Japanse Veteran MMA Fighter Mei Yamaguchi Will be Fasing Filipina Standout Gina Iniong at ONE: Immortal Pursuit

The largest sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE), has just announced an additional bout for ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT, which will be held live at the state-of-the-art Singapore Indoor Stadium on 24 November. Fans will be treated to another exciting evening of authentic martial arts action as a three-round atomweight bout has been added to the blockbuster event, pitting Japanese martial arts veteran Mei “V.V” Yamaguchi against Filipino top contender Gina “Conviction” Iniong.

Mei Yamaguchi, ONE Athlete, stated: “I commend Gina Iniong for taking this match on a short notice. She is a good martial arts artist with promising potential in the division. Gina is in good hands, training with no less than the best at Team Lakay. I have faced her before, and she is always in good condition. As always, I am in tiptop shape for every bout. Brace yourselves for fireworks.”

Gina Iniong, ONE Athlete, stated: “Facing Mei Yamaguchi three years ago was like going through the eye of a needle. That bout opened doors of great opportunity for me in this sport. I am expecting a tough duel with her again on 24 November in Singapore. I have lofty goals in ONE Championship, and I must win this match to achieve them.”

34-year old Japanese martial arts veteran Mei “V.V” Yamaguchi is a female atomweight standout and a former ONE world title challenger from Tokyo. She is the DEEP Jewels Featherweight Champion, and owns seven submissions and two knockouts in her 27-bout professional career. In 2016, Yamaguchi challenged Angela Lee for the inaugural ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship in an epic showdown that would later win multiple ‘Bout of the Year’ honors from international media publications. In her last bout, Yamaguchi submitted top contender Jenny Huang impressively within two rounds. Another tough opponent awaits her at ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT as she is set to square off with Gina Iniong of the Philippines.

Top Filipino women’s martial arts contender Gina “Conviction” Iniong of Baguio City, Philippines, is a six-time national wushu champion and member of the renowned Team Lakay. She owns a professional record of 6-2, with four of her six victories coming by thrilling finish, including two highlight-reel submissions and two knockouts. In front of a hometown crowd last 10 November at ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD, Iniong extended her winning streak inside the ONE Championship cage to two matches with an outstanding second-round finish of Indonesia’s Priscilla Hertati Lumbangaol. Iniong has the opportunity to elevate her stature in the organization’s growing atomweight talent pool as she is tasked to duke it out with Japan’s Mei Yamaguchi.

ONE: IMMORTAL PURSUIT will feature the best and brightest stars in both local and international martial arts scenes, including ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben “Funky” Askren who will defend his title against former ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki in the main event. Meanwhile, Singaporean lightweight standout Amir Khan will take on hard-hitting Australian, Adrian “The Hunter” Pang, in the card’s co-headliner.

For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

About ONE Championship™

ONE Championship is the largest sports media property in Asian history. Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Championship is the home of martial arts. The world’s most exciting martial arts organization hosts the largest sports entertainment events across Asia, featuring some of the world's best martial artists and world champions, all signed to exclusive contracts, on the largest media broadcast in Asia. In addition to its digital platforms, ONE Championship broadcasts to over 1 billion potential viewers across 128+ countries around the world with some of the largest global broadcasters, including Fox Sports, ABS-CBN, Astro, ClaroSports, Bandsports, Startimes, Premier Sports, Thairath TV, Skynet, Mediacorp, OSN, and more.

BIC encourages Filipino children to go #BICToSchool for a Brighter Future

BIC Product (Asia) Pte Ltd, in cooperation with its distributor partner in Philippines - Filstar Distributors Corporation, is set to kick off their biggest social campaign in Asia, #BICBrightFutures.  As Champions of Education, BIC® believes that a bright future is for everyone.  As such, BIC® will be giving half a million of Stationery products - the biggest donation in Asia to date - to Children’s Hour, Yellow Boat of Hope and Kariton Klasrum to help kids as they pursue their dreams.

The campaign will be culminated in a one-day event at KidZania Manila on October 26th. An estimated 200 children from Children’s Hour and Kariton Klasrum are expected to participate at the event.   

For one day, the children are encouraged to have fun while exploring the adult world by immersing themselves in over 100 role-play activities in the play city. Using BIC® pens, they will also plot out their goals and dreams in a special BIC® Bright Futures workbook.

Efren Peñaflorida, an education advocate, teacher, and social worker, will be at the event to talk to the kids about the importance of going back to school and how it will help them build a brighter future. Peñaflorida is also the founder of Kariton Klasrum.

“Our main focus, since Kariton Klasrum’s inception, has always been about bringing education to less-fortunate children. Through this event, we will be able to show them that a bright future is possible for them as long as they plan for it and persevere to achieve it,” said Efren Peñaflorida, founder of Kariton Klasrum.

