Khon Sichan vs. Riski Umar 3R. Umar is 5 years younger & was surely the favorite having finished his opponent in the 1st round finishes in both his One matches whereas Sichan had been finished in the 1st round in his two previous attempts. It's easy to see why Umar has won so quickly as he's a very aggressive striker, but Sichan made him look slow & downright foolish. Sichan was just waiting for Umar to attack so he could Matrix it & fire back. Sichan's biggest weapon was the right hand, and he dropped Umar with that counter after leaning away from his front kick a little more than a minute in. Sichan pounced when he had Umar hurt, and was able to open up a cut around the right eye, but in general he's not a high volume striker, jumping back when the opponent attacks & then if he can jumping forward with the right hand while they're prone. Umar got tired of missing, and was able to get it to the ground, quickly getting reversed but then threatening with a triangle for much of the rest of the round. Umar winning his other fights so easily was coming back to haunt him, as the deeper he had to go in the fight, the more tired he got from chasing Sichan around. Umar moving directly forward really played into Sichan's hands, and though normally the advantage would clearly be to the guy taking the step forward rather than the guy taking the step backwards, Umar's offensive style and inability to move laterally or cut off the cage were perfect for Sichan's style. Umar was finally able to back Sichan enough that he could clinch against the cage, but Sichan outmuscled him from the 50/50 position, scoring the bodylock takedown then threatening with a rear naked choke for the rest of the round. The speed difference was such in the 3rd that it felt like Sichan had evaded before Umar even threw. I'd love to see the connect percentage because I feel like Umar was landing about 5%. When Sichan got an outside trip with 90 seconds left & immediately mounted, you figured Umar's tank was below E & Sichan would either finish him or ride it out, but Umar was actually able to buck & roll & spent all his remaining energy trying to pound Sichan out. Umar ran out of energy before he ran out of time, but still, it was a good position to finish the fight in, and one judge actually gave the fight to Umar. Good match.
Jihin Najihin vs. Puja Tomar 2:23 R2
Muhammad Aiman vs. Rin Saroth 3R UD
Jia Wen Ma vs. Ahmed Mujtaba 2:38 R2
Michelle Nicolini vs. Iryna Kyselova 2:26 R1
Luis Santos vs. Kiamrian Abbasov 3R UD
Danny Kingad vs. Sotir Kichukov 3R UD
Christian Lee vs. Kazunori Yokota 4:34 R2. The younger brother of undefeated One Women's Atomweight champion Angela Lee, Christain is also one of the most promising fighters around. With all of his fights taking place in One, his 8-1 record gives him the most wins in the history of the One featherweight division at just 19-years-old. Having defeated the inaugural ONE Lightweight Champion Kotetsu Boku in his previous bout, Lee got another tough aging Japanese star in former 2 division DEEP champion & Sengoku LW GP finalist Yokota. Yokota had won 13 in a row before losing his One debut to Marat Gafurov last May, but he's very much a Takanori Gomi style right hand winger with a lot of technical deficiencies, and that's a tough style to maintain when you're closing in on 40. Yokota was really scrappy though, and kept turning bad positions into good ones, getting behind because Lee was the better athlete & technical fighter, but pulling something out of his bag of tricks to stay in it, which made for some pretty exciting back & forth action. Lee, a BJJ & no-gi grappling world champion, is a much stronger grappler than striker, but he's perpetual motion on his feet whereas Yokota is a flatfooted chin up bomber. Lee had such huge speed & footwork advantages that he was able to stay on the outside & back away from Yokota's step jab, using his kicks & getting in & out of the pocket quickly in between Yokota's single shots. Still, that's not his winning strategy, and when Yokota landed a big low kick 90 seconds in, Lee had enough of giving Yokota chances in standup, getting in on a body lock. Yokota kept making what I'd consider the same mistake of just surrendering his back every time Lee got hold of him, but he was able to break Lee's grip a few times using a Kimura. Once he broke free, Lee was soon able to follow a left middle kick Yokota blocked with a huge right to the exposed chin because Yokota was just standing there waiting. Toward the end of the round, Lee threw an overhand right & plowed forward for the takedown when Yokota threw the low kick, mounted & dropped a few big elbows after Yokota pushed him off as he was rushing into an armbar. Yokota had a better gameplan in the 2nd, never waiting for Lee to pick him apart & make him miss, just putting the pressure on by charging forward with his punches quicker than Lee could back away from them. Lee again took over with his grappling, landing north/south knees then trying to finish with a guillotine & rear naked choke, but Yokota snuck out the back & caught Lee's leg as he tried to step off the now standing Yokota, driving forward for his own takedown. Yokota was beginning to take over with his lunging lead overhand rights & another takedown, but finally giving his back when Lee grabbed him came back to haunt him, as Lee dragged him down & rear mounted. Yokota initiated a scramble & almost got the top, but Lee got up before Yokota could get on top, so Yokota got up a step behind, which gave Lee leverage & time to get around the side & drop into an arm in guillotine for the win. Good match.
