It wasn’t the outcome fans were hoping for, but the fight was fun
until it lasted.
The “One:
NextGen 2” main event saw Rittewada Petchyindee cut former One
bantamweight muay Thai title challenger Saemapetch Fairtex open
with an elbow to force a doctor stoppage. Saemapetch adopted a
wait-and-see approach, absorbing some of his opponent’s front kicks
so that he could answer with three-punch combinations. The 2017
Lumpinee Stadium champ Rittewada scored a spinning back elbow, but
a few seconds later, Saemapetch retaliated with a series of punches
that knocked his opponent down. Although Rittewada beat the count,
he lost the opening round due to the knockdown.
Like a hot knife through butter Rittewada
takes home the TKO over Saemapetch due to doctor stoppage!
#ONENextGen2
#WeAreONE
#ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/0ygdQqAtPC— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
November 12, 2021
In the second frame, Saemapetch looked comfortable as he stumbled
his opponent once again with his accurate punches. Rittewada
composed himself and retaliated with body kicks, which did force
Saemapetch to lower his guard to defend the incoming shots. After
pressing Saemapetch back against the fence, Rittewada landed a
razor-sharp elbow on the right side of his opponent’s face. In a
matter of seconds, Saemapetch started leaking blood as his face
began to swell, and the Thai fighter sensed his opening and
attacked. Noticing the damage, referee Olivier Coste called in the
cageside physician to check on the cut. After examination, the
damage was so severe that the referee stopped the contest
immediately, with the official time 2:10 of Round 2.
Tang Kai makes good on his promise and KOs
Yoon Chang Min in Round 1!
#ONENextGen2
#WeAreONE
#ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/JWrcVcLBwI— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
November 12, 2021
In the main mixed martial arts attraction on the bill, Kai Tang
(13-2, 5-0 One) made his case for a spot in One’s featherweight
rankings after smashing Yoon Chang
Min (5-2, 5-2 One). Min looked to take down his opponent in the
early stages of the fight, but Tang denied the attempts and fired
back with punches to the head and the body. The Chinese fighter
took a few seconds to get his bearings and started landing with his
jab, following them with occasional low kicks. After blocking some
more takedowns, Tang blasted his foe with a short left hook. While
“The Big Heart” showed big heart and recovered from the shot, Tang
had him measured. A minute later, Tang clipped Min with another big
left hand, this time sending Min crashing to the canvas. A series
of follow-up punches from Tang forced the referee to step in,
sealing the fight at 4:03 in the opening stanza.
Elsewhere, Lithuanian star Dovydas
Rimkus did just enough to get by Chunyu Zhang, winning a
majority decision to advance to One’s featherweight kickboxing
grand prix as an alternate; former Lion Fight two-division
titleholder “Smokin’” Jo Nattawut put away Yurik Davtyan with a
devastating two-piece combination in their One featherweight
kickboxing contest, forcing the stoppage at 2:50 in the opening
frame; former Pancrase champion Hiroyuki
Tetsuka (10-4, 2-1 One) stopped One vet Agilan
Thani (11-6, 10-6 One) with punches at the 3:45 mark of Round 3
in their 190-pound catchweight affair.
The first battle on the card saw Han Zi Hao even the score with
Victor Pinto, taking home a unanimous decision in their
bantamweight muay Thai rematch.