Kohei
Wakabayashi prescribed a death-by-a-thousand-cuts treatment for
Gexi
Sanlang.
The Japanese judoka enjoyed a successful ONE
Championship debut, as repeated takedowns and a crushing top
game carried him to a split decision over Sanlang in their
three-round
ONE Friday Fights 68 strawweight showcase on Friday at Lumpinee
Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Two of the three ringside
judges gave the nod to Wakabayashi (8-1-1, 1-0 ONE), who was
reduced to tears when the verdict was read.
Sanlang (14-3, 0-2 ONE) was far too content to play defense from
the bottom. Wakabayashi tripped him to the canvas in all three
rounds, set up shop in half guard, applied some mild
ground-and-pound and flirted with a few arm-triangles. Sanlang
answered with slashing elbow strikes from his back but not enough
of them to make a real difference. He staged a late rally in Round
3, where he caught a Wakabayashi kick and dumped him to the floor
before connecting with elbows to the head and knees to the body.
However, Sanlang’s bid to finish went unrewarded.
The 29-year-old Wakabayashi has rattled off five consecutive
victories.
In other action, Prajanchai
PK Saenchai became a two-discipline champion with a unanimous
decision over Jonathan
Di Bella in the five-round headliner, as he walked away with
the vacant ONE kickboxing strawweight title; Superlek
Kiatmoo9 earned a three-round unanimous decision over Kongthoranee
Sor Sommai in their flyweight muay thai co-main event; Kiamran
Nabati wiped out Suablack
Tor Pran49 with a left hook 1:54 into the first round of their
bantamweight muay thai showcase; Petchtanong Petchfergus was
awarded a technical knockout when a foot injury forced Alaverdi
Ramazanov to bow out of their bantamweight kickboxing feature
1:59 into the second round; Shadow
Singha Mawynn outpointed Jimmy
Vienot to a unanimous decision in a three-round featherweight
muay thai attraction; Pakorn PK Saenchai punched out Rafi Bohic a
mere 2:15 into the first round of their bantamweight muay thai
altercation; Tyson Harrison eked out a split decision over Submuen
Sitchefboontham in a three-round bantamweight muay thai tilt;
Yodlekpet
Or Atchariya laid claim to a unanimous verdict over Komawut FA
Group in a three-round catchweight muay thai scrap at 140
pounds; Suriyanlek
Por Yenying zapped Pompet
PK Saenchai with a right hook 2:50 into the first round of
their catchweight muay thai affair at 132 pounds; Kaito Sakaguchi
took a unanimous decision from Lan Shanteng in a 132-pound
catchweight kickboxing battle; and Ryoto Hashimoto punched out Yuto
Ueno with a devastating right hook 2:05 into the first round of
their 143-pound catchweight muay thai clash.