Four fights added to ONE FC 18, including Eric Kelly vs. Rob Lisita

Four fights have been added to next month’s ONE FC 18 event, which will mark the promotion’s debut in Taiwan.

In a featherweight bout, Eric Kelly (10-1) takes on Rob Lisita (14-5); Taiwan’s Ming Yen Sung (2-1) will meet Muhamad Haider (2-1), of Malaysia; Zhang Zheng Jie (2-0), also of Taiwan, takes on Malaysia’s Rayder Kansiong (2-0); and Nathan Ng (0-0), of Hong Kong, makes his ONE FC debut against Taiwan-based Frenchman Florian Garel (2-3).

ONE FC 18 takes place July 11 at National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei City, Taiwan. The card will air in North America via an online pay-per-view. Tickets for the event now are on sale.

The Kelly-Lisita fight should prove to be pivotal in ONE FC’s featherweight division, according to promotion CEO Victor Cui.

“Rob Lisita and Eric Kelly are two of the best featherweights in the world and both of them consistently deliver crowd-pleasing bouts,” Cui stated. “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.”

Kelly got back on track this past November with a submission win over Jianbo Lu outside of ONE FC. The win came on the heels of a fourth-round title-fight TKO loss to Honorio Banario in February 2013, the result of an eye injury. That setback was the first of his career after starting 9-0 with seven submissions.

Lisita, from Australia, has won four straight fights, including his ONE FC debut in May. That fight was a 28-second knockout win over Yusuke Kawanago at ONE FC 15. Of Lisita’s 14 career wins, 11 have come by stoppage.

With the additions, the latest ONE FC 18 card includes:

• Paul Cheng vs. Mahmoud Hassan
• Koji Ando vs. Rafael Nunes
• Mohamed Ali vs. Jake Butler
• Koetsu Okazaki vs. Yusup Saadulaev
• Eric Kelly vs. Rob Lisita
• Zhang Zheng Jie vs. Rayner Kansiong
• Muhamad Haidar vs. Ming Yen Sung
• Florian Garel vs. Nathan Ng

For the latest on ONE FC 18, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Eric Kelly)