4 Pinoys to see action in ONE’s Thailand card

MANILA, Philippines — Storylines are aplenty as four Filipinos — with varying agenda — are set to compete in ONE Championship’s season-ending showpiece in Thailand, Saturday next week.

Female fighters in April Osenio and Rome Trinidad banner the Philippines’ delegation. Two veteran fighters in the promotion in Rabin Catalan and Jimmy Yabo complete the cast in the “Warriors of the World” fight night at the Impact Arena in Bangkok on December 9.

Osenio, who is representing the famed Team Lakay, is on a redemption tour following a loss before the home crowd almost a year ago. Trinidad, on the other hand, will try to start her ONE Championship in a winning note.

The 2-2-0 Osenio will take on Xiong Jingan of China. Meanwhile, Trinidad, who just turned pro earlier this year, is set to face the social-media favorite Rika Ishige of Thailand, who once fell to Filipina Jomary Torres.

Jimmy Yabo of Cebu, who has been all over the promotion, will try to chalk up one more into the win column when he locks horns with Sagetdao Petpayathai. The latter touts an astounding 162-62-1 career in his muay thai career.

The 36-year-old Yabo, who is both a boxing and tae kwon do specialist, is looking to arrest a three-match dry spell.

With a win evading him for the longest time, Iloilo City’s Catalan is hell-bent to take down Kritsada Kongsrichai, also of Thailand. Though it won’t be a walk in a park as his assignment is coming off a swift win over Adrian Matheis March of this year.

The four combatants will try to collect victories on the road in an effort to turn around Philippines’ unproductive campaign in the "Legends of the World” card earlier this month. 

The "Warriors of the World" will be headlined by Yoshitaka Naito's strawweight title defense against Alex Silva and the lightweight title eliminator between Shannon Wiratchai and Rasul Yakhyaev.  — Denison Rey A. Dalupang