Agilan Thani vs. Amitesh Chaubey 1:04 R2
Reece McLaren vs. Gianni Subba 3:12 R2
Sunoto Peringkat vs. Hisyam Samsudin 3R UD
Gilberto Galvao vs. Jake Butler 0:07 R2
Alain Ngalani vs. Ariunbold Tur-Ochir 3R SD
Robin Catalan vs. Kritsada Kongsrichai 1:40 R1
Garry Tonon vs. Richard Corminal 3:40 R2
Waqar Umar vs. Zhikang Zhao 4:21 R1
Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev vs. Tetsuya Yamada 2:51 R3
Angelie Sabanal vs. Rika Ishige 3R UD
Shannon Wiratchai vs. Rahul Raju 0:21 R1
Jeremy Miado vs. Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke 1:29 R1
One Featherweight Title; Bibiano Fernandes vs. Martin Nguyen Lose 5R SD
Adrian Mattheis vs. Ming Qiang Lan 3R UD
Gina Iniong vs. Jenny Huang 3R UD
Kickboxing: Brad Riddell vs. Regian Eersel
Akihiro Fujisawa vs. Kaji Ebin R1 1:48
Kickboxing: Elliot Compton vs. Cosmo Alexandre
Dae Hwan Kim vs. Masakazu Imanari 3R UD
Marat Gafurov vs. Emilio Urrutia 2:34 R1
Muay Thai: Nong-O Gaiyanghaoao vs. Fabio Pinca
Honorio Banario vs. Adrian Pang 3R SD
Kickboxing: Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Jo Nattawut
Kevin Bellingon vs. Andrew Leone 1:26 R2
Riski Umar vs. Doan Birawa 1:22 R2
Elipitua Siregar vs. Dodi Mardian 3:59 R1
Radeem Rahman vs. Da Fen Tang 1:19 R1
Muay Thai: Stergos Mikkios vs. Ognjen Topic
Tetsuya Yamada vs. Eric Kelly 3:00 R1
Sor Sey vs. Victorio Senduk 3R UD
Priscilla Gaol vs. Rome Trinidad 2:27 R1
Sergej Maslobojev vs. Antonio Plazibat
Leandro Ataides vs. Vitaly Bigdash 2:37 R3
Stefer Rahardian vs. Himanshu Kaushik 2:25 R1
ONE Flyweight Title: Yoshitaka Naito vs. Alex Silva 5R SD
Sunoto Peringkat vs. Roel Rosauro 3R UD
Xie Bin vs. Shi Hao Huang 2:25 R2
Chao Xie vs. Meas Meu 1:10 R3
Muay Thai: Joseph Lasiri vs. Singtongnoi Por Telakun R2 2:36. Singtongnoi is a multiple time Muay Thai world champion. While Lasiri is a WBC Muay Thai Super Bantamweight champ in his own right, and probably still working toward his prime with 37 fights at age 26, this would normally be an obvious mismatch, except that 37-year-old Singtongnoi is returning after a 3 year layoff where he retired due to a slow healing broken rib then survived a life threatening battle with stage 3 nasal cavity cancer. This wasn't the usual slow starting muay thai fight where they began to loosen up in the 3rd round, in fact much of what made it so exciting is they were so aggressive they were practically chasing each other down. The pace was really insane, as there wasn't a consistent aggressor, but rather whenever one fighter stopped pushing forward the other just ate up that space & pushed back as far as they had energy to, with both doing nice damage against the cage. Part of the difference here is they fought 3 rounds with 4 ounce open fingered MMA gloves, and while the lighter gloves didn't have as much effect as you'd think because neither guy focused on their punching, it made Lasiri do everything he could to stay out of Singtongnoi's clinch because being able to use his fingers would make his grip so much better. Singtongnoi knocked Lasiri off his feet with his first kick then scored an actual knockdown with his first arm strike countering Lasiri's left middle kick with a short elbow. Lasiri still attacked frantically, but Singtongnoi was consistently able to time him coming in & land big counters. Lasiri didn't have much choice because Singtongnoi would eat him up mixing the right low kick & left middle kick whenever Lasiri stopped pressuring or just push him back into the cage & work his elbows. The fight was paused to check out a gash over Lasiri's right eye from another big elbow, and when it restarted Singtongnoi dropped him again with a punch combo against the cage. As overmatched as Lasiri was in the 1st, rather than wilting he found some adjustments & had a good start to the 2nd. Lasiri was now ready for Singtongnoi's middle kick, and although he still ate it too often, whether he was able to back away or not, he was sure to launch his own counter attack. Lasiri also did a better job with his positioning, keeping Singtongnoi backed against the octagon, which allowed him to land a regular & spinning back elbow. After another check of Lasiri's worsening cut, the fight turned for the final time as Singtongnoi was able to back Lasiri against the cage & land a couple big elbows that caused Lasiri to go momentarily limp, though he didn't fall because Singtongnoi was trying to get his clinch. Atsushi Onari checked Lasiri out after another blistering middle kick from Singtongnoi, and eventually stopped it for the cut, though that wasn't too clear. Good match.
Amir Khan vs. Sung Jong Lee 3:39 R2
Eduard Folayang vs. Kharun Atlangeriev 3R UD
Shinya Aoki vs. Rasul Yakhyaev 3:15 R1
Kickboxing: Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex vs. Chris Ngimbi 3R UD. Another Muay Thai great came out of retirement & won today, vanquishing former It's Showtime & SUPERKOMBAT middleweight champion Ngimbi in a competitive toe to toe fight where Ngimbi had his moments, but Fairtex was by far the more solid & consistent fighter. The southpaw Fairtex kept winning the footwork battle, working with his right foot inside Ngimbi's left & landing the 1-2 combo down the middle then sometimes following with the right uppercut or working the left kick to tenderize Ngimbi's forearms. Yodsanklai was looking for the high kick more than the middle kick, not really landing either but just destroying Ngimbi's blocking arm either way, though The African Warrior refused to drop his guard. Ngimbi landed some good right hooks & low kicks in the opener, but Fairtex was getting off first & Ngimbi was just standing in the pocket waiting for him to finish his attack rather than circling out or countering. Ngimbi made a little push late, but it was basically who was getting off first, and that was Fairtex 80% of the time. Ngimbi landed a good right hook counter to Fairtex's left middle kick early in the 2nd that caused Fairtex to stumble, and Ngimbi had a little run, but Fairtex really took over once he regained the inititive & scored a knockdown with what Ngimbi claimed was a gouge, but was likely a punch to the eye. Ngimbi tried to get his famous flying knee going, but was beginning to get wild trying to make something happen given he was about to be down 3 points. Ngimbi started stepping forward in the 3rd to negate Fairtex getting off 1st by smothering his offense, answering Fairtex's attacks with inside leg kicks or right hooks. This was a much better tactic for Ngimbi because he wasn't spending time in the pocket, though Fairtex still caught him with some of his short punches & beat on his welted arms some more. Ngimbi hit his jumping knee in the final 20 seconds & got a good left hook in before the bell. He might have won the last round for what that was worth. Good match.
