Kickboxing's pound-for-pound king Superbon Singha Mawynn has not been medically cleared to face Tayfun Ozcan tomorrow, as he is currently suffering from an undisclosed illness. Superbon has been noticeably absent the entire fight week: he was not present at the pre-fight press conference, failed to show up on the scales for the weigh-in and did not provide a sample for the hydration tests.
The current ONE Featherweight champion was expected to face fellow pound-for-pound ranked fighter Chingiz Allazov in his second title defense, who withdrew with an injury on September 21. Allazov was replaced by the former two-weight Enfusion champion Tayfun Özcan, who was scheduled to face Marat Grigorian in a Featherweight bout at the same event. Grigorian was instead booked to face Jamal Yusupov, who stepped in on ten-days notice.
Yusupov has likewise not been medically cleared and withdrew from the Grigorian fight yesterday. After the latest reshuffling, Grigorian and Özcan are once again set to face each other, while neither Superbon nor Yusupov will feature on the card.
According to the ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong, the promotion hopes for Superbon to make his next title defense on October 21, at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, which will be their first event outside of Singapore this year. With Grigorian and Ozcan fighting tomorrow and Allazov missing due to injury, it will be interesting to see who his opponent will be. The division is certainly not lacking in talent, with the likes of Petrosyan, Sitthichai, Kiria, Kehl and Boutasaa all waiting for their next call-up.
The Heavyweight Kickboxing bout between Rade Opačić and Giannis Stoforidis will proceed as planned, with both competitors easily passing the weigh-in and hydration test. The Atomweight Muay Thai bout between Anissa Meksen and Dangkongfah Banchamek will also take place, although Dangkongfah had slight issues with her weight. She missed the Atomweight limit twice on Thursday and could not make weight and pass the hydration test on Friday. Meksen agreed on a catchweight bout, but refused to take a percentage of Dangkongfah's purse.
