Russian Light Heavyweight staple Beybulat Isaev will take on Romanian newcomer Yuri Farcas at ONE Fight Night 18 on January 13. Isaev's last outing in the ONE ring was in January 14, 2022 when he took on Greek Heavyweight Giannis Stoforidis, where he lost by knockout within the first minute of the fight while trading left hooks. The Russian rebounded in his last fight in Muay Thai Factory, where he beat long-time Light Heavyweight competitor Ariel Machado by a wide unanimous decision victory.
The Romanian Farcas is a Road to ONE Heavyweight tournament winner and ISKA Heavyweight kickboxing champion, who last fought on OKTAGON Turin on November 17, winning his fight against Florin Matei by TKO in the first round. He had previously won the Road to ONE Heavyweight tournament in Romania, finishing K-1 Openweight tournament finalist Claudiu Istrate in a highly controversial match. Early into the match, Farcas pulled a muscle in his leg, which caused him to fall over and a break in the action to be called by the referee. Despite the injury, Farcas was given a significant amount of time to recover and was allowed to resume fighting once recovered. Farcas went on to outbox Istrate before finishing him with a leg kick to win the fight.
With the cancellation of Superlek against Elias Mahmoudi, ONE Championship has yet to announce a new headlining bout.
