Brad Robinson (bottom) of United States of America fights Agilan Thani of Malaysia in the catchweight bout at 'One Championship: Ascent to Power' at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on May 6, 2016. (Photo : Getty Images/Suhaimi Abdullah)
Agilan "Alligator" Thani, 21, is fighting against his fellow undefeated fighter Ben "Funky" Askren, 32, on "ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes" at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore on May 26. During an international conference call four weeks before the fight, Thani expressed his gratitude to Askren.
"I don't know what to say, but first of all, I would like to thank ONE Championship for giving me this opportunity," Thani said. "I know there are many people in line for the title shot."
Thani believes that he can do his best against Askren. The Malaysian fighter hopes to leave the cage on May 26 with victory.
"Thank you, Ben, for accepting the fight," Thani said to Askren. "I know I'm a big underdog."
While Thani has seven professional MMA wins, Askren has 15. The former acknowledged that he is not in the level of the latter.
"It's an opportunity for me to fight somebody who has a game finally because all these days I've been fighting some pretenders, and it was not up to my challenge, "Thani pointed out. "Finally I'm ready to take on a bigger challenge in my life and pretty much excited."
"ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes" is the most important thing for Thani right now. He said, "I've been training all my life for this. I'm finally here to showcase my skills on fight night and that's about it. I don't have much to say though."
The main event of "ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes" is the match between Angela "Unstoppable" Lee and Istela Nunes, another pair of undefeated fighters. The match between Askren and Thani will be the co-main event.
Lee is the reigning ONE Women's Atomweight World Champion while Askren is the reigning ONE Welterweight World Champion. Nunes is a two-time Muay Thai world champion.
Also in the fight card are Shinya Aoki and Garry "The Lion Killer" Tonon in a grappling match. Team Lakay's Geje "Gravity" Eustaquio and Anatpong Bunrad will have a rematch in the flyweight division.
Zebaztian "The Bandit" Kadestam and Luis "Sapo" Santos will compete in the welterweight division. Chen "Rock Man" Lei and Jeremy Meciaz will compete in the catchweight division while Amir Khan and Rajinder Singh Meena will compete in the lightweight division.
Two more female matches are also in the fight card. Rika Ishige and Nita Dea will fight in the atomweight division while Tiffany "The Soul Crusher" Teo and Rebecca "The Professor" Heintzman-Rozewkski will compete in the strawweight division.
Meanwhile, here is a video from ONE Championship:
