EDWARD Kelly attempts to end a two-fight losing slump as he takes on Egyptian Ahmed Faress in ONE Championship: “Full Blast” on May 28 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Kelly returns to the ONE Championship cage after a long layoff. He dropped his last two contests, both in 2019. He lost to Xie Bin by technical decision and to Kai Tang by unanimous decision.
The 37-year-old Kelly, who fights out of the famed Team Lakay in Baguio City, has been fighting in the ONE Championship cage for eight years. He owns a win over current ONE lightweight champion Christian Lee, who was disqualified for an illegal move. He has also fought the likes of Ev Ting, Narantungalag Jadambaa, former champion Martin Nguyen and Herbert Burns.
Farres will be making his ONE Championship debut against Kelly. The 29-year-old Egyptian prospect has not fought for over a year. His last fight was on Feb. 19, 2020, wherein he submitted Alan Philpott in the first round with a rear-naked choke in Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series.
Farres fought most of his career in the Middle East in organizations like Egyptian FC, Desert Force, Arabic Ultimate Fighting Championship and Brave CF.
Kelly is 12-8 with six of his wins being won by knockout, while Faress is 16-3 with 13 wins via submission.
The main event features an all-Thailand Muay Thai fight between Saempetch Fairtex (121-16-1) and Kulabdam Sor. Jor. Piek Uthai (62-11-5). (EKA)