ONE Featherweight Title: Martin Nguyen vs. Christian Lee 5R SD
Inaugural ONE Muay Thai Flyweight Title: Sam-A Kaiyanghadaogym vs. Sergio Wielzen R4 2:47
ONE Women's Atomweight Title: Angela Lee vs. Mei Yamaguchi 5R UD. Nowhere near the original classic, but still an intense match. Lee tightened up her striking and was now able to control the center & keep Yamaguchi on the outside with her jab. Neither landed all that much, and it was all about getting the takedown & trying for a submission. Lee came closest with an armbar. Yamaguchi really did very little until the end of the 4th, but carried that over with an early takedown in the 5th, so there was drama until the end even though Yamaguchi wasn't able to get the finish she needed.
4/14/14 Inaugural LFC Women's Bantamweight Title: Holly Holm vs. Juliana Werner R5 1:50
Rin Saroth vs. Mario Satya Wirawan 2:30 R3
Danny Kingad vs. Hao Bin Ma 3R UD
Kai Wen Li vs. Rodian Menchavez 0:13 R1
Muay Thai: Yukinori Ogasawara vs. Rui Botelho R2 2:54
Kickboxing: Tarik Khbabez vs. Alain Ngalani R3 1:49
Muay Thai: Lerdsila Chumpairtour vs. Sok Thy 3R SD
Jadamba Narantungalag vs. Edward Kelly 4:58 R2
Ev Ting vs. Koji Ando 3R UD
Muay Thai: Phetmorakot Wor Sangprapai vs. Fabrice Fairtex Delannon R2 0:43
6/1/13: Laura Balin vs. Vanessa Guimaraes
ONE Women's Strawweight Title: Jingnan Xiong vs. Laura Balin 5R UD
ONE Flyweight Title Unification: Geje Eustaquio vs. Adriano Moraes 3R SD
11/26/11: Geje Eustaquio vs. David Cho 3R SD
Robin Catalan vs. Adrian Mattheis 2:10 R2
Xuewen Peng vs. Eddey Kalai 0:57 R1
Shuya Kamikubo vs. Sunoto Peringkat 3:54 R2
Istela Nunes vs. Gina Iniong 3R UD
Zhikang Zhao vs. Xu Dong Ma 1:08 R3
Kickboxing: Saemapetch Fairtex vs. Deividas Danyla 3R UD
Chang Xin Fu vs. Rustem Yensebayev 4:32 R1
Kickboxing: Ibrahim El Bouni vs. Andre Meunier R1 1:31
Reece McLaren vs. Tatsumitsu Wada 3R SD
Inaugural ONE Kickboxing Women's Atomweight Title: Kai Ting Zhuang vs. Yodcherry Sityodtong 5R UD
Dae Sung Park vs. Trestle Tan 3R UD
Muay Thai: Petchdam Petchyindee Academy vs. Josh Tonna R2 1:11
Jihin Najihin vs. Priscilla Gaol 3R UD
Li Kai Wen vs. Emilio Urrutia R3 1:22
Ariel Sexton vs. Kota Shimoishi R3 0:44
Keanu Subba vs. Xie Chao R1 3:31
Kickboxing: Sergej Maslobojev vs. Florent Kaouachi 3R UD
Jadamba Narantungalag vs. Kazuki Tokudome 3R UD
Tyler McGuire vs. Luis Santos 3R UD
Muay Thai: Jo Nattawut vs. Yohann Drai R1 2:59
Zebaztian Kadestam vs. Agilan Thani R3 1:56
Nyrene Crowley vs. Anita Karim 1:54 R2
Punnya Sai vs. Nyan Lin Sai 3:56 R1
Ryuto Sawada vs. Mohd Fouzein 2:09 R1
Edilah Johany vs. Neha Kashyap 1:43 R1
Emmanuel Onyedikachi vs. Sandeep Kumar Dahiya 2:44 R1
Michael Fangki vs. Chan Samart 1:54 R1
Alexander Fong vs. Sanya Kongkatonk 4:20 R1
Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg vs. Akuri Ronda 0:58 R1
Mark Cuizon vs. Ismael Bandiwan 3R UD
Michael Walker vs. Shafkat Khodzhkulov 1:26 R1
Stamp Fairtexvs. Rashi Shinde 0:19 R1
Saharat Khongsawat vs. Muhammad Adib Sulaiman 4:32 R2
Mark Abelardo vs. Ali Motamed Unanimous Dec
JD Hardwick vs. Davaabayar Enkhtaivan 2:32 R1
Kimihiro Eto vs. Yusaku Inoue 4:32 R2
Elipitua Siregar vs. Phat Soda 2:30 R1
Muay Thai: Yukinori Ogasawara vs. Hakim Hamech R1
Muhammad Aiman vs. Lei Chen 4:35 R2
Kickboxing: Mustapha Haida vs. Daniel Dawson R3
Muay Thai: Stergos Mikkios vs. Han Zi Hao 3R
Muay Thai: Tukkatatong Petpayathai vs. Ognjen Topic 3R UD
Edward Kelly vs. Christian Lee 2:19 R1
Amir Khan vs. Honorio Banario 4:34 R1
ONE Women's Strawweight Title: Jingnan Xiong vs. Samara Santos 1:22 R3. A fairly one-sided match that had a lot of action as Xiong pressured with her big punches & didn't care if that allowed Santos to clinch. Santos should have had the ground advantage, but Xiong was just too strong for her to ever take advantage, getting top control because she dropped Santos with strikes or because she overpowered her once Santos employed a standing clinch until she found the opening for the trip. Santos briefly had a standing rear mount, but Xiong took over dropping Santos with a flying knee midway through the first & went to work on her on the ground, mounting & dropping punches & short elbows. The ref may have stopped the fight if she just continued with her pounding instead of gambling on the armbar before the bell. Early in the 2nd, Xiong reversed Santos' clinch & tripped her up, but the fight was quickly stood back up when Xiong landed an illegal kick to the head of her downed opponent that was presumably intended for the shoulder. Santos finally tripped Xiong out of a single leg attempt with 90 seconds in the 2nd & was nearly able to transition right into mount, but wound up losing control trying to catch a standing guillotine as Xiong stood. Xiong then got the hiptoss & had a better armbar attempt to finish the 2nd. The finish was odd as they claim the spinning back kick landed to the liver, but I couldn't really tell it connected. Xiong definitely followed with a standing hammerfist to the side of the head and then Santos paused for a second then waived her hand in surrender. Xiong was a very classy opponent, pulling up on her subsequent punch because she saw something was wrong with Santos before the ref realized Santos quit. Good match.
