Eric Kelly, a mixed martial arts fighter who hails from the town of Kapangan in Benguet, will fly to China before this month ends, to acclimate in preparation for his July 2 fight against Jadamba Narantungalag (a solidly-built warrior from Mongolia) at the Hefei Olympic Sports Centre. The two combatants will be the main event of a stacked fight card dubbed Dynasty of Champions. A win in the highly-anticipated bout will propel the victor a step closer towards the jackpot - a chance to wrest the ONE Championship featherweight belt currently wrapped around the waist of a scary Russian submission specialist named Marat Gafurov.
This contest is a must-win for Kelly and he has to win convincingly if he wants to be considered for that elusive title shot. This is even more highlighted by the fact that Kelly lost his last fight. He was submitted via a guillotine choke by Ev Ting last January. Prior to the loss against Ting, Kelly gathered three straight wins over Jianbo Lu, Rob Lisita, and Hiroshige Tanaka. Had he won the bout against Ting, it would have been very difficult for the ONE Championship to deny him a title shot. It's worth mentioning here that Kelly was once considered to fight Narantungalag for the title but things didn't go as planned.
Narantungalag ended up losing his belt in his first defense against Marat Gafurov. The tough Mongolian quickly rebounded with a good win over Kotetsu Boku. Gafurov is currently not penciled for an upcoming fight so there's a chance that the winner between Kelly and Narantungalag could get another go at the title. The ONE Championship featherweight division is a thin one. There are only a few names on the division who could be named as contenders. They include Ting and Rob Lisita.
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The other bouts in the card are as follows: Li Kai Wen vs Keanu Subba, Aleksei Butorin vs Aung La N Sang, Ze Wu vs Xiaoliang Zheng, Roger Huerta vs Ariel Sexton, Ann Osman vs Haiat Farag Youssef, Zhang You Liang vs Tang Ren Xing, Wan Jian Ping vs Bu Huo You Ga, and Li Hao Jie vs Maimai Tituo Heti.
