ONE: ONLY THE BRAVE Athlete Interviews

Singapore: ONE Championship™ (ONE) athletes competing this Friday at ONE: ONLY THE BRAVE answered questions in a series of interviews ahead of their highly anticipated matchups. Check out the full interviews down below.

ONE: ONLY THE BRAVE broadcasts live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, 28 January. Featuring a stacked card filled with explosive striking action.

Headlining the blockbuster show are four of the very best strikers on the planet, as both semifinals of the ONE Featherweight Kickboxing World Grand Prix take place on the same night. Thai superstar and tournament favorite Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong fights the dark horse Davit Kiria, while the explosive Smokin’ Jo Nattawut takes on #4-ranked Chingiz Allazov.

Plus, #1 featherweight contender Kim Jae Woong returns to action against the #4-ranked Tang Kai. The South Korean wants to silence the outspoken Tang as a warmup for his eventual World Title shot, but the Chinese warrior promises to steal Kim’s top spot with a crushing knockout.

BEST QUOTES

Smokin’ Jo Nattawut: “Every fighter is different, everyone is different. The opponent changes at the last minute—you’ve got to deal with it—especially now. It’s not just a [regular] training camp, you have to deal with training camp and not get COVID too. We all have to deal with it. It is what it is.”

Chingiz Allazov: “It means a lot to me. For the past decade ONE Championship hasn’t been doing [a Grand Prix in my division]. This is the first time and it means a lot to me. They’re the best fighters in the world. When you fight against the best in the world, you prove that you are the best in the world.”

Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong: “Firstly, it’s a huge honor for me to participate in this tournament. I consider this one of the biggest Grand Prix’s I’ve ever fought in in my life. [After] winning this I’ll go to fight Superbon for the ONE Championship belt.”

Davit Kiria: “I have to do something new and unexpected, give him some surprises if I want to win this fight. I have to do something special. I’ll do my best for [that] to show up in the cage and to prove that I’m one of the best.”

Kim Jae Woong: “Tang Kai, you know what? I really want you to try [to make me suffer]. Who have you ever beat? I really want to ask you, I’ll give you a chance right now, tell me one name that you beat who was legit. And who was ranked or really good. Give me one name.”

“You’re definitely scared. You’re so scared. You’re saying my win [over Martin Nguyen] is luck? And your wins are all skill? Come on, man. You know you’re scared. And I know, deep inside you, you know that I’m better than you. And you know I have more tools, I have more weapons, and I’m just better than you all over. You know it deep inside you that I’m better.”

Tang Kai: “I think Kim got one thing right, this is definitely going to be Fight of the Night, no doubt about that. But I think he shouldn’t believe that the fight will go the distance, it will never go the distance. It will end in a knockout, for sure.”

“I’m going to make you suffer, man. Friday night, that’s what’s going to happen.”

“You know I’ve knocked out all my opponents, I don’t remember them. I don’t even remember their names. And when I knock you out on Friday night, I won’t remember you either.”

Jarred Brooks: “I think Hiroba is a very tough test for me, he has a lot of good qualities about him. A little bit Jarred Brooks-esque, he reminds me of a younger me. He has a lot of really good tests that have been put in front of him and he’s done well with those tests. I’m looking forward to, on Friday, seeing how he feels. And I want to be surprised, I don’t want to feel weakness, I want to feel like he’s strong, like I have a true test in front of me. So, Hiroba, I’m glad that I get to fight you.”

Hiroba Minowa: “Jarred, thanks for observing my past fights and everything. But the thing is, as you see, I’m really young. That means I’m evolving really fast. So even though you’ve observed me, I’ll be showing you a lot of tricks that you’ve never seen, something you’ve never imagined. I look forward to it.”

Tatsumitsu Wada: “Wang was talking about finishing me with his striking, but I’m an MMA fighter. I’ll just show my MMA, and I’ll finish him.”

Wang Shuo: “My opponent Tatsumitsu is a very experienced opponent, I respect him a lot. He’s more of a grappler, I plan to finish this fight while we’re striking.”

“First, I want to get into the top five before the end of this year. Then, my biggest dream for my career, I would like to have a chance to fight Demetrious Johnson. That’s my dream.”

Zhang Lipeng: “I feel 100% confident coming into this fight and I have been preparing for this fight for a very long time. This fight will go the same way as my last one, which is a win for me.”

“I’ve watched [Ruslan’s last] fight. He’s a very aggressive fighter and I’m very impressed with his grappling and ground-and-pound. Although, I think his striking isn’t very good. But his style is good and I think he’s a great fighter out of the Eagles MMA team. Everybody in the lightweight division should be worried about this guy.”