“Sexyama” is back.
ONE Championship officials today announced that Yoshihiro Akiyama (14-6) will return from more than three years away from competition to face Agilan Thani (8-3) in the featured MMA contest at next month’s “ONE Championship 97: Legendary Quest,” which takes place June 15 at Baoshan Arena in Shanghai.
As with all ONE Championship events, the event’s main card streams in the U.S. on B/R Live following prelims on ONE Championship’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. The night’s main event is a women’s atomweight muay Thai world title fight between reigning champion Stamp Fairtex against Australian challenger Alma Juniku.
The 43-year-old Akiyama last saw MMA action in November 2015. suffering a split-decision loss to Alberto Mina at UFC Fight Night 79 in South Korea. That result ended a seven-fight run under the UFC banner for Akiyama, who also previously fought for DREAM and K-1 Hero’s following his time as a high-level competitive judoka.
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Thani looks to snap a disappointing two-fight losing streak after suffering stoppage defeats at the hands of Kiamrian Abbasov and Zabaztian Kadestam. Prior to the setbacks, Thani had opened his career with seven wins in his first eight appearances.
Additional MMA contests announced for the card include middleweights Reinier de Ridder (10-0) vs. Gilberto Galvao (31-6-1), featherweights Koyomi Matsushima (10-3) vs. Won Il Kwon (7-1), middleweights Sherif Mohamed (9-4) vs. Fan Rong (12-2), featherweights Anthony Engelen (8-6) vs. Chen Lei (5-1), featherweights Victorio Senduk (3-2) vs. Phoe Thaw (7-1), Chang Min Yoon (1-1) vs. Trestle Tan (4-8) and Itsuki Hirata (3-0) vs. Angelie Sabanal (1-1).
ONE Championship 97’s MMA bouts include:
- Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Agilan Thani
- Reinier de Ridder vs. Gilberto Galvao
- Koyomi Matsushima vs. Won Il Kwon
- Sherif Mohamed vs. Fan Rong
- Anthony Engelen vs. Chen Lei
- Victorio Senduk vs. Phoe Thaw
- Chang Min Yoon vs. Trestle Tan
- Itsuki Hirata vs. Angelie Sabanal
For more on ONE Championship 97, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.
