Preview: One Championship 'Beyond The Horizon'

Lightweights
Honorio Banario (13-6-0) vs Amir Khan (10-3-0)

The announcement that the winner of October’s bout between Ev Ting and Shinya Aoki will go on to compete for the lightweight belt against reigning champion Martin Nguyen next March in Tokyo helps bring order back to a division that was in danger of becoming log jammed. Nguyen’s unsuccessful quest to win the bantamweight championship plus his obligation to defend his featherweight belt created a delay in the lightweight title being contested. Now that there is movement again in the lightweight division, fighters can begin to position themselves for a shot at the lightweight title once the dust clears next March. The winner of Honorio Banario vs. Amir Khan will be considered a frontrunner to compete for the belt regardless of whose hand is raised in Tokyo. Banario is currently on a five-fight winning streak. The 28-year-old former ONE featherweight champion is based in Baguio City, Philippines with the rest of Team Lakay. Banario is capable on the ground but his strength as a fighter, like most athletes from Team Lakay, resides in his stand-up game. He won multiple national wushu championships growing up, and earned a university scholarship thanks to his skills in the sport. Fast with his hands and quick on his feet Banario likes to take the fight to his opponent before making a quick retreat out of range to avoid the counter.

In Khan, Banario will face an opponent who has a similar style, but is more calculated in how he plans out his attacks. Khan comes from a Muay Thai background and switches easily between orthodox and southpaw stance. The 23-year-old Singaporean, who trains at Evolve MMA, bounced back from a unanimous decision loss to Russian Timofey Nastyukhin in order to comfortably defeat South Korean Sung Jong Lee via TKO in May. The victory was his eighth stoppage win fighting under ONE Championship, which makes him one of the most successful knock out artists competing in the company. Khan will carry a slight height and reach advantage and is likely to show his physicality and prove he is the stronger fighter if the fight goes to the ground.

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