Brandon Vera, Mauro Cerilli (© Alvin Berto)

Reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera, 41, of the Philippines and Mauro “The Hammer” Cerilli, 35, of Italy had yet another face-off kick-off during the press conference for “ONE: Conquest of Champions” on November 20, 2018 at the City of Dreams Manila in Parañaque City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was their second face-off prior to the fight night.

The press conference was hosted by Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson, 40. It was attended by ONE Championship chief financial officer Hua Fung Teh, City of Dreams marketing operations director Nathan Sorenson and Zilingo chief marketing officer Marita Abraham.

“I owe the Philippines a lot for inspiring me to work harder than I ever have before,” Vera stated. “Am I ready after spending two years away from the cage? Hell, yes. “

“I’ve prepared very hard for this bout,” the reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion added. “I’ve trained every day, in between traffic, shoots and everything in the middle. I am confident of victory.”

“I’m still hungry and I want it more now,” Vera continued. The Filipino defending champion described Cerilli a worthy opponent. 

“He’s been knocking guys out while I was away,” Vera said of Cerilli. “And I am in no way underestimating him.”

On the other hand, Cerilli pointed out that he has all the respect for Vera, who is the hometown hero. The Italian challenger thanked ONE Championship and expressed how happy he was to be in the organization .

“The way ONE promotes martial arts is true to my character,” Cerilli stated. He added that he would do his best to win the ONE Heavyweight World Championship. 

“If you would have told me years ago I would be facing a legend like Brandon, I would not have believed you,” the Italian challenger added. “I’ve worked very hard to get to this point, so I am grateful for the opportunity.”

Former ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, 34, of the Philippines and Amir Khan, 24, of Singapore also had their second face-off during the press conference. The two are set to co-headline “ONE: Conquest of Champions” where they will compete for the vacant ONE Lightweight World Championship while Cerilli is set to challenge Vera in the co-main event.

Vera, Cerilli, Folayang and Khan had an open workout at the Victory Sports Tower in Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila on November 16, 2018. The two pairs of fighters had their first face-off right after the open workout.

Taking place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila on November 23, 2018, “ONE: Conquest of Champions” will feature eight MMA matches, two Muay Thai bouts and two kickboxing contests. Here is the full fight card:

PRELIMINARY CARD

1. MMA flyweight: Rudy Agustian (Indonesia) vs Asraful Islam (Bangladesh)
2. MMA flyweight: Rocky Bactol (Philippines) vs Akihiro Fujisawa (Japan)
3. MMA strawweight: Jeremy Miado (Philippines) vs Peng Xue Wen (China)
4. ONE Super Series Muay Thai bantamweight: Azwan Che Wil (Malaysia) vs Han Zi Hao (China)
5. MMA heavyweight: Alexandre Machado (Brazil) vs Hideki Sekine (Japan)
6. ONE Super Series kickboxing catchweight (73kg): Samy Sana (France) vs Armen Petrosyan (Italy)

MAIN CARD

7. ONE Super Series kickboxing bantamweight: Deividas Danyla (Lithuania) vs Hiroaki Suzuki (Japan)
8. MMA welterweight: Raimond Magomedaliev (Russia) vs James Nakashima (USA)
9. ONE Super Series Muay Thai bantamweight: Saemapetch Fairtex (Thailand) vs Alaverdi Ramazanov (Russia)
10. MMA lightweight: Honorio Banario (Philippines) vs Rahul Raju (India)

CO-MAIN EVENT

11. ONE Lightweight World Championship: Eduard Folayang (Philippines) vs Amir Khan (Singapore)

MAIN EVENT

12. ONE Heavyweight World Championship: Brandon Vera (Philippines) vs Mauro Cerilli (Italy)

Meanwhile, here is a clip from the “ONE: Conquest of Champions” open workout: