ONE Championship’s striking roster has continued to flourish in 2024, and it got even stronger this week with the announcement of another elite kickboxer putting pen to paper in the world’s largest martial arts organization. Japanese megastar Masaaki Noiri has officially inked a deal with ONE, and he’s set to add further depth to the stand-up ranks. 

Noiri is a former two-division K-1 World Champion and Grand Prix Champion, and he’s also a former WBC Japanese Muay Thai Champion.

Fighting in ONE will allow him to switch between the two sports whenever he wants, and this is an exciting prospect for the 30-year-old.

“As ONE officially announced, I have signed a contract with ONE Championship, the highest stage for striking. If I want to pursue being the strongest in the world that I believe in, this is a stage I have to challenge on,” Noiri said. 

“I believe ONE is the ultimate stage for striking, so I wanted to challenge myself in that ring. I’m pursuing to be the strongest in the world through martial arts, so I chose this path to test if the current Masaaki Noiri can make it in ONE.”

It would be remiss of ONE’s hottest new signing not to have World Title ambitions as he embarks on his new journey. 

However, along with gold, Noiri’s looking to show the world what strikers from his country can do, and he hopes a world-class compatriot can help him in that mission.

“[My plan is] to definitely win the ONE world title,” Noiri said. 

“Not just me, but together with Takeru Segawa. And we’ll prove the strength of Japanese fighters to the world.”

Arman Tsarukyan has hit back at Michael Chandler after the former Bellator champion stated last week that Tsarukyan made a big mistake in turning down a title fight with Islam Makhachev. Tsarukyan was apparently offered a shot at the UFC lightweight champion in the immediate aftermath of his win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300, but surprisingly turned it down. 

Tsarukyan’s win over ‘Do Bronx’ saw him leapfrog the Brazilian into the #1 contender spot. The Armenian was asked to face Makhachev in the main event at UFC 302 which  takes place on June 1^st but declined the offer due to the quick turnaround after 300. The  fight was then offered to Dustin Poirier who accepted, and it seems Tsarukyan is now  back waiting in line again for his chance. 

After Chandler told Ariel Helwani on a recent appearance on The MMA Hour that he didn’t understand why Arman Tsarukyan didn’t take the fight, Tsarukyan took to social media to fire back. He tweeted: 

“I don’t expect you to understand Michael Chandler. We are not on the same level. I am  here to be the champ. You are just waiting for a paycheck. I also don’t understand why you waited Conor fight for 2 years, you could’ve lost 4 exciting fights during that time”. 

I don’t expect you to understand @MikeChandlerMMA. We are not on the same level. I am here to be the champ. You are just waiting for a paycheck. I also don’t understand why you waited Conor fight for 2 years, you could’ve lost 4 exciting fights during that time pic.twitter.com/FfysM0YurV

— Arman Tsarukyan UFC (@ArmanUfc) April 23, 2024

Chandler is finally slated to fight McGregor during International Fight Week on June 29^th after a long wait since the pair coached opposite each other on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter. 

The most likely next step for Arman Tsarukyan could be to fight the winner of Makhachev v Poirier.

After months of speculation, the UFC have confirmed that UFC 304 will be heading to Manchester’s brand-new Co-Op Live arena on Saturday July 27^th.

No headliners have been announced, but the event is expected to feature a double-header with both Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards (22-3 1NC) and Interim Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall (14-3) defending their gold, with the latter going as far as announcing he would be on the card. The organisation have confirmed that the event will be taking place at US primetime, with prelims kicking off at 11pm BST and the main card at 3am BST.

This will be the UFC’s return to Manchester for the first time since UFC 204 in October 2016, which saw Michael Bisping (30-9) defend his Middleweight Championship against longtime rival Dan Henderson (32-15), with Gegard Mousasi (49-9) defeating Vitor Belfort (26-14) in the co-main event. Current champ Edwards was on the card too, defeating Albert Tumenov (25-4) on the prelims.

Aspinall is looking to follow in the footsteps of Bisping and become the second hometown fighter to defend their belt in the city, having been born in Salford, and living and training in the Greater Manchester area. The expectation is that he will fight Curtis Blaydes (18-4) in a rematch of their July 2022 bout in which he suffered a catastrophic knee injury just fifteen seconds into the fight.

There is somewhat more uncertainty in regards to Edwards’ opponent, with him being offered and accepting three names for UFC 300. The most likely outcome seems to be a rematch with the #2 ranked Welterweight Belal Muhammad (23-3 1NC), who has proven himself more than deserving of what is a long-awaited shot, having gone ten fights unbeaten, including a no contest with Edwards.

Signed for the card is a featherweight bout between London’s Nathaniel Wood (19-6) and Daniel Pineda (28-15), as reported by Al Zullino, with a fight between ranked featherweights Arnold Allen (19-3) and Giga Chikadze (15-3) also reportedly in the works.

This will be the first MMA event at Co-Op Live, which was due to open yesterday, but delayed at the eleventh hour due to power supply issues. The current expectation is for the arena to open on Saturday with a concert by The Black Keys. It will be the largest indoor arena in the UK with a capacity up to 23,500 for concerts but it is unknown what this figure will be for combat sports. The venue is located at Etihad Campus, just a five minute walk from Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

Tickets for the event will go on sale on June 7^th. You can register your interest now here.