Eric Kelly
On January 26, 2018, ONE Championship will return to the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Included in the fight card of the event titled “ONE: Global Superheroes” are Eric “The Natural” Kelly, 35, of Baguio City, Philippines and Rafael Nunes, 20, of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Kelly is a featherweight standout who is widely considered one of the best homegrown martial arts athletes to come out of the Philippines. The wushu practitioner combines solid striking techniques with high-level grappling skills, which has resulted in nine impressive submissions and one knockout out of 12 total victories.
Kelly’s most impressive showing to date came in a submission win over Rob Lisita in 2014. This a performance earned him the US$50,000 ONE Warrior Bonus.
On the other hand, Nunes is a Brazilian martial artist with a 10-1 record. He is the former Premier FC Lightweight Champion and has steamrolled through the competition in his home country with a knack for winning by exciting finish.
All but one of Nunes’s 10 wins have ended within the distance. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, he is equally comfortable finishing his opponents by submission or by strikes. He looks to showcase his multifaceted skill set in his next bout, and will face a tough challenge when he takes on Kelly.
Nunes made his ONE Championship debut at “ONE: War of Dragons” on July 11, 2014 at the NTU Sports Center in Taipei, Taiwan. He lost via rear-naked choke submission to his Japanese opponent Koji Ando, 32.
“ONE: Global Superheroes” will take place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It will be headlined by Kelly’s fellow Baguio City resident Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio, 28, and Kairat “The Kazakh” Akhtemov, 30, of Kazakhstan.
Koji Ando, Yuji Shimada, Rafael Nunes (Facebook/ONE Championship)
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Ticket information for “ONE: Global Superheroes” is available at www.onefc.com.
