John Lineker remains your top bantamweight
contender with a THUNDEROUS KO of Troy Worthen! @johnlineker
@tntdrama
@BleacherReport
@BR_MMA
@brlive
#WeAreONE
#ONEChampionship
#ONEonTNT3 pic.twitter.com/DDLzTD4oND— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship)
April 22, 2021
Troy
Worthen woke up looking at the lights, the latest victim of
John
Lineker’s handiwork under the One
Championship banner.
Lineker wiped out the
Sanford MMA prospect with punches in the first round of their
One on TNT 3 headliner on Wednesday at Singapore Indoor Stadium
in Kallang Singapore. Worthen (7-2, 3-2 One) bowed out 4:35 into
Round 1, as he suffered his second defeat in as many
appearances.
A sense of pending doom enveloped the cage once Lineker (34-9, 3-0
One) zeroed in on the American’s body with brick fists and bad
intentions. Late in the first round, he denied a takedown from an
increasingly desperate Worthen, then leveled him with a crushing
right hand as he moved forward. Lineker made sure the job was done
by delivering one more shot to his supine counterpart before
referee Mohamad Sulaiman could arrive on the scene.
In the flyweight co-main event, longtime Pancrase standout Yuya
Wakamatsu outstruck former Eternal MMA and Xtreme Fighting
Championship titleholder Reece
McLaren to a three-round unanimous decision. In doing so,
Wakamatsu (14-4, 4-2 One) extended his run of consecutive victories
to four.
McLaren (14-8, 7-5 One) was effective in spurts. The Australian
grappler swept into top position late in the first round and had
begun the process of hunting a rear-naked choke when the bell
sounded. From there, Wakamatsu flexed his superiority in the
standup with elbows, knees and combination punching; and his
takedown defense became more and more of a story as time wore on.
He put the finishing touches on his latest conquest in the waning
moments of the third round, where he sprawled on a takedown from
McLaren, connected with knees from the front headlock position,
wheeled to the Aussie’s back and delivered of volley of punches to
the head.
The setback snapped a two-fight losing streak for McLaren.
Meanwhile, Rae Yoon Ok
leaned on superior standup, an active bottom game and a seemingly
limitless gas tank, as he took a unanimous decision from former One
Championship titleholder Marat
Gafurov in a three-round lightweight showcase. Ok (12-3, 1-0
One) now finds himself on a three-fight winning streak.
Gafurov (18-4, 9-4 One) enjoyed a strong start. He advanced to Ok’s
back in the first round, forced the organizational newcomer to
carry his weight and piled up points with punches from behind.
However, his efforts were of little consequence. Ok countered
takedown attempts with elbows to the side of the Russian’s head in
the middle stanza, threatened with a triangle choke after being
grounded and offered hammerfist-laden offense from his back.
Gafurov was on fumes for much of Round 3, where he failed to
consolidate takedowns with positional control and wound up on the
wrong side of the striking exchanges.
In other action, Li Tao Miao
(6-3, 4-2 One) laid claim to a unanimous decision over Ryuto
Sawada (14-6-1, 5-2 One) in a three-round strawweight affair;
and Nieky Holzken cut down John Wayne
Parr with a head kick 1:23 into the second round of their muay
Thai bout at 178 pounds.