EXCLUSIVE | ONE Championship stars react to recent signings of Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez, Miesha Tate

In the span of just a few weeks, Singapore-based martial arts promotion ONE Championship has added former UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson and former UFC lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez to its roster, and brought on former UFC bantamweight champ Miesha Tate as one of its Vice Presidents. Needless to say, these are tremendously exciting times for the promotion.

ONE Championship’s top fighters, as you can probably expect, are feeling that excitement, and are thrilled about the promotion’s deepening talent pool.

Here’s how a few of ONE Champion’s established fighters reacted to the addition of Demetrious Johnson, Eddie Alvarez and Miesha Tate to the promotion’s family.

Bibiano Fernandes: ONE Bantamweight World Champion

“About DJ, Eddie Alvarez, I think it’s great. It’s good for me. For me, before, it was always me and [Shinya] Aoki. A lot of guys come and go, come and go. A lot of guys come here and fight and left, but I stayed, Aoki stayed, but now DJ and Eddie Alvarez stay, and that’s good for me because now I can say this guy is good too. It’s exciting times, it’s good for ONE Championship.”

Kevin Belingon: ONE Interim Bantamweight World Champion

“We’re all very excited to be with them in one promotion. So hopefully we can fight on the same card with DJ and Eddie. We’re very excited.” 

Eduard Folayang: ONE Lightweight Contender

“It’s a good move for ONE Championship. I think that ONE Championship is sending a message that it’s really one of the biggest promotions, especially here in Asia. It’s the next step that they’re doing for a bigger vision.”

Muhammad Aiman: ONE Bantamweight Contender

“I feel like it’s a dream come true, you know? All of these guys that I grew up watching, whenever I come fight, they’re going to be there. They’re going to be around, I’m going to say hi to them, it’s weird. Even though it’s still new, I’m excited for what’s coming.

“When Rich [Franklin] came to ONE, he would be always around, and I would be like, ‘this is Rich Franklin, I grew up watching him,’ and now all of these new guys coming in, it will be crazy. It’s a good feeling. When Rich came, just seeing him every time I fight, it was a good feeling. I was like, ‘I’m here now, that’s Rich Franklin, that’s the guy that fought Anderson Silva.’ Now Miesha Tate is here… I’m really happy to be a part of ONE.”

What do you think of ONE Championship’s recent high-profile signings?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/8/2018.