One
Championship on Saturday celebrated its 10th anniversary by
putting on one of its best cards to date at Singapore Indoor
Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. It featured everything combat sports
fans come to expect from a special occasion.
In the One
Championship “One X” headliner, Angela Lee
made her promotional return against Stamp
Fairtex after taking off two years and a half for maternity
leave. Lee (11-2, 11-2 One) shook off cage rust by attacking her
opponent right out of the gate with a flurry of punches. Stamp
(8-2, 7-2 One) stayed composed and waited for the right moment to
retaliate with a liver shot that almost folded “Unstoppable” where
she stood. While she was in evident distress, Lee bit down on her
mouthpiece and survived the subsequent barrage of punches and
kicks. In the second frame, Lee moved the action to the canvas as
soon as possible. Once there, she showcased an arsenal of
submission attempts, including a triangle choke and a twister that
almost sealed the deal for the Evolve MMA representative. Stamp’s
heart and submission defense made the difference, but Lee had one
last ace up her sleeve. In the final seconds of the round, Lee
captured her opponent’s back and flattened her out. She then
unloaded a few punches to ease her way into a rear-naked choke.
With just 10 seconds left, Lee induced her foe’s surrender,
delivered her first finish since October 2019 and retained her spot
as the divisional queen.
In the co-main event, former Ultimate Fighting Championship
125-pound kingpin Demetrious
Johnson took on One flyweight muay Thai champion Rodtang
Jitmuangnon in a custom-rules clash. The first and third rounds
were scheduled to go down according to muay Thai rules, while
Rounds 2 and 4 featured an MMA ruleset. In the opening stanza,
Jitmuangnon hunted down his opponent with a variety of punches and
body kicks. In his turn, Johnson mixed his strikes, but he did not
look at ease and resorted to clinching on several occasions. While
“Mighty Mouse” fought on the back foot for the first frame, he did
survive.
Round 2 meant a return to safer waters for Johnson, who applied
pressure right out of the gate and enticed Jitmuangnon with
takedown attempts. Johnson’s initiative forced his Thai opponent to
back down against the fence, where “Mighty Mouse” jumped to the
back and brought him to the canvas after a few seconds. Once
Johnson secured the position and sank the hooks, he fired off a
tight rear-naked choke attempt. Jitmuangnon resisted initially, but
it was to no avail. Ultimately, he preferred to pass out rather
than tap. The official time of the stoppage was 2:13 into the
second round.
Elsewhere, Adriano
Moraes (20-3, 11-3 One) notched the second title defense of his
third stint as the flyweight champion after choking out Yuya
Wakamatsu (15-5, 5-3 One) at 3:58 of Round 3; 46-year-old
Yoshihiro
Akiyama (16-7, 2-1 One) secured a comeback knockout victory
against former One lightweight champ Shinya Aoki
(47-10, 12-4 One), halting their clash with punches at 1:50 of the
second stanza; two-time One lightweight titleholder Eduard
Folayang retired muay Thai legend John Wayne
Parr with a unanimous decision at the end of their muay thai
clash; and “Superbon” Muensang Suppachai dominated Marat
Grigorian to notch his first featherweight kickboxing
championship defense thanks to a unanimous decision.
In the featured fight on the second part of the event, “Nong-O”
Apichet Kotanon crushed Felipe Lobo
with a perfectly-timed uppercut that ended their bantamweight muay
Thai championship meeting at the 2:15 mark of the third frame, in a
bantamweight kickboxing barnburner, Hiroki
Akimoto captured the divisional championship after outclassing
“Capitan” Asanan Praanekpanansri for all five rounds; Rizin
Fighting Federation alum Seo Hee Ham
(25-8, 2-0 One) upended Denice
Zamboanga (8-2, 3-2 One) on all three scorecards in their
rematch in the One atomweight division; Jihin
Radzuan (8-2, 7-2 One) inflicted the first defeat to Itsuki
Hirata (5-1, 4-1 One) thanks to a split decision at One’s
atomweight; in his ninth straight victory, Kai Tang
(14-2, 6-0 One) starched Jae Woong
Kim (12-6, 3-2 One) thanks to his counter striking at 2:07 of
the first frame at featherweight.
In the first part of the event, former K-1 titleholder Chingiz
Allazov outstruck “Sitthichai” Anulak
Jansuk on route to winning the featherweight kickboxing grand
prix; short-notice replacement Sinsamut Klinmee smashed former
Glory kickboxing titleholder Nieky Holzken at the 1:39 mark of
Round 2 in a muay Thai clash at lightweight; a knee injury
prevented Lito
Adiwang (13-5, 7-3 One) from continuing in his strawweight
clash with Jeremy
Miado (11-4, 5-4 One) as the official stoppage came at the 2:56
mark of the second frame; in a bantamweight affair, Stephen
Loman (15-2, 2-0 One) took home his 10th consecutive triumph
after outpointing Shoko Sato
(32-15-2, 3-2 One) on all scorecards; Singapore’s Amir Khan
(14-8, 14-7 One) eked out a narrow split decision over Ryogo
Takahashi (14-6, 2-3 One) at featherweight; Ji Won Kang
(6-1, 3-1 One) scored another first-round stoppage, as he knocked
out Paul
Elliott (4-1, 0-1 One) 58 seconds after the start of their
heavyweight encounter; the submission grappling match between
former One atomweight title challenger Mei
Yamaguchi and Danielle Kelly ended in a draw due to time limit;
at strawweight, former Pancrase champion Senzo Ikeda
(13-5-1, 3-2 One) stopped Ryuto
Sawada (14-8-1, 3-4 One) with some vicious knees on the ground
that halted the action the 3:09 mark of Round 2.
During the show, Lee, Akiyama, Akimoto, Tang, Sinsamut, Kang and
Kelly pocketed $50,000 performance bonuses.