ONE Championship: Aung La, Okami aim to fight to determine ‘No 1 middleweight in Asia’
- Former two-division ONE champion Aung La of Myanmar invites Okami to fight on June 3
- Japanese UFC veteran is on board, says potential fight will crown Asia’s top middleweight
Myanmar’s Aung La, who now lives in South Florida, was first to broach the match-up, challenging his Japanese rival to a fight on Twitter, and suggesting June 3 as the date.
It did not take long for 40-year-old veteran Okami to tweet his response.
“Let’s fight,” he wrote. “Let’s decide which is the No 1 middleweight in Asia!”
Aung La previously held ONE Championship’s middleweight and light heavyweight titles, but lost his belts in a pair of back-to-back fights with unbeaten Dutch grappler Reinier de Ridder, who still holds both.
“The Burmese Python” (27-13) got back on track in his next fight, shutting the lights off on Brazil’s Leandro Ataides in the first round, but lost a decision to Russia’s Vitaly Bigdash in his most recent fight. It was his third fight with the Russian, after the pair split their first two encounters a win apiece.