“Many children are in great need of encouragement from the adults in their lives in order to push themselves to work hard for a better future. We are happy that our kids will walk away with a sneak peek at what their own futures can hold, as well as a new hope,” said Net Garcia, Children’s Hour Executive Director.

“We have always believed that bright futures are written by hand. As adults, many of us have become what we are today because we put pen to paper and wrote down our ambitions. That act of writing down our aspirations makes the dream seem real. Today, we want to inspire less-fortunate children to dream and work for their futures, because after all, everyone deserves a bright future.” said Frederic Dumon, BIC Asia Deputy General Manager.

BIC® feels strongly about giving back to communities where the Group is present in the form of product or financial donations and volunteering.  As part of its strong societal

commitment, the BIC® Corporate Foundation for Education was launched in 2016 focusing on fighting for universal access of education as a basic human right.  Through this foundation, BIC® is engaged in the fight against school drop-outs, access to education for girls and women and environmental education.  In the same year, the global company has made 112 donations to promote education giving more than 6 million pens to children in need.

BIC is a family-owned company listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and a world leader in stationery, lighters and shavers.  For more than 60 years, BIC has honored the tradition of providing high-quality, simple, inventive and reliable choices for everyone, everywhere, every time.  A world leader in the consumer goods, 30.9 million BIC® products are purchased every day worldwide (18.9 million Stationery products, 4.2 million Lighters, 7.1 million shavers and 0.7 million promotional products).

Filstar Distributors Corporation prides itself as having been the exclusive licensee of Hallmark in the Philippines since 1974 and the exclusive distributor of BIC® Stationery products since 2001. Since then, Filstar has evolved to be a distributor of not just these two distinguished brands but of other world class brands that supplement and enhance the self-expression industry.  In 2013, Filstar expanded its partnership with BIC® to cover BIC® Lighters and Shavers categories.

Find more about BIC® from the following online references.

Website: https://www.bicworld.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bicstationeryphilippines

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BicGroup

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/bicbrand

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bic_group/

*This is Press Release

Martin Nguyen Scores 2nd Round Knockout to Capture Lightweight Crown from Eduard Folayang

The largest sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE), had another memorable and historic evening in Manila as the capacity crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena witnessed an amazing display of heart-pounding martial arts action. ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD featured a series of compelling bouts, punctuated by two unforgettable championship clashes that left fans on the edge of their seats. In the main event, ONE Featherweight World Champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen knocked out Filipino martial arts superstar Eduard “Landslide” Folayang to capture the ONE Lightweight World Championship, becoming the first two-division champion in the promotion’s history. In the co-main event, Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes of Brazil retained the ONE Flyweight World Championship with a quick victory over Danny “The King” Kingad of the Philippines.

Visit the official ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD photo gallery by clicking: http://bit.ly/onephotos

In the main event of ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD, Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen wrote his name in history books as the first man to hold two world titles simultaneously in ONE Championship by knocking out Eduard “Landslide” Folayang. After plastering each other with hard strikes in the first round, both men picked up where they left off in the second stanza, when Folayang and Nguyen continued to trade heavy blows at the center of the cage. When Folayang launched his patented spinning backfist, Nguyen saw an opportunity to turn the lights off on his Filipino foe by uncorking explosive signature right hand. With his remarkable conquest of Folayang, Nguyen now has both the ONE Featherweight World Championship and ONE Lightweight World Championship titles in his possession.

Martin Nguyen, newly-minted ONE Lightweight World Champion, stated: “This is a special place for me. Last year, I came in and won Fight of the Night, right now it's possibly the Knockout of the Night. I think coming into the fight my main objective was a TKO or a submission. Eduard, I still love you like a brother, I hope you're fine and I hope you come back stronger. I'm still your number one fan."

In the co-main event of the evening, Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes remained the undisputed king of ONE Championship’s flyweight bracket, denying Danny Kingad’s bid to become a world champion by submitting the Filipino talent with a rear-naked choke in the first round. Moraes put on a masterful performance, pacifying Kingad’s striking advantage in the early going as the Brazilian grappling expert utilized his high-level ground game. On the mat, Moraes executed a forceful transition into a rear-naked choke that left Kingad no choice but to submit in the final seconds of the round to retain his ONE Flyweight World Championship.

Adriano Moraes, ONE Flyweight World Champion, stated: ”This night was amazing for me. It was a tough fight against Danny Kingad. He has a big future ahead of him, but now it's my time. This is my house, this is my belt, and this is my class.”

Filipino knockout artist Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon captured another sensational victory in front of a jubilant hometown crowd by routing South Korean-American dynamo Kevin “Oldboy” Chung, solidifying his position as a top contender in the stacked bantamweight division. Belingon effortlessly dictated the pace in the stand-up, where his opponent was at a stylistic disadvantage. The Baguio City native frequently caught Chung with crushing right crosses and lashing kicks to the body from bell to bell. Chung tried to change the complexion of the match by resorting to his superb grappling skills, but Belingon’s defense against submission attempts was enough to steer him to a unanimous decision triumph.

