Alex Silva to defend strawweight title in rematch vs. Yoshitaka Naito at ONE Championship 72

The men’s strawweight title will be on the line when ONE Championship returns to Indonesia in May.

Strawweight champion Alex Silva (7-1), from Brazil, will put his title on the line against former champ Yoshitaka Naito (12-1) in the main event of “ONE Championship 72: Grit and Glory,” promotional officials have announced. In the co-feature, Stefer Rahardian (8-0) will meet standout kickboxer Himanshu Kaushik (3-1) in a strawweight bout.

ONE Championship 72 will take place May 12 at Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia. The card will stream as an online pay-per-view in North America.

Silva has won six straight fights, all under the ONE Championship banner. The lone loss of his career came in February 2012 to Geje Eustaquio at ONE Championship 2. In December, he took a unanimous decision from Naito to win the 115-pound title. Now he’ll defend the belt against him in a rematch. Prior to that five-round win, Silva had five straight submissions wins, including four in the first round.

Naito started his career a perfect 12-0, including six submissions. His loss to Silva was the first of his career. The former Shooto flyweight champion won the ONE strawweight title by submitting Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke in his promotional debut in 2016, then submitted Josh Pacio later that year before his loss to Silva after a 14-month layoff.

The current ONE Championship 72 card includes:

• Champ Alex Silva vs. Yoshitaka Naito – for strawweight title
• Himanshu Kaushik vs. Stefer Rahardian
• Leandro Ataides vs. Vitaly Bigdash
• Kotetsu Boku vs. Rafael Nunes
• Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol vs. Rome Trinidad
• Victorio Senduk vs. Sor Sey
• Eliyas Latupeirissa vs. Dodi Mardian
• Tang De Pan vs. Radeem Rahman
• Doan Birawa vs. Riski Umar

For more on ONE Championship 72, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.