Chihiro Sawada gets another shot at breaking into title contention, but the Japanese grappler needs to solve an undefeated puzzle first.<\/p>\n
Sawada<\/a> meets Natalie Salcedo in a women\u2019s atomweight MMA clash at ONE Fight Night 39<\/a> on Friday, January 23, 2026, inside Bangkok\u2019s Lumpinee Stadium. The event opens ONE Championship\u2019s U.S. primetime calendar and features two fighters desperate to crack the championship picture.<\/p>\n The 28-year-old former Shooto Champion carries serious momentum into this fight. Sawada arrived in ONE Championship back in February 2023 and hasn\u2019t looked back.<\/p>\n Her debut set the tone immediately. She forced Sanaz Fayazmanesh to tap via Americana shoulder lock, announcing herself as a legitimate threat.<\/p>\n The Tokyo native rattled off wins over Jihin Radzuan and Noelle Grandjean, building an eight-fight streak before hitting a speed bump. That loss didn\u2019t slow her down for long.<\/p>\n Sawada bounced back with submissions over Macarena Aragon this past July and Itsuki Hirata last month. Her 10-1 record tells the story of a fighter who refuses to stay down.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Natalie Salcedo brings undefeated record into ONE Championship clash<\/p>\n Natalie Salcedo stands between Sawada and another step toward Denice Zamboanga\u2019s ONE Women\u2019s Atomweight MMA World Championship. The 33-year-old Colorado product has never tasted defeat in professional MMA.<\/p>\n Salcedo transitioned from amateur dominance into a perfect 4-0 professional record. Her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt credentials and Muay Thai skills create problems for everyone she faces.<\/p>\n The American made waves in her promotional debut at ONE Fight Night 35 this past September. She forced Aragon to tap in the first round, immediately establishing herself as a serious divisional threat.<\/p>\n A victory over Sawada would cement her status as a top contender. Both fighters understand the fight could define their championship trajectories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chihiro Sawada gets another shot at breaking into title contention, but the Japanese grappler needs to solve an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,152899,641,638,55721,1865,152900,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-352454","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chihiro-sawada","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-natalie-saceldo","14":"tag-one-championship","15":"tag-one-fight-night-39","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}