Egi Rozten vs. Riski Umar R3 0:51
Adrian Mattheis vs. Angelo Bimoadji R1 2:41
Sunoto Peringkat vs. Victorio Senduk R2 4:12
Muay Thai: Fabrice Delannon vs. Yodpanomrung Jitmuangnon 3R SD
Priscilla Gaol vs. Jomary Torres 3R UD
Kairat Akhmetov vs. Ma Haobin 3R UD
Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev vs. Timofey Nastyukhin R1 1:57
Koyomi Matsushima vs. Marat Gafurov R1 2:41
Danny Kingad vs. Yuya Wakamatsu 3R UD
Muay Thai: Rodtang Jitmuangnon vs. Sergio Wielzen 3R UD
Peng Xue Wen vs. Stefer Rahardian 3R UD
ONE Strawweight Title: Yoshitaka Naito vs. Joshua Pacio 5R UD
7/14/07: Eddie Alvarez vs. Matt Lee 3R
5/19/12 (Handheld VG VQ): Joanna Jedrzejczyk v Sylwia Juskiewicz 2R
Ramon Gonzales vs. Dodi Mardian 3:33 R1
Chang Xin Fu vs. Rin Saroth 3:04 R2
Muay Thai: Petchdam Gaiyanghadao vs. Kenny Tse R1 1:26
Rika Ishige vs. Bozhena Antoniyar 2:48 R1
Kickboxing: Singtongnoi Por Telakun vs. Masahide Kudo 3R UD
Hayato Suzuki vs. Robin Catalan 3:43 R2
Muay Thai: Alaverdi Ramazanov vs. Phetmorakot Wor Sangprapai 3R UD. Lumpinee Stadium champion Phetmorakot Wor Sangprapai has never lost to a fighter who wasn't from Thailand in his 191 fights, though kickboxing & muay thai records are so incomplete it's hard to say how impressive that actually is. His wiki record verifies 8 foreign opponents, but either way, he's won 83% of almost 200 fights and held the top title in his country at both 105 & 130 pounds. Ramazanov probably hasn't fought the same level of competition, but he's definitely no slouch at a mere 57-3. He came in as the underdog, but it didn't take long to see that he was at a different level both as a athlete and especially in his ability to put together really high level striking sequences. Ramazanov fought with a great deal of confidence from the outset which only grew as the fight went on. I was extremely impressed by how fast & fluid he was, but mostly by the way he could "improvise", always setting traps where he didn't care if he missed because making the opponent defend a shot left them open to the next. Ramazanov did a great job of thwarting Phetmorakot by landing the low kick when Phetmorakot tried to throw a middle kick, which pretty much made Phetmorakot abandon his kicking game early in the 1st round, rendering ineffective except when he could use his elbows on the inside. Ramazanov had a nice front kick to keep Phetmorakot out of range, but more importantly, his success with the front kick allowed him to fake it & throw the overhand left or step in with a 2 or 3 punch combo instead. The level of Ramazanov's combos was just so far beyond what you see from normal fighters, he just kept chaining another piece of the attack together in spots where most anyone else would be getting out of the pocket or waiting to avoid the counter attack. Ramazanov didn't stay with any tactic for long, and was really difficult to read because he switched stances so often. He was so quick closing the distance behind his fakes and made the adjustment to what Phetmorakot was doing & how he was reacting quicker than Phetmorakot could do the same to him. There was a great spot where Ramazanov faked the right straight or side kick then threw the spinning backfist with the left hand and kept his upper body turning so he went right into an overhand right. Phetmorakot is a master of elbows, and he cut Ramazanov badly around his right ear a minute into the 2nd. Once the blood was in the water, Phetmorakot just wanted to get inside and land more elbows, and decided he was just going to walk through Ramazanov's attacks if that's what it took. Ramazanov didn't make it easy for Phetmorakot though, as he'd back, plant for a big punch, then scamper back quickly to try to always stay out of range. The problem for Ramazanov was even though the blood wasn't going into his eyes, the cut was just so big that there was a real threat that they'd stop the fight anyway. The more Phetmorakot just charged forward, the more he was able to make it a brawl, and the ugly fight was definitely his only chance. Ramazanov tried to reestablish his own pressure game, but the problem was Phetmorakot just wanted to grab him, so he could just hold his ground & take a shot or two to get the clinch. The 1st round was Ramazanov's, but the next two rounds were close. With a minute left in the 3rd, Ramazanov missed countering the right jab with the right elbow, but was able to follow with a spinning backfist for the knockdown. Atsushi Onari ruled it was a slip though, which I thought was a bad call because while the shot landed more as a forearm, Phetmorakot never saw it coming & still took a good deal of impact from it rather than being off balanced from the follow through. I didn't think there was much argument for Phetmorakot getting more than a round, so I wasn't too worried this was going to effect the decision, but it definitely kept Phetmorakot in the hunt. Ultimately, Ramazanov did get the unanimous decision. Very good match.
