ONE Championship will start the year with a bang when ONE: A NEW TOMORROW unfolds this Friday, January 10, at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bannering the show is the rematch between reigning ONE Flyweight World Champion Rodtang “The Iron Man” Jitmuangnon  and Jonathan “The General” Haggerty, the sequel to their clash at ONE: DAWN OF HEROES last August where the Thai won the belt.

Joining Rodtang and Haggerty on the main card is ONE Atomweight Kickboxing and Muay Thai World Champion Stamp Fairtex, who battles Puja “The Cyclone” Tomar in a mixed martial arts strawweight contest.

As for local heroes, Roel “Akiyama” Rosauro is the lone Filipino in the event. He competes in the lead card against Yohan “The Ice Man” Mulia Legowo.

The rematch between Rodtang and Haggerty was supposed to happen earlier, but “The General” had to turn it down. He was still recovering from the decision loss, and he felt like mentally he was far from ready.

Now fully recovered, Haggerty plans to spoil Rodtang’s homecoming in Thailand: “It was very hard for me to turn down a rematch, but now is the right time. I know it’s right, and come 10 January, it will [show that I’ve made] the right decision.”

After getting frustrated by Rodtang the last time out, the Englishman promises to do things differently this time.

ONE: A NEW TOMORROW is just a precursor for things to come as The Home Of Martial Arts opens the first two months of the year with four events.

Before January ends, Joshua “The Passion” Pacio defends his ONE Strawweight World Title against former titlist Alex “Little Rock” Silva at ONE: FIRE & FURY on January 31 at the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila. (sports.abs-cbn.com)