Singapore MMA fighters to battle Malaysians at ONE FC

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First, it was female fighter Sherilyn Lim — now, two more Singaporeans have been announced for a large-scale mixed martial arts (MMA) tournament to be held in the Lion City.

Juan Wen Jie, 30, and Stephen Langdown, 20, were pencilled in on Wednesday as the latest additions to the ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) event slated for 18 October at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

All three homegrown fighters will make their ONE FC debuts in front of an anticipated full-house of 12,000 — and against Malaysian opposition, in a clear bid to fan the flames of traditional sporting antagonism straddling both ends of the Causeway.

Local female fighter Lim, 23, trains and works at Singapore's oldest MMA academy, Fight G.

For her first-ever professional MMA bout, the 1.6m-tall prospect will pit her Muay Thai skills against fellow rookie Ann Osman, who hails from Kota Kinabalu and is coached by ONE FC fighter AJ "Pyro" Lias Mansor.

Another Singaporean bracing for his maiden outing is Langdown, who stands at 1.76m and represents Brazilian Fight Club MMA.

Ahead of his bantamweight duel with Malaysian Mark Marcellinus, the youngster said in a press statement that "it is every fighter's dream to one day appear in ONE FC and on 18 October, I get to realise that dream".

His opponent Marcellinus is a Borneo native, like Osman, and comes armed with a foundation in karate and boxing.

Meanwhile, the third Singaporean on the fight card, Juan, is a more seasoned challenger having already recorded two triumphant professional cage fights since he began training at Impact MMA gym.

The 1.84m-tall national sanshou and Muay Thai champion steps into the cage with veteran brawler Alex Lim of Malaysia who, along with Osman and Marcellinus, will seek to preserve the Malaysians' undefeated record against Singaporeans in ONE FC.

The three Singapore-Malaysia bouts feature on an evening headlined by a championship title clash between Brazilian Bibiano Fernandes and Kim Soo-Chul of South Korea.

Tickets for ONE FC: Total Domination are on sale now at www.sistic.com.sg. Ticket categories begin with the full red carpet and cageside experience at S$348 followed by arena (S$148), terrace (S$58) and balcony (S$38).

Alternatively, catch all the action live on STAR Sports or via online livestream at www.onefc.livesport.tv. The first two undercard fights are available for free and the main card fights will be available for purchase at S$13.