Alain Ngalani vs. Andre Meunier R2 0:30
Muin Gafurov vs. Leandro Issa 2:24 R1
Anthony Njokuani vs. Andy Souwer 3R SD
Muay Thai: Nong-O Gaiyanghadao vs. Mehdi Zatout 3R UD
Shinya Aoki vs. Ev Ting 0:57 R1
ONE Kickboxing Women's Atomweight Title: Kai Ting Zhuang vs. Stamp Fairtex 5R
WBC Super Flyweight Boxing Title: Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs. Iran Diaz 12 UD
Rudy Agustian vs. Kaji Ebin 4:01 R1
Ahmad Qais Jasoor vs. Xu Dong Ma 2:16 R2
Kickboxing: Josh Tonna vs. Joseph Lasiri 3R. Lasiri really just wanted to clinch, so he'd press forward aggressively behind a punch combo then grab Tonna & throw the knee. Lasiri wasn't really beating Tonna up in the 1st round, but Tonna wasn't doing anything to punish him for coming in so hard, and was just fighting off his back foot the whole time. Tonna made some good adjustments between rounds though, and was now intercepting Lasiri with the front or middle kick. Tonna was able to land the left hand once he was able to hold his ground, which happened a lot more often now. There was still a lot of inside fighting in this round, though not all initiated by Lasiri. The last minute was particularly good with big exchanges. The fight was presumably even going into the 3rd, which would seem to give an edge to Tonna because Lasiri's style requires a lot of energy & Tonna now knew he had the tools to slow him down. Lasiri was able to fight most of this round on his terms, now using the flying switch knee to get inside, but he was having a lot of trouble actually connecting with anything. Tonna wasn't as active, but he managed to land some solid left kicks to the liver in between avoiding a lot of kicks & knees. Again, there were some big exchanges toward the end of the round, and this time Tonna was cut over the left eye by one of Lasiri's short punches during the inside exchanging. They were just machine gunning punches on the inside after the doctor checked Tonna out to finish strong, and Tonna caught Lasiri with a big right to greatly aid his cause in stealing the fight on the cards. This round was very close and both fighters had a good claim to the decision, but Tonna's defense was really the difference because he didn't really land that much in the 3rd, but Lasiri seemed to miss with everything except when they were just trading punch for punch on the inside. Good match.
Luis Santos vs. Daichi Abe 0:33 R1
Ye Thway Ne vs. Mite Yine 3R UD. The first round of this fight was excellent with Yine constantly coming forward behind the sweeping low kick then quickly closing the distance with punches & staying in Ne's face as long as possible. Though Ne was able to circle away at the outset, Yine wouldn't relent, and they wound up simply exchanging power shots on the inside for most of the time. Yine would pick up the aggression even more whenever he got a damaging shot in, but after his initial surge, Ne began to get his offense going, using the initial punch whether it be the jab or the right hook to set up the body shots. Combined with the crazy pace Yine was trying to keep, the body work resulted in Yine slowing down quite a bit by round 2. Though Yine did make a big push at the end of the 1st round, in general, just staying in the pocket like Gaethje was a real disadvantage as Ne was very good at covering up then landing his own combo back, whereas Yine didn't defend all that well and wasn't wearing Ne out by forcing him to keep answering because Ne's answers were too damaging. Ne's jab was doing work in the 2nd, busting Yine open on the bridge of the nose. Yine wasn't moving much in the 2nd, and that made him rather predictable, allowing Ne to step off & land his counters. Yine was moving even less in the third. Though he still threw a lot of strikes, it was Ne coming to him, and now just having too much speed & footwork. The fight was still up for grabs, and Yine finally got another wind in the final 2 minutes, but Ne blocked his high kick with his forearm & landed a few good right hooks to stop Yine's aggression. Despite being a lethwei fighter, Ne really only used boxing, but his conditioning is what won him the fight. Very good match.
