On April 28, ONE Championship completes its quartet of April events on TNT, with championship gold on the line, and several high-profile rematches and returns. The card will be headlined by a surprise last-minute booking. As reigning light heavyweight champion, Aung La Nsang will now defend his title against current middleweight champion Reinier De Ridder. The same man who took that title from him and ended his run as a two-division champion in October. The Dutch fighter is stepping in on less than a week’s notice for former middleweight champ Vitaly Bigdash. After the Russian tested positive for COVID-19 late last week.
How to watch ONE on TNT IV on April 28
- ONE on TNT IV’s lead card starts at 8:30 pm ET, and can be streamed on B/R Live, B/R app, and Bleacher Report.
- Main card action kicks off at 10m pm ET, and can be viewed on TNT, or streamed on the Watch TNT app
ONE on TNT IV fight card
Main card (10 pm ET, TNT & TNT app)
Aung La Nsang vs. Reinier De Ridder (light heavyweight title)
Oumar Kane vs. Kirill Grishenko
Lead card (8:30 pm ET, B/R Live & B/R app)
Eduard Folayang vs. Shinya Aoki
Jackie Buntan vs. Ekaterina Vandaryeva (Muay Thai)
ONE on TNT IV: Fights worth your time
Aung La Nsang vs. Reinier De Ridder
Late last week, the news broke that light heavyweight contender Vitaly Bigdash was popped for coronavirus and out of his planned trilogy headliner with division king Aung La Nsang. Despite the tough luck, ONE Championship was able to pull a rabbit out of their hat, and somehow got middleweight champion Reinier De Ridder into Singapore, quarantined, and ready for a championship fight. It’s an impromptu rematch that is more meaningful the originally scheduled bout. That’s because six months ago, De Ridder took that new title away from Nsang, handed him his first loss in over three years, and first submission defeat in eight. The unbeaten 30-year-old now has a chance to completely erase “The Burmese Python” from the champions page on ONEFC.com and become a two-division champion in six-months time. For Nsang, a man that has been one of the faces of the promotion for the last five years, it is a pivotal moment to draw a line in the sand, and declare his reign as a top star in ONE Championship is far from over. All while his homeland Myanmar is in the midst of a military coup. The champ has a lot of weight on his shoulders heading into this matchup.
Predicition: Nsang by TKO, round 2
Eddie Alvarez vs. Ok Rae Yoon
This booking is one of the more unexpected, yet fascinating matchups of the week. Three weeks ago, at ONE on TNT I Eddie Alvarez lost by disqualification to Iuri Lapicus in a controversial fight that saw the American get handed a rare red card. Since then, there were flirtations with boxing promotion Triller, he was shockingly rebooked for this event against an opponent to be determined, and his loss has since been overturned to a no-contest. It’s been a wild few weeks for the former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king. The last few weeks have been equally odd for Korean talent Ok Rae Yoon. He was paired up with featherweight champion Marat Gafurov at ONE on TNT III, which was pre-recorded two weeks before. Then as the world waited to see his victory, he secretly knew a fight with an MMA great was waiting in the wings for him at the end of the month. The booking is a win-win scenario for the Busan native. For Alvarez, he is in a relevancy must-win, or fall to 1-2-1 in his ONE Championship stint.
Prediction: Alvarez by unanimous decision
Eduard Folayang vs. Shinya Aoki
Eduard Folayang versus Shinya Aoki is another last minute change that also may be more meaningful than the original plans. Japanese MMA legend Aoki was first set to face UFC import Sage Northcutt. That fight fell through. Folayang was in negotiations to face another UFC veteran in Yoshihiro Akiyama. That too could not get over the finish line. Now, fans get a trilogy bout between two former ONE Championship lightweight titleholders. In a bout featuring two 37-year-olds looking to decide who was the greatest lightweight of the promotions first decade of existence. In addition, “Landslide” has added pressure by trying to score just his second win in his last six-fights.
Prediction: Folayang by split-decision
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