The Fantasy UFC-ONE Championship Card We'd Love to See

The likelihood we see the best UFC and ONE Championship fighters compete against each other on one card is incredibly unlikely, but we can dream.

Both mixed martial arts promotions feature a plethora of talent who make for plenty of fantasy matchups fans would love to watch. We narrowed our list to five contests that would make for the most captivating among elite talent from each company.

Here's the fantasy UFC-ONE Championship card we would love to see. What bouts would you add to the list?

Matchups

Main Event: Demetrious Johnson (30-3-1) vs. Jose Aldo (28-6)

ONE Championship

Any time "dream match" and Demetrious Johnson are mentioned in the same breath, most immediately venture toward a trilogy match with UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's been talked about so much at this point that's it's fairly low-hanging fruit.

Instead, give us two legends of the sport who are finally fighting at the same weight, with Johnson moving up from UFC's 125-pound flyweight division to ONE's 135-pound flyweight class and Jose Aldo dropping down from featherweight to bantamweight in the UFC.

Johnson and Aldo rank first and fifth, respectively, in all-time successful UFC title defenses. At 33, both men are still fighting near the top of their divisions and are closing in on championship opportunities. Why not throw two of the greatest to ever do it in a cage together when the stars have aligned for the 135-pound veterans? It's a match fans didn't know they needed.

Co-Main Event: Max Holloway (21-5) vs. Bibiano Fernandes (24-4)

UFC

Two of the most prominent 145-pounders in the world would finally meet were this card to come to fruition.

Fan favorite and former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway squares off against ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes, who holds the ONE record for successful title defenses with nine. To emphasize his unparalleled success at the Singapore-based promotion, its next-closest champion only has four.

Now 40, Fernandes is no longer at his peak, but he has only lost once since 2010. If the Brazilian had moved to the UFC before signing with ONE in 2012, perhaps him and Holloway would have competed long ago.

Holloway's striking prowess and Fernandes' world-class jiu-jitsu would be quite the contrast of styles between two of the world's best in this weight class. The slight edge might be given to the younger and longer Holloway, but don't sleep on the submission specialist.

Weili Zhang (21-1) vs. Xiong Jing Nan (14-2)

UFC

If this match between the most recognizable Chinese athletes from both promotions ever takes place, it would be the biggest women's bout in Asian MMA history. Chatri Sityodtong, the chairman and CEO of ONE, seems to agree.

During a Facebook Q&A (h/t Simon Head of MMA Junkie), Sityodtong said a meeting between Weili Zhang and Xiong Jing Nan, the women's strawweight champions of UFC and ONE respectively, would generate huge interest in Asia. "I think Xiong is the one to beat Zhang," Sityodtong said, backing his promotion's athlete.

Both women are coming off match-of-the-year candidates; Zhang defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk by split decision in March, while Xiong lost to Angela Lee by fifth-round submission in October in an attempt to become ONE's first female two-division champion. Before then, Xiong hadn't lost since 2013. Meanwhile, Zhang is on a 21-match winning streak.

If Sityodtong and UFC President Dana White are only interested in the most marketable of matches for any potential cross-promotion, both would have a lot to gain from this one.

Dominick Reyes (12-1) vs. Aung La N Sang (26-10)

ONE Championship

A slugfest between two light heavyweight brawlers would be a great addition to an already stacked card. Dominick Reyes, although coming off a decision loss to Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title in February, is still one of the most feared strikers at UFC.

Meanwhile, Aung La N Sang has held both the ONE light heavyweight and middleweight belts for more than two years, riding a seven-match winning streak in the process. 

Expect an array of punches, kicks, knees and elbows to fly in any match these two take part in. If there were betting odds for this dream card, put money on Reyes-Sang being the match of the night.

Angela Lee (10-2) vs. Michelle Waterson (17-7)

ONE Championship

Unlike any of the other matches on this dream card, these competitors have a history with each other.

The war of words between Michelle Waterson and Angela Lee goes back to 2017, when Waterson told Justin Ong of CNA that Lee wasn't competing at a high enough level at ONE to be considered one of the best 115-pounders in the world. The 23-year-old ONE atomweight champion responded.

"I think a lot of the UFC fighters and a lot of the girls that come over to Singapore, they like to talk a lot," Lee told MMA Junkie. "But if you were to put us inside the cage together, I think it would be a different story."

Well then—let's put them together inside the cage and see just how each promotion's talent stacks up. Isn't that what this whole dream card is about?

Weight-Class Discrepancies between ONE and UFC

There are slight differences in weight divisions between the two promotions. For clarification and to better understand the dream-match scenarios, here's the full rundown.

ONE Weight-Division Limits

Heavyweight: 225+

Light Heavyweight: 225

Middleweight: 205

Welterweight: 185

Lightweight: 170

Featherweight: 155

Bantamweight: 145

Flyweight: 135

Strawweight: 125

Atomweight: 115

UFC Weight-Division Limits

Heavyweight: 205+

Light Heavyweight: 205

Middleweight: 185

Welterweight: 170

Lightweight: 155

Featherweight: 145

Bantamweight: 135

Flyweight: 125

Strawweight: 115