Two additional Kickboxing bouts have been announced for ONE 162, slowly turning the October 21 card into a treat for Kickboxing and Muay Thai fans, with four of the seven confirmed fights taking place in the striking-oriented ONE Super Series.
Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong will look to defend his spot on the pound-for-pound rankings against the surging Mohammed Boutasaa, while former GLORY Welterweight Champion Nieky Holzken will face Islam Murtazaev.
One of the sport's most well-known names, Sitthichai has found success more often than not inside of the ONE circle, with wins in four of his six appearances with the Singapore-based promotion. In fact, the Thai has only tasted defeated four times in the last six years, with all losses coming against the very top - Marat Grigorian, Chingiz Allazov, and Superbon. Sitthichai has won titles with every promotion he has competed with so far and could find himself in a rematch with divisional Champion Superbon, should he score a dominant victory over the Dutch-Moroccan fighter.
His opponent, Mohammed Boutasaa, is unbeaten so far in his 15 professional fights. Boutasaa spent his entire early career competing in Enfusion and was able to overcome all of the promotion's best. Boutasaa made a successful step up in competition in his ONE debut, with a dominant decision win against Davit Kiria, who is currently ranked as the tenth best Lightweight in the world. Sitthichai will be the best opponent he's faced so far in his career, but a win over the talented Thai southpaw would place him firmly in the division's elite.
Two former ONE Welterweight title challengers will face each other in the third Kickboxing bout of the evening, in an attempt to prove they deserve another title shot, after they both came up short against the reigning Champion Regian Eersel.
The 38-year-old Nieky Hozken has competed in 22 Kickboxing fights in the past decade and has come out with his hand raised in 17 of them. His only losses in this time span have been to the then GLORY Champion Cédric Doumbé, the current ONE Champion Regian Eersel and two-time Glory title challenger Alim Nabiev. In his most recent fight however, Holzken suffered a one-shot knockout loss to Sinsamut Klinmee, which has set the fans wondering whether father time has finally caught up him.
Opposite 'The Natural' will be Islam Murtazaev, who took Eersel to a close decision in what was his promotional debut with ONE Championship. Prior to that, Murtazaev was able to beat Sher Mamazulonov, currently ranked as the No. 4 best Welterweight in the world, by unanimous decision. He will look to build on the two best performances of his professional career in his second appearance under the ONE promotional banner.
As has been previously announced, the event will be headlined by a vacant ONE Kickboxing Strawweight Championship bout between Zhang Peimian and Jonathan Di Bella.
