BRANDON Vera's next title defense will have to wait just a little bit longer as ONE Championship has announced that its May events, including ONE: Infinity 1 in Manila, has been indefinitely postponed.
The fightcard, slated on May 29 at Mall of Asia Arena, was supposed to be held behind closed doors before the global COVID-19 pandemic forced the hand of the organizers to shelve those plans altogether.
"All May events for ONE Championship will be postponed until further notice due to the recent COVID-19 developments (border closings and lockdowns) across most countries in Asia," announced ONE Championship CEO and chairman Chatri Sityodtong in a statement.
"Our highest priority remains the safety and health of our athletes, officials, staff, fans, and the public during these challenging times."
Vera (16-8) was scheduled to defend the ONE Heavyweight World Championship against Indian challenger Arjan Bhullar (10-1) in the main event of the stacked card.
Also slated in the Manila card was the title defense of Christian Lee (13-3) for his ONE Lightweight World Championship against undefeated prospect Iuri Lapicus (14-0), and the bout between Eddie Alvarez (30-7) and Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (8-2).
Aside from ONE: Infinity 1, also postponed were ONE: Dreams on May 1 and ONE: Inspiration on May 8, both originally scheduled in Singapore.
Sityodtong, however, said that Asia's top mixed martial arts promotion is doing everything in its power to cope with the ongoing crisis.
"My team and I are working around the clock on multiple options to bring back our events as soon as safely possible," he said.
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