FRIDAY 12 | The multi-billion-dollar global sports phenomenon of mixed martial arts arrives tonight with Asia’s grandest MMA event: ONE FC. Titled Rise of the Kingdom, the card includes five Khmer vs Khmer contests, including a female bout, and five international matches. In the main event, Brazilian Adriano Moraes will take on Filipino Geje Eustaquio for the inaugural ONE FC flyweight world championship. In the co-headliner, American Strike Force veteran Caros Fodor faces Dutchman Vincent Latoel. The card also marks the local debut of Cambodian-Australian submission specialist Suasday Chau, who squares off against Frenchman Arnaud ‘The Game’ Lepont in a non-title bout at 155 pounds. The local MMA game is little more than a year old, but the Kingdom boasts a warriors’ history that stretches to the days of Angkor. The eight local fighters on the card represent the Kingdom’s most promising up-and-coming talent, and Rise of the Kingdom seems all but certain to mark a new chapter in Cambodia’s long history of combat.
WHO: Mixed martial arts cage fighters
WHAT: ONE FC: Rise of the Kingdom
WHERE: Koh Pich Theatre, Koh Pich Island
WHEN: 7pm September 12
WHY: Sporting events don’t get much bigger than this