Kickboxing: Han Zi Hao vs. Ryan Jakiri R1 1:39
Masakazu Imanari vs. Radeem Rahman 1:23 R1
Kickboxing: Tarik Khbabez vs. Ibrahim El Bouni R3 2:26. This wasn't the most technical or skilled match, but these two are both big KO artists, and it's easy to see why with all the huge violent power shots they were throwing. El Bouni had the reach advantage, so Khbabez had to keep getting inside and bringing the heat so El Bouni couldn't just pick him apart with kicks and the jab. Khbabez wasn't just plowing forward, he'd look to either duck or lean back to avoid the jab then come right in behind his counter attack. The first round was the best because El Bouni was enacting his strategy as well, and the exchanges were more thoughtful & competitive. The problem is Khbabez hit so damn hard & applied so much pressure that it wasn't long before El Bouni became very hesitant of his counter attacks and started backing up and just hoping to stick and move or intercept him with a jab. Khbabez would cut him off against the cage sooner or later though, and he rocked El Bouni with a huge left hook late in the 1st then nearly dropped him with an uppercut but El Bouni grabbed a single leg even though it's illegal to stay on his feet and get a second to recover while the ref broke things up. Early in the 2nd, Khbabez buckled El Bouni with a liver hook then cracked him with an uppercut, but El Bouni spit his mouthpiece out Diego Corrales style to get a cheap rest. Even after the ref's warning, El Bouni was still so damaged he basically just collapsed from nothing. Khbabez went right back to the liver for a 2nd knockdown, and the fight should have been called there. Although Khbabez swarmed El Bouni against the cage & really worked over the body for the rest of the round, somehow Atsushi Onari just kept letting this continue even though El Bouni's liver was clearly shut down & it was all one-way traffic for the entire round. I kept waiting for Khbabez to slow down, but he really impressed me with the amount of volume he was able to put out, especially given he's a light heavyweight & all these shots were full power. El Bouni conveniently lost his mouthpiece again early in the 3rd. This round was also fought with El Bouni's back against the cage, and El Bouni really had no answers at this range when he was fresh, much less now that he was too battered to even get himself off the cage. That being said, when he did eventually circle off, Khbabez would just walk him down & the pressure of his attack would back El Bouni into the cage again. After the mouthpiece came out the 3rd time, Onari finally stopped the match when Khbabez unleashed yet another flurry against the cage. Good match.
Keanu Subba vs. Phoe Thaw 2:47 R1
ONE Middleweight Title: Aung La Nsang vs. Mohammad Karaki 2:21 R1
Anthony Engelen vs. Meas Meu 0:39 R1
Xie Bin vs. Hisyam Samsudin 3:19 R1
Shuya Kamikubo vs. Muhammad Aiman 3R UD
Muay Thai: Muangthai P.K. Saenchaimuaythaigym vs. Panicos Yusuf
Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke vs. Himanshu Kaushik 4:45 R2
Garry Tonon vs. Sung Jong Lee 2:04 R2
Muay Thai: Alaverdi Ramazanov vs. Andrew Miller R1 0:57
Muay Thai: Jo Nattawut vs. George Mann 3R UD. Mann had the worst hematoma I can recall seeing in a fight. Michael Schiavello said it was a second head, while Mitch Chilson said he had an alien or a predator growing. I couldn't believe the doctor allow Mann to continue, though the fight was nearly over.
Adrian Pang vs. Kota Shimoishi 5:00 R1
Tiffany Teo vs. Michelle Nicolini 3R UD
Kickboxing: Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Sorgraw Petchyindee 3R UD. I've never seen Giorgio so aggressive. He was just marching forward & beating down because Sorgraw couldn't stop his right hook/left straight combo nor could he land anything that would make Petrosyan respect his power & quell his forward progress.
Christian Lee vs. Kazuki Tokudome 3:07 R1
ONE Featherweight Title: Kevin Belingon vs. Bibiano Fernandes 5R SD. Fernandes is one of the greatest fighters of all time and has has been on an amazing run, winning his last 14 fights going back all the way to the DREAM Bantamweight Grand Prix and then 9 ONE Bantamweight Title matches. Belingon was one of his victims, but he's progressed since they fought 2 1/2 years ago, and captured the interim title in Fernandes' absence. Fernandes is a strong boxer in his own right, but never really got his standup game going here as Belingon is a much faster & more explosive striker with superior footwork. Belingon had a much better gameplan this time, able to use his movement to stay on the outside, stepping in to work the body with a jab or a spinning heel kick. His strategy was to just keep working over the body then be ready with the uppercut or knee when Fernandes was forced to shoot, though the second part didn't materialize as Fernandes instead timed his takedown attempts well when Belingon was repositioning after a spin or trying to get out of the pocket. Fernandes was able to get several takedowns, and had a number of armbar attempts, but while Belingon had no real offense from the bottom, he defended well enough to not get submitted or pounded on too badly and was able to get back to his feet repeatedly even though he had a lot more explosion than technique. Thankfully we don't have to worry about the silly round scoring here, but the fight would have been extremely close under any scoring criteria because each round had a couple minutes of Belingon floating around & picking Fernandes apart in standup as well as a couple minutes of Fernandes in a dominant position on the canvas working toward the submission. Belingon's spinning back kick is really explosive, but even though the first was the best & Fernandez had to know it was coming he went back to it so many times I can't imagine anyone has ever thrown more in a high level MMA match, it was amazing how much success he still had with it over the course of 25 minutes. Fernandes did manage to crack him back with a right hook and take him down after taking one early in the 2nd, but otherwise Fernandes wasn't making him pay so there was no reason to stop using it. Fernandes ducked a left hand & took Belingon down late in the 2nd into rear mount, transitioning to the armbar, but his inside leg was under Belingon's neck so he couldn't keep him in place. Fernandes went for the armbar again, but Belingon took the top & pounded him for the remaining 45 seconds, though Bibiano was laughing it off while trying to set up a triangle. One thing that made the match so good is they were consistently able to answer each others threats. Belingon would land an explosive strike, but get taken down or Fernandes would go for a submission but lose the position & start getting hit again. I thought Fernandes would come on in the 2nd half because Belingon threw everything at full power & relied so heavily on his movement & explosiveness, but all the body work slowed Fernandes down as well, so they wound up tiring at a relatively equal rate & nothing really changed. Fernandes had a good run of top control late in the 3rd & continued to dominate much of the 4th, but in the final seconds of the round Belingon caught Fernandes' right leg recoiling from landing a low kick & dropped him with a right straight. This looked a lot better than it was, as Fernandes was a bit off balance trying to get his leg free & get out of the pocket quickly and got hit while he still had the kicking leg in the air. This might have been ruled a slip in kickboxing, but the judges probably didn't see it in slow motion & considered this the difference in the fight. In Belingon's defense though, he did follow up by controlling the rest of the fight. Belingon was hardly dominant in the 5th, but he managed to stay off his back, circling and landing a random inside leg kick or jab. Belingon scored the upset over the most dominant champion in ONE history via split decision to unify the titles, but then lost the rematch on 3/31/19 via DQ, so they'll likely need to have a 4th bout. Very good match.
