Three ONE Championship MMA stars with World Champion potential in 2022

#3
Denice
Zamboanga

With
Stamp
Fairtex
set
to
face
Angela
“Unstoppable”
Lee
for
the
ONE
Women’s
Atomweight
World
Title
next
year,
Denice
“Lycan
Queen”
Zamboanga
has
plenty
of
time
to
improve
her
arsenal
before
she
challenges
either
one
of
them.

Several
stars
within
the
division
would
be
great
litmus
tests
for
the
young
Filipina
star.
One
way
to
solidify
a
title
shot
is
to
even
the
score
against
“Arale
Chan”
Ham
Seo
Hee,
who
handed
Zamboanga
the
only
loss
in
her
nine-fight
resume
at
ONE:
EMPOWER
in
September.

If
this
fight
won’t
happen,
a
date
against
Julie
Mezabarba
or
Ritu
“The
Indian
Tigress”
Phogat
could
place
her
as
the
top
contender
for
the
world
title
in
2022.

Zamboanga
is
comfortable
with
both
her
striking
and
grappling.
Pulling
off
a
victory
against
these
stars
can
fulfill
her
title
aspirations.

#2
Jarred
Brooks

Jarred
“The
Monkey
God”
Brooks
wants
nothing
but
the
ONE
Strawweight
World
Title.

He
called
out
almost
all
top-ranked
fighters
in
the
division.
Eventually,
he
fought
against
then
#5-ranked
Lito
“Thunder
Kid”
Adiwang
at
ONE:
NEXT
GEN
III,
which
aired
last
26
November.

“The
Monkey
God”
completely
dominated
his
Filipino
opponent
before
sealing
an
enjoyable
debut
victory
with
an
arm-triangle
choke
at
3:07
of
the
second
round.

Brooks’ victory
elevated
him
to
#3
in
the
rankings,
behind
Bokang
“Little
Giant”
Masunyane
and
Yosuke
“The
Ninja”
Saruta,
respectively.

If
he
could
go
on
to
earn
a
win
against
either
of
those
two
names,
there’s
reason
to
believe
that
the
American
star
can
snatch
the
world
title
from
Joshua
“The
Passion”
Pacio
sometime
next
year.

#1
Marcus
Almeida

Although
he
refused
to
associate
his
name
with
the
heavyweight
title
before
his
sophomore
outing
in
ONE,
it’s
undeniable
that
Marcus
“Buchecha” Almeida
has
world
championship
potential.

In
his
MMA
debut,
“Buchecha”
finished
the
fight
from
the
only
takedown
he
landed.
The
31-year-old
Brazilian
forced
Anderson
“Braddock”
Silva
to
surrender
via
a
north-south
choke
at
2:55
of
the
first
round.

At
ONE:
WINTER
WARRIORS,
the
17-time
Brazilian
Jiu-Jitsu
world
champion
eased
his
way
to
another
victory,
submitting
Kang
Ji
Won
after
just
147
seconds.
His
punishing
ground
game
could
be
his
ticket
towards
the
golden
strap
in
2022.

Brandon
“The
Truth
Vera”
Vera
or
Anatoly
“Sladkiy”
Malykhin
could
be
next
in
line
to
taste
Almeida’s
world-class
grappling
skills.
From
guard
to
top
mount,
there’s
no
stopping
him
once
he
brings
the
fight
on
the
canvas.