Previously unbeaten Japanese prospect Hayato Suzuki bowed down for the very first time in his professional career as he yielded to Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion black belt Alex “Little Rock” Silva. Both combatants started out aggressively, but it was SIlva who showed a more capable set of grappling skills. Silva spun a web of crafty grappling to overwhelm Suzuki as the Brazilian was able to get the submission finish in the first round, making Suzuki tap from an armbar.

Former world title contender Reece “Lighting” McLaren found a new home at flyweight as he pulled off a successful submission victory by defeating flyweight mainstay Anatpong Bunrad. Debuting effortlessly in his new weight class, McLaren showcased his fluid grappling skills and solid striking. With a mere eight seconds remaining in the very first round, McLaren caught Bunrad in an anaconda choke and transitioned into a D’arce choke to force the tap.

Chinese martial arts superstar “The Ghost” Zhao Zhi Kang made an astounding statement in his first assignment as a ONE Championship competitor, submitting Cambodian standout Thai Rithy in the first round. With a game plan to take matters to the ground, Zhao got the job done by fastening a rear-naked choke to force the tap from Rithy.

Team Lakay’s highly-touted atomweight prospect Gina “The Conviction” Iniong extended her winning streak inside the ONE Championship cage with an outstanding second-round finish of Indonesia’s Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol. With a diverse striking arsenal, Iniong unloaded her signature right hand on multiple occasions, finding the mark. In the second frame, Iniong found an opening to take Gaol down to the mat. Applying a crucifix, Iniong delivered a flurry of ground punches to force the referee to step in and call a halt to the contest.

In a battle of former world title challengers, Joshua “The Passion” Pacio emerged victorious against veteran martial artist Roy “The Dominator” Doliguez by notching a highlight-reel knockout in the second round. The young Team Lakay standout exhibited stellar form from the get-go, wearing down his fellow Filipino opponent with impeccable grappling and heavy high kicks. Hungry to place himself back on the winning track, Pacio put the finishing touches in the second frame, where he unleashed a well-timed spinning back-fist that sent Doliguez crashing down to the canvas.

After an impressive promotional debut in Shanghai, China last September, Xie Chao made his trip to Manila a memorable one by picking up his second-straight win in ONE Championship at the expense of Malaysia’s Kelvin Ong. Xie easily staggered Ong with a hard knee, giving him the leverage to convert a takedown. Employing sturdy top control, Xie drilled Ong with crisp elbows to get the stoppage in the opening stanza of the featherweight showdown.

A three-round strawweight encounter set a promising tone for the entire evening of ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD as Peng Xue Wen collided with Phat Soda in the curtain-raiser for the event. Peng, a National Youth Greco Wrestling Champion, left a lasting impression in his maiden trip to the ONE Championship cage by scoring a knockout victory over Soda with a high-impact slam in the first round.

Official Results for ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD

ONE Lightweight World Championship bout: Martin Nguyen defeats Eduard Folayang by Knockout (KO) at 2:20 minutes of round 2

ONE Flyweight World Championship bout: Adriano Moraes defeats Danny Kingad by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:45 minutes of round 1

Bantamweight bout: Kevin Belingon defeats Kevin Chung by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 3 rounds

Strawweight bout: Alex Silva defeats Hayato Suzuki by Submission (Armbar) at 1:22 minutes of round 1

Flyweight bout: Reece McLaren defeats Anatpong Bunrad by Submission (D’arce Choke) at 4:52 minutes of round 1

Featherweight bout: Zhao Zhi Kang defeats Thai Rithy by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)  at 2:31 minutes of round 1

Women’s atomweight bout: Gina Iniong defeats Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol by TKO (Strikes) at 2:12 minutes of round 2

Strawweight bout: Joshua Pacio defeats Roy Doliguez by Knockout (KO) at 0:38 minutes of round 2

Featherweight bout: Xie Chao defeats Kelvin Ong by TKO (Doctor’s Stoppage) at 1:48 minutes of round 1

Strawweight bout: Peng Xue Wen defeats Phat Soda by Knockout (KO) at 2:15 minutes of round 1

In case you missed the action log on to www.onefc.com/livestream for the full replay of the fights at only US $9.99.

For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

About ONE Championship™

ONE Championship is the largest sports media property in Asian history. Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Championship is the home of martial arts. The world’s most exciting martial arts organization hosts the largest sports entertainment events across Asia, featuring some of the world's best martial artists and world champions, all signed to exclusive contracts, on the largest media broadcast in Asia. In addition to its digital platforms, ONE Championship broadcasts to over 1 billion potential viewers across 128+ countries around the world with some of the largest global broadcasters, including Fox Sports, ABS-CBN, Astro, ClaroSports, Bandsports, Startimes, Premier Sports, Thairath TV, Skynet, Mediacorp, OSN, and more.