VWS 4/11/15: Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Enriko Kehl 3R, Kehl was a hot fighter at this time having won the 2014 K-1 World MAX, while Petrosyan was at his "low point" having fought just once in the year in a half since he shockingly suffered the 1st KO & 2nd overall loss of his career to Andy Ristie, who then fell off the face of the earth around this time after losing his lightweight title challenge to Robin van Roosmalen. This was remarkably competitive for a Petrosyan fight, with Kehl actually landing quick countershots on the normally untouchable Petrosyan early on to shut down Giorgio's aggression. Petrosyan was then conscious of the need to move back quickly, so he would mostly creep forward & either land the jab or jump back out of range if Kehl attacked. As Petrosyan began to time Kehl, he was able to follow the jab with the left straight or low kick. Kehl closed distance quickly with his counters, but Petrosyan started stepping or ducking forward to get inside them. Round 1 could have gone either way, but round 2 was business as usual for the GOAT. Things didn't go as planned in round 3 though as Kehl landed a sweet spinning right backfist/left cross combo at the outset and soon Petrosyan was hurt by a low blow when both kicked at the same time. Though Petrosyan started fighting again after about 20 seconds, that was clearly a big mistake. Kehl also changed his tactics, shifting to a pressure game which he had some success with because he was quick enough to get Petrosyan against the ropes where he didn't have room to just back away from everything Kehl threw. Kehl glanced with a spinning backkick because Petrosyan bounced off the ropes then followed with a short left hand. Petrosyan landed here & there, but just couldn't stop Kehl from coming forward. With Kehl clearly taking the final round, it came down to who the judges gave round 1 to, and Giorgio got the majority decision in Milan, though that it was probably the right call. Good match.
Dwi Ani Retno Wulan vs. Putri Padmi 3R UD
Bruno Pucci vs. Chao Xie Sub, 0:56 R1
Muay Thai: Brown Pinas vs. Yohann Fairtex Drai. Awesome spinning back elbow KO for Pinas.
Adrian Mattheis vs. Aziz Calim 0:57 R2
Tatsumitsu Wada vs. Eugene Toquero 0:52 R1. Wada ducked a left hook, took Toquero's back & dropped into a rear naked for the win.
Dae Hwan Kim vs. Zhikang Zhao 3R UD
Egi Rozten vs. Eddey Kalai 3:15 R1
Elipitua Siregar vs. Muhammad Imran 2:10 R2
Anthony Engelen vs. Jimmy Yabo 2:35 R1
Muay Thai: Lerdsila Phuket Top Team vs. Sok Thy 3R UD
Hayato Suzuki vs. Pongsiri Mitsatit 2:09 R1
Priscilla Gaol vs. Angelie Sabanal 3R UD
Kickboxing: Nieky Holzken vs. Cosmo Alexandre R2 2:59
One Welterweight Title Decision Match: Zebaztian Kadestam vs. Tyler McGuire 4:32 R5
Rudy Agustian vs. Ashraful Islam 3R UD
Akihiro Fujisawa vs. Rocky Bactol 4:40 R3
Jeremy Miado vs. Xuewen Peng 0:35 R2
Muay Thai: Han Zi Hao vs. Azwan Che Wil R1 2:52
Alexandre Machado vs. Hideki Sekine 1:44 R2
Kickboxing: Samy Sana vs. Armen Petrosyan 3R UD
Kickboxing: Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Deividas Danyla 3R UD
James Nakashima vs. Raimond Magomedaliev 3R UD
Muay Thai: Alaverdi ramazanov vs. Saemapetch Fairtex 3R UD
Honorio Banario vs. Rahul Raju 3R UD
ONE Welterweight Title Decision Match: Eduard Folayang vs. Amir Khan 5R UD
ONE Heavyweight Title: Brandon Vera vs. Mauro Cerilli 1:04 R1
bonus
3/10/17: Mackenzie Dern vs Katherine Roy 3R UD
5/24/98 (VG VQ) Tournament Semifinal: Cung Le vs. Gaik Israelyan 5R (complete match). This was Le's 2nd professional fight, and it was a fantastic watch as always, being thrown into the deep waters with an 18-3 fighter who held a couple of titles. Justin Gaethje has higher quality matches on a more consistent basis as he fights better competition, but there may not have been a more purely exciting fighter in combat sports than Le, certainly no one who could repeatedly make opponents look more foolish. Le was probably even been more exciting in Sanshou than in MMA because he was able to use his throws without worrying about the fight getting stuck on the ground. In typical Le fashion, he went right to the highlight reel material, starting off with a spinning high kick then dropping for a double leg, but instead scooping Gaik up & essentially powerslams him. Le's striking wasn't as impressive here as in later years, but he was regularly able to do variations of this slam, throwing his strike & then just dropping down at will before Israelyan could throw his counter & doing some sort of scoop slam variation. Le was just too quick & unpredictable early on. You always had to be on guard becuase he would do low percentage moves, but he could follow them up while the opponent was off guard, for instance missing a left spinning backfist, but then immediately landing a nice right hook. One of these low percentage specials eventually backfired on Le, as he missed an axe kick in the corner & was able to avoid Israelyan's right hook counter but then there was no space for him to evade the subsequent left hook. This could have been ruled a knockdown, and that would likely have changed the fight. I think what saved Le, aside from the