Friday, June 20, 2014

Eric Kelly Returns To The ONE FC Against Australian Submission Artist

One Fighting Championship has announced that Cordilleran mixed martial artist Eric "The Natural" Kelly has been added to the ONE FC 18: War of Dragons fight card. Kelly will be fighting Rob "Ruthless" Lisita of Australia. The event will be held at the National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei, Taiwan on July 11.

Kelly has a record of 10-1-0. His only loss came in the hands of fellow Igorot fighter Honorio Banario of Team Lakay. Kelly's most recent outing was a submission victory over Jianbo Lu in the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) late last year. His fight with Lisita this coming July will be his fifth appearance in the ONE FC.

Lisita who holds a record of 14-5-0 is both a good striker and a grappler. Seven of his victories came via submissions and four came via knockouts. In May of this year, he made an impressive debut in the ONE FC by making quick work of Japan's Yusuke Kawanago. He knocked out the Japanese fighter in the first minute of the first round.
Kelly delivers a kick to the face of Mitch Chilson in his ONE FC debut in September 2011. Photo by ONE FC.
Victor Cui, CEO of ONE FC made it known that whoever emerges victorious in the Kelly-Lisita bout will get a chance to fight for the ONE FC featherweight belt which is currently held by Koji Oishi. "The winner of this bout will set himself up to challenge Koji Oishi, the reigning ONE FC Featherweight World Champion, for the title in the near future." Cui said in a press statement.

Oishi won the belt when he knocked out Honorio Banario in May of 2103. He successfully defended the title by knocking Banario again in the rematch.