Catalan battles Chinese foe in One's New Year bash

Rene Catalan targets a fourth straight win against another Chinese foe.

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Rene Catalan looks to add another Chinese fighter to his list of victims as he will be part of One Championship's first event for 2018, One: Kings of Courage at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta on Jan. 20.

Catalan will take on Peng Xuewen in an undercard match of the said event headlined by the One women's strawweight title fight between Tiffany Teo and Xiong Jingnan and the One flyweight title eliminator between Stefer Rahardian and Muhammad Imran.

[Related Story: Teo battles Xiong for inaugural One women's strawweight belt in first 2018 card]

Catalan has racked up three straight wins at One with two wins coming against Chinese opponents.

This time, he will test the mettle of Peng, who is a known grappling expert.

Meanwhile, a grappling super-match will take place as former champs Marat Gafurov and Shinya Aoki collide in the said bout.

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