Matheus
Pereira put on a thrilling performance to walk away with a
third-round guillotine choke submission victory against Khasan
Khaliev in their
ONE Friday Fights 55 lightweight showcase on Friday at the
Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. It was the lone mixed
martial arts contest on the bill.
Both competitors came out exchanging a few kicks to the legs and
breadbasket before Khaliev managed to catch one and take his foe to
the ground. However, the Brazilian was able to get back to his feet
when Khaliev attempted to land a punch from top. Khaliev was quick
to shoot in for a single-leg, only to be thrown to the canvas by
the Brazilian, who followed him to the ground with a thunderous
right hand from top. A hurt but relentless Khaliev found the space
to attack with another takedown, eventually finding his way back to
his feet. A visibly gassed Khaliev then attempted to clinch with
the bigger Pereira, who was quick to drop him with a sneaky
uppercut. Instead of going to the ground, Pereira directed his
opponent to get back to his feet. A few moments later, Khaliev
managed to land a stiff right hand on his adversary and then catch
a low kick attack to swiftly take his counterpart’s back and press
him against the fence.
Round 2 saw Khaliev start with several low kick attacks, keeping
Pereira on the back foot. The Russian realized some success in the
boxing range while landing a few spinning attacks, as well.
Adjusting to the shifting momentum, Pereira began throwing several
thudding body kicks, visibly damaging his foe’s forearms,
eventually forcing Khaliev to switch stances. Following a warning
for more action from the referee, Pereira began to press the issue
while landing a combination of kicks and stinging jabs, forcing
Khaliev to retreat.
Pereira came out looking a lot more comfortable inside the ring in
Round 3, pressing his opponent with a mix of striking attacks from
southpaw. The Brazilian managed to comfortably avoid several
takedown attempts from Khaliev while hurting him with stinging
punches and knees to the body. As Pereira went for another high
kick, Khaliev caught it in an attempt to take his opponent down,
only to end up on bottom himself with the Brazilian raining punches
from above. Instead of engaging on the canvas, Pereira then opted
to get back to his feet and land an axe kick on Khaliev, which the
Russian managed to catch while shooting in for a perfectly timed
double-leg takedown. However, the visibly hurt and tired Khaliev
was unable to control Pereira on the ground as the Brazilian made
his way back to his feet and landed a skull-shattering knee. The
Russian somehow ate the shot. Despite the exhaustion, Khaliev kept
trying to take Pereira down, this time getting caught in a standing
guillotine submission at 3:57 of Round 3.
In other action Kiamran
Nabati kept his undefeated record after securing a unanimous
decision against veteran Avatar
PK Saenchai in the bantamweight muay thai main event; Rittidet
Sor Sommai knocked out Tomyamkoong
Bhumjaithai at 1:25 in Round 2 of their 133-pound catchweight
muay thai bout; Bhumjaithai
Mor Tor 1 walked away with a TKO win 16 seconds into Round 3
against Panthep
VK Khaoyai in a 123-pound catchweight meeting; Denphuthai
Sitjackmuaythai earned a unanimous decision over Rhuam
Felipe
Morais Caldas in a flyweight muay thai contest; Chalamdam
Sor Boonmeerit scored a come-from-behind victory at 1:57
against
Singtanawat Nokjeanladkrabang in a strawweight muay thai
meeting;
Kaichon Sor Yingcharoenkarnchang put on a dominant performances
to earn the unanimous decision against Jompadej
Nupranburi in a 122-pound catchweight muay thai tilt; Stephen
Irvine laid it all on the line to score a unanimous decision
against Longern
Paesaisi in a 127-pound catchweight muay thai battle; Natalia
Diachkova earned a ONE Championship contract thanks to her
Round 1 knockout of Chellina
Chirino; Taiki Naito
walked away with a two-fight winning streak after receiving the nod
from all the judges in his 136.4-pound catchweight muay thai
meeting with Sherzod
Kabutov; Ryota
Koshimizu stopped Joker
Paesaisi in the opening seconds of Round 3 of their 137-pound
catchweight muay thai contest; and Shoya
Ishiguro made a successful ONE debut after recording a
unanimous decision over Toshiyasu
Sagae in their submission grappling match.