SINGAPORE — Filipino fighter Kevin Belingon is aching for redemption when he faces bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes in ONE Championship: Heart of the Lion on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Belingon, the interim champion in the division, is confident he can avenge his loss to his Brazilian opponent in 2016 and lay claim to the title as undisputed bantamweight king.
“I’ve waited for so long to face Bibiano again so I’ve been training hard and I’m a hundred percent confident for this match,” said the 31-year old Pinoy fighter.
Oozing with confidence during the press conference on Wednesday at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center, Belingon stressed he has worked on his weaknesses and has improved a lot since the one-round loss to Fernandes.
He is on a six-fight win streak and he’s out to halt Fernandes’ 14-fight winning run.
“I respect Bibiano, I respect his skills but I’ve trained hard for this match especially in the wrestling and grappling,” he said.
Fernandes, though, is just as excited about the rematch.
“I like the challenge,” Fernandes, 38, said. “I respect Kevin, he has good power.”
Meanwhile, Christian Lee will face Kazuki Tokudome in a catch weight, replacing the supposed main event between atomweight champion Angela Lee and strawweight titleholder Xiong Jing Nan.
Doctors refused to allow Angela to fight due to a recurring injury. Instead a fight featuring her brother Christian was added to the event as the co-main event.
“I was originally scheduled to face my opponent two weeks later in Manila, so when I got the call to fight here in Singapore, there was no difference. I was prepared to fight anytime anywhere,” said Christian.
In the other fights, Giorgio Petrosyan and Sorgraw Petchyindee Academy will clash in the Super Series Kickboxing Catchweight (71.0 kg) division; Tiffany Teo takes on Michelle Nicolini in the strawweight division; Adrian Pang go up against Kota Shimoishi in the lightweight division, George Mann takes on Smokin’ Jo Nattawut in the Super Series (Muay Thai) featherwieght division and Andrew Miller fights Alaverdi Ramazanov in the Super Series (Muay Thai) bantamwieght division.