Brandon Vera to Defend Heavyweight Title at ONE: Age of Domination | MMAWeekly.com

Brandon Vera is set to make the first defense of his ONE Championship heavyweight belt on Dec. 2 in Manila. The UFC veteran will be taking on Hideki Sakine in a fight that will headline a card at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Vera (14-7-0-1) is undefeated since parting ways with the UFC in 2013. The 37-year-old has fought every December since signing with Asia’s biggest MMA promotion and will be looking for a third straight win at ONE: Age of Domination.

His undefeated opponent comes from a BJJ background and will be returning to the cage after a two-year absence. While Vera has spent much of his career in the light heavyweight division, Sakine (7-0) has competed at super heavyweight or open weight on several occasions.

In the co-main event, Mark Striegl (14-2) returns to the cage to face Brazil’s Rafael Nunes (10-1). The Brazilian is dropping down a division, while the Fil-Am fighter is moving up in weight. Both will be looking to rebound from recent losses.

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Geje Eustaquio (8-4) is now competing at bantamweight, but faces a tough test against one of the biggest fighters in the division. Toni Tauru (10-4-1) is a former Cage Warriors 135-pound champion, but is coming off a three-fight losing skid.

The card is stacked with Filipino fighters. Former ONE featherweight champion Honorio Banario (10-6) will be looking for a third straight win in the lightweight division, when he takes on India’s Rajinder Meena (8-2).

Another fighter who has enjoyed a recent renaissance is Edward Kelly (8-3). The Baguio native is coming off two extremely impressive stoppage wins and will be looking to emerge even further from the shadow of older brother Eric, when he meets Indonesia’s Sunoto Peringkat (5-2), who is also coming off of back-to-back ONE Championship victories.

The card also includes a battle between two of ONE Championship’s top atomweight contenders, as April Osenio (2-1) takes on Jenny Huang (4-0). Another Team Lakay fighter in action is Danny Kingad (3-0), who faces fellow Filipino Eugene Toquero (8-3).

The final two bouts announced see Liu Peng Shuai (2-0) face Sim Bunsrun (2-3) and Xie Bin (1-2) fighting Mario Satya Wirawan (5-4).