense of Tetsuya “MMA Fantasista” Yamada over 13 minutes – finally coaxing the tap with an armbar on the Japanese veteran.

This contest between exciting martial artists with a penchant for spectacular stoppages could be a show-stealer next month.