ref having a bad angle where Gaik's back was in his way, is he immediately went into a desperation takedown once his knee hit the mat. Le wasn't doing much to keep Israelyan off him in the 4th, and Israelyan, who was primarily a boxer, was now able to overwhelm him with hooks in the corner for a knockdown that was scored. Le got up quickly, but wobbled from the neutral corner to his own, and the ref inexplicably brought the doctor in to check him after giving him the standing 8 count then let Le walk back to his corner, so almost 45 seconds passed before Le had to fight again. Le eventually got his senses back & took Gaik down with a beautiful jumping leg scissors then Gaik took a cheap shot, kicking him in the face before they got back up. Le had two more takedowns before the round ended to somewhat negate the knockdown. The final round saw Le using more scissor takedowns, and Gaik again cheap shot him for his trouble, which at least cost him points. Le was expending a lot of energy as always, and Gaik was able to work him over with boxing because a tiring Le no longer possessed the kind of footwork & movement he had early in the fight, but Le did fire back with some powerful right hooks. Overall, Gaik's inability to adjust to the takedowns & actually stop some was the difference in the fight, and kind of what made it memorable as these techniques, albeit eventually a bit repetitive, were always amazing. Le got the unanimous decision here then won the final in the 1st round. Excellent match.
Sovannahry Em vs. Iryna Kyselova 1:21 R1
Chan Rothana vs. Abro Fernandes 4:06 R2
Mei Yamaguchi vs. Jomary Torres 3R UD
Muay Thai: Mohammed bin Mahmood vs. Stergos Mikkios R1 2:20
Muay Thai: Panpayak Jitmuangnon vs. Rui Botelho 3R UD
Yosuke Saruta vs. Alex Silva 3R UD
Vitaly Bigdash vs. Yuki Niimura 4:24 R1. Bigdash wins with a reverse triangle armbar.
Muay Thai: Phetmorakot Wor Sangprapai vs. Liam Harrison R2 1:15
Jihin Radzuan vs. Jenny Huang 3R UD. Huang was 5-0 before losing to Angela Lee, who Radzuan is being groomed for a shot at, but even though she's lost 3 fight since, she's a very experienced opponent for a 3-0 fighter. Radzuan has a ton of potential, especially since she's 20-years-old and has only been training in any form of martial arts for 4 years. She was 19-1 in muay thai and also had a BJJ base before starting her MMA training, but clearly this is a fight where she should have just used her standup but she wound up only spending about the first 20 seconds of each round at distance because she made no effort to create space or get back to her feet. It's great that she's fearless, and wants to dominate her opponent in all positions rather than to worry about what they might do when they are in a disadvantageous position, but while Huang is quite a good scrappy grappler, she has almost no standup game at all. It looks like Huang trained standup watching pro wrestling as she doesn't move her head, use any kind of footwork or angles, her elbows are too far out, etc.. Huang basically just stood there eating punches to the mush or getting the same result slowly waddling straight back. That being said, one of the main reasons the match was so entertaining is neither cared about what the other was going to do to them. Huang was going to go for submissions no matter how many punches she had to take, and Radzuan was going to dish out punishment no matter how many submissions Huang tried off her back. Huang's experience advantage showed in always grabbing Radzuan pretty much any time & any where she could because Radzuan would engage her in the grappling rather than taking the easy win at distance, but both fighters just being stubborn was also a major factor. Everyone knew Huang was going to try to clinch at all costs, but Radzuan kept trying to answer with guillotines. Part of Radzuan's ability to get work in winning the hard way came from her easily being able to take top position on the ground after her guillotines failed, but Huang didn't seem to care about position all that much. She looked like a holdover from the no ground punches to the face days of fighting where you just dive after submissions no matter what position you were in because there wasn't any real penalty, except Radzuan did batter & bloody her pretty badly by the end. Huang took a lot of punishment even in round 1, but because of her tenacity almost all of it was in the clinch, where she accepted as many elbows as it took to get a single leg then work for her favorite gogoplata & a triangle. Even when Radzuan stood out of Huang's guard, she went right to pounding Huang with guard pass punches then jumped back into her guard for more ground & pound. A lot of Huang's attempts just seemed to be to keep Radzuan reacting & engaging her in the grappling, but Huang did have a triangle at the end of the 2nd round that was getting deeper as the bell rang. Radzuan had big unanswered flurries to start the 2nd & 3rd before Huang got her clinch, but it was her damage on the ground that easily trumped Huang's submission attempts which won her the fight. Good match.
Kiamrian Abbasov vs. Agilan Thani 2:35 R1
Muay Thai: Yodsanklai Fairtex vs. Luis Regis R1 2:08