ONE 159: Reinier De Ridder vs. Vitaly Bigdash title bout tops fight card for Singapore

The middleweight title and women’s atomweight Muay Thai championship will both be on the line when ONE Championship continues its packed 2022 schedule on Friday, July 22.

ONE 159 features a double helping of championship action at Singapore Indoor Stadium, with reigning middleweight champion Reinier De Ridder putting his title on the line against former middleweight king Vitaly Bigdash in the main event.

De Ridder has looked untouchable since he exploded into ONE Championship and charged all the way to the top of the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

Now champion of both weight classes, De Ridder plans to build on his perfect 15-0 record by adding the name of former middleweight champ Bigdash to his list of victims inside the ONE Championship circle.

Bigdash, meanwhile, will look to complete his quest to return to the middleweight summit. The Russian first won the title on his ONE Championship debut back in October 2015, but lost his belt in a rematch to Aung La N Sang two bouts later.

He finally avenged “The Burmese Python” for that loss earlier this year in February to earn his shot at De Ridder, who has dominated the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions after defeating Aung La twice in back-to-back bouts to relieve him of both titles.

Now he’ll face Bigdash in a bout that will continue one of the pair’s remarkable career stories under the ONE Championship banner.

The co-main event will also feature championship action, as atomweight kickboxing champ Janet “JT” Todd takes on Lara Fernandez for the vacant atomweight Muay Thai title.

Also on the card is a crucial clash in ONE’s strawweight division, as No. 2-ranked Bokang Masunyane takes on No. 3-ranked Hiroba Minowa, while lightweight grappling ace Ariel Sexton and former featherweight champion Marat Gafurov go head to head under MMA rules on the preliminary card in a battle of elite MMA grapplers.