OneFC 5: Pride of a Nation - 31 August, 2012

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 7/17/2012 6:12pm

Pride Of A Nation will be held at Smart Araneta Coliseum, Manila on the 31st of August, 2012.

From the ONE FC website www.onefc.com:

Headquartered in Singapore, ONE Fighting Championship™ (http://www.onefc.com) is Asia's largest mixed martial arts organization. ONE Fighting Championship™ hosts the best Asian mixed martial artists and world champions on the largest media broadcast in Asia. ONE Fighting Championship™ has partnered with ESPN STAR Sports, the number one leader in sports content, for an unprecedented 10-year cable television deal with a coverage that spans across 28 countries in Asia.

Having held 4 major events in various locations around Asia, including Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta, as well as showcasing Asia's top talent, ONE FC seems to be hitting its stride.

Pride of a Nation promises to pack a punch, with former UFC Champions, MMA veterans and legends of the sport Andrei Arlovski and Jens Pulver signed on, according to www.prommanow.com and indications on Victor Cui's (ONE FC CEO) Facebook page, to fight Australian Soa "The Hulk" Palelei and Asia's Eric "The Natural" Kelly, respectively.

Eric Kelly goes in to the fight with an undefeated 7-0 record and the reputation as one of the best MMA fighters to come out of the Philippines. Jens has a massive battle on his hands, but as we all know, he should never be discounted.

Soa Palelei is a well known Australian Mixed Martial Artist and a formidable fighter on a 7 fight win streak via KO or TKO and a record of 17-3. With Andrei's career recently rejuvenated in Asia, this promises to be an epic battle.

Expected to be included on the card:
Phil Baroni
Shinya Aoki
Bibiana Fernandes
3x Gracies

Excerpt from:
http://prommanow.com/2012/07/17/dana...edium=facebook

White is asked about Soa “The Hulk” Palelei, who has recently been signed to fight Andrei Arlovski at “ONE FC: Pride of a Nation” on Aug. 31. Although White has trouble remembering Palelei’s UFC 79 appearance against Eddie Sanchez back in 2007, he says “everybody and their mother tweets me about this guy” and says if he defeats Arlovski he will definitely be back on Joe Silva (UFC matchmaker) and the UFC’s radar.

Despite being a huge "Pitbull" fan, I have also been lucky enough to have met Soa Palelei on a number of occasions at a variety of events, as well as witnessed the man in action. Soa is hard working and inspirational, while also being down to earth and happy to talk with his fans when stopped on the street. He is also a monster. War "The Hulk"!!!

The press release is tomorrow, so these details will be confirmed.

**greatheight** · Posted On: 7/23/2012 2:21am

This is great! Hopefully we'll see a lot of Aussie talent being fed into OneFC to build up their credentials for future runs at larger promotions. The local circuits arn't enough for facing world class talent.

I'm pretty intrigued by Palelei vs Arlovski - hopefully they get the live streaming organised.

**greatheight** · Posted On: 8/03/2012 7:10am

There is a card change - Soa is out. Sylvia is in.

http://www.fightnewsaustralia.com/co...vski-fight-off

***battlefields*** · Posted On: 8/03/2012 8:57am

Yeah, I was talking to another organisation today about Soa fighting in OneFC, then all of a sudden I'm looking at OneFCs promo poster and Tim Sylvia is on it instead. All good, might free Soa up for: http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=117460

Although I am actually quite keen to see Sylvia v Arlovski.