Zebaztian Kadestam (9-4) is looking to bounce back from his title loss to Ben “Funky” Askren as part of a recently announced four man tournament leading to a welterweight title shot. “The Bandit” will face Kuala Lumpur’s own Agilan Thani (8-1) in Kuala Lumpur on July 13 at ONE: PURSUIT OF POWER.
“When i beat thani i will get Another date and most likely fight for the belt.” says the Swede to MMA Viking.
“The Alligator” suffered his only career defeat when he met Ben “Funky” Askren for the illustrious belt last year. But since then, Thani has rebounded with consecutive victories over Sherif Mohamed and Amitesh Chaubey.
Kadestam made an explosive impact by coming from behind to knock out Luis “Sapo” Santos in his first ONE contest last May. Despite also coming up short against Askren’s relentless ground attacks in his title match, the Swede has shown he is a dangerous opponent in the cage.
Incidentally, Santos will also return to action after he got back to winning ways against Kiamrian Abbasov at ONE: DYNASTY OF HEROES, and is the third man on this bill to have previously faced Askren.
The Brazilian veteran will have to overcome Tyler McGuire, who makes his ONE debut.
The promotion is dubbing the four welterweights as part of a high stakes Grand Prix. “It’s time” says Zebaztian that wants nothing more than to get that One Championship belt.
The Pancrase fighter Kadestam has been hard at training since his loss last September, and should show new and improved skills in his return after 10 months. The Swede has a notable win over Glenn Sparv at PXC 53 and Josh Calvo at PXC 44 where he captured the belt.
