Tim Sylvia vs. Tony Johnson added to ONE FC 9: Rise to Power in May

Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia continues his MMA comeback tour and will make his second appearance in the ONE FC cage when he squares off against Tony Johnson at ONE FC: Rise to Power on May 31. The bout and larger event will take place from the MOA Arena in Manila, Philippines. The organization announced the bouts formally via press release on Tuesday.

Sylvia, 37, is the former UFC heavyweight champion, a title which he held twice during his nearly six-year run with the organization. Since leaving the UFC in 2008, Sylvia has fought in a number of organizations, including Affliction, Moosin, Pro Elite, ONE FC and others. Sylvia previously competed in ONE FC when he faced former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in August of 2012. The bout marked the fourth meeting between the two, which ended in controversy and a no-contest over Arlovski's confusion on the use of soccer kicks. Sylvia is 7-4-1 since moving on from the UFC. He holds a professional MMA record of 31-8-1.

Johnson is a KOTC, Bellator and smaller show veteran whose only career loss came to Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier. He last competed for Bellator in June of 2011 where he defeated Derrick Lewis via unanimous decision. His overall MMA record is 6-1.

In addition to the Sylvia vs. Johnson bout, two other fights were added to the May 31st card: undefeated lightweight Lowen Tynanes will face ONE FC veteran Felipe Enomoto, and journeyman bantamweight Ryan Diaz will square off against two-time losing ONE FC veteran Yusup Saddulaev.

ONE FC: Rise to Power features the finals of the bantamweight grand prix between Masakatsu Ueda and Kevin Belingon, Phil Baroni vs. Nobutatsu Suzuki, UFC and WEC veteran Kamal Shalrous vs. Eduard Folyang, Bibiano Fernandes vs. Koetsu Okazaki, Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Rey Docyogen and more.