Kevin Belingon Of Team Lakay To Challenge Bibiano Fernandez For ONE Championship's Bantamweight Title

If things go according to plan, a fighter from Team Lakay will be holding a championship belt before this month ends. But achieving such a feat won't be a walk in the park. Kevin Belingon, one of the most recognizable fighters in Team Lakay's roster, is set to lock horns with Bibiano Fernandez of Brazil on January 23 at the Helong Stadium in Changsha, Hunan, China. The two bantamweights will be headlining the event dubbed ONE Championship: Dynasty of Champions.

At stake will be the Brazilian's championship strap which he won in 2013 and successfully defended four times against top contenders. Fernandez is a complete fighter who can be comfortable whether a fight remains standing or goes to the ground. In 21 professional fights, Fernandez has lost only thrice, two of which came very early in his career. He doesn't have much of a punching power - only two of his eighteen wins were via knockouts - but he's very creative inside the cage.

Without a doubt, Belingon can punch much harder than Fernandez. His three knockout wins in the ONE Championship are among the best that the young promotional company has ever seen. Needless to say, Belingon's best chance in overcoming the champion is to keep the fight standing and hope that one of his powerful kicks and punches makes its mark and puts the Brazilian to sleep.

Belingon will surely fly into China as a huge underdog. This shouldn't come as a surprise. He is the challenger and his stint inside ONE Championship has been unstable at best. He fought eight times under the promotion. He won four and lost the rest. Fernandez, on the other hand, fought six times in the promotion. He won them all.

Fernandez also has experience on his side. He has 21 professional fights compared to Belingon's 17. Fernandez and Belingon share four common previous opponents in ONE Championship - Koetsu Okazaki, Soo Chul Kim, Masakatsu Ueda, and Dae Hwan Kim. Fernandez has defeated all four fighters while Belingon has defeated only one. He lost to the other three. MMA math isn't always accurate but you can gauge the difference between the two fighters' skill set by looking into how they fared in common opponents.

The complete fight card for ONE Championship: Dynasty of Champions is as follows:
8. Bibiano Fernandez vs Kevin Belingon
7. Li Kai Wen vs Yang Sen
6. Muin Gafurov vs Toni Tauru
5. Asuka Mikami vs Roy Doliguez
4. Ming Yen Sung vs Su Noto
3. Tang Da Fen vs Zhou Biao
2. Wu Ting Shen vs Ma Hao Bin
1. Bu Hou You Xia vs Cai Chang Bo

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