The signings of Japanese stars Tatsuya Kawajiri and Katsunori Kikuno came as a bit of a surprise recently, as both men have always been viewed as great fighters who might be at the point in their respective careers where a UFC runs seems like it might be coming a bit too late. That being said, they are both heading to the UFC and will make their debuts on January 4th at Ultimate Fight Night 34 in Singapore.
It can’t help but feel like a dig at Singapore-based OneFC, who has been talking about having a “duopoly” with the UFC, where the UFC controls the West and OneFC controls the East. It looks like they’ve woken the sleeping giant in Asia, that’s for sure. Kawajiri takes on Hacran Dias while Kikuno fights Quinn Mulhern. This comes after rumors have been swirling around about the UFC looking to buy out OneFC, although this seems more of a move to smoke OneFC out in their home and possibly drive them out of business.