Champ Marat Gafurov vs. Martin Nguyen headlines ONE Championship 59 on Aug. 18

The featherweight title will be on the line next month at ONE Championship 59.

Officials today announced the event’s headliner features featherweight champion Marat Gafurov (15-0) vs. challenger Martin Nguyen (8-1) in a rematch of their 2015 fight.

“ONE Championship 59: Quest for Greatness” takes place Aug. 18 at Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and it streams as an online pay-per-view in North America.

Undefeated Gafurov, a 32-year-old Russian fighter, claimed the ONE Championship title in 2015 with a submission victory over Narantungalag Jadambaa. Since then, the seven-year pro has tapped out Kazunori Yokota and Jadambaa to lengthen his title reign. He has 11 submissions in 15 career wins.

He takes on Nguyen, a 28-year-old Australian fighter who looks for his fifth straight victory. His only career loss came in 2015 at ONE Championship 31, where Gafurov tapped him out via 41-second rear-naked choke in a short-notice bout. Nguyen has posted four straight first-round stoppage victories since then.

In the co-headliner, Ev Ting (13-4), who was on a 4-0 run before a recent decision loss to lightweight champ Eduard Folayang, meets former champ Nobutatsu Suzuki (11-2-2), who came up short in a 2014 welterweight title with Ben Askren. It remains Suzuki’s most recent fight, and he now returns as a 155-pounder.

The latest ONE Championship 59 card includes:

• Champ Marat Gafurov vs. Martin Nguyen – for featherweight title
• Nobutatsu Suzuki vs. Ev Ting
• Sherif Mohamed vs. Agilan Thani
• Kevin Belingon vs. Reece McLaren
• Riku Shibuya vs. Gianni Subba
• May Ooi vs. Ann Osman
• Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke vs. Robin Catalan
• Christian Lee vs. Keanu Subba
• Edward Kelly vs. Emilio Urrutia
• Rene Catalan vs. Bu Huo You Ga

For more on ONE Championship 59, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.