There’s a new king in ONE
Championship, and his name is Alexis
Nicolas. The undefeated French kickboxing phenom shocked the
world Friday night by dethroning lightweight kickboxing champion
Regian
Eersel by unanimous decision in the
ONE Fight Night 21 main event at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in
Bangkok, Thailand.
Nicolas had his work cut out for him in this one. Eersel entered
confidently after winning his last 22 fights over the past eight
years and claiming both ONE’s 170-pound kickboxing and muay thai
titles. Eersel’s confidence showed early as the champ looked to
land heavy punches and knees on Nicolas.
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Nicolas would make the champ pay for his overconfidence in Round 2
after catching Eersel on the temple. The champ hit the canvas for a
second before immediately popping up and continuing his attack.
From that moment, the fight was a war, with Nicolas withstanding
everything coming his way. Both men landed beautiful blows, and the
fight could’ve gone either way, but Nicolas’s knockdown was the
deciding factor. With the win, Nicolas improved to 24-0. Eersel
still holds the ONE 170-pound muay thai title, but an immediate
rematch with Nicolas could definitely be in the cards.
#ONEFightNight21 highlight video: Tye Ruotolo taps Izaak
Michell pic.twitter.com/JwOWoMVKra— Sherdog (@sherdogdotcom)
April 6, 2024
Tye
Ruotolo is so in sync with his brother. They train, compete and
even hit the same submissions together. Just a few hours after his
younger brother Kade sunk a nasty arm-in rear-naked choke, Tye
defeated Australia’s Izakk Michell with the same hold midway
through their 185-pound submission grappling title fight. And to
top it all off, Tye was also given a $50,000 bonus. Not a bad night
to be a Ruotolo.
Suablack
Tor Pran49 had his hands full against Vladimir
Kuzmin, but the veteran thai boxer was too skilled to be denied
his 60th career victory. Suablack kept the pressure and was one
step ahead of Kuzmin for most of the fight. With his solid body
kicks and dominant clinch game, Suablack kept Kuzmin under control
for three rounds en route to the unanimous decision.
Ben
Tynan’s stock continues to rise in dominating fashion. Coming
into the ring with bleach blonde hair and denim fight shorts,
“Vanilla Thunder” destroyed Duke Didier
in 2:36 to notch his sixth straight finish.
Tynan has all the tools to make a splash in ONE’s heavyweight
division. He’s fast, explosive, personable and isn’t afraid of
risk; That was evident by his post-fight callout of three-weight
champion Anatoly
Malykhin.
Jacob
Smith was on the cusp of a 135-pound muay thai title shot, but
those plans have been put on hold after he ran into Denis Puric.
The 39-year-old Puric took the worst of the punishment in the first
round and was nearly dropped, but he flipped the fight on its head
after dropping Smith twice in the second frame. Puric scrapped his
way to a decision win before calling out ONE Championship superstar
Rodtang
Jitmuangnon.
ONE 170-pound submission grappling champion Kade
Ruotolo left the cage $50,000 richer after submitting former
International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation no-gi Pan American
champ Francisco
Lo in under five minutes. The heavier Lo started the 180-pound
catchweight match aggressively, but Ruoloto made him pay.
Using an arm-in rear-naked choke just as his brother utilized in
the co-main event, Ruotolo trapped Lo along the ropes and submitted
him with ease. At only 21, Ruotolo has dominated the submission
grappling scene alongside his brother Tye and feels that it’s his
time to transition into MMA. Ruotolo will make his MMA debut at ONE
167 against Blake
Cooper on June 7 at Impact Arena in Bangkok.
Taiki
Naito and Dedduanglek
TDed99 didn’t waste time feeling each other out in their
136-pound kickboxing rematch Friday night. After Dedduanglek edged
out a decision in their first fight, Naito made more of an effort
to come forward and bring the fight to the Thai. Dedduanglek’s long
frame was a problem for Naito; however, the Japanese kickboxer got
tagged repeatedly with body kicks. As Naito moved forward, he ate
powerful straights from Dedduanglek but didn’t grow discouraged.
The fight was a three-round war, but Dedduanglek’s length and
distance were too much in the unanimous decision win.
If ONE Championship ever starts a dance battle division, go ahead
and put it all on Hiroyuki
Tetsuka. The Japanese 185-pound contender couldn’t stop himself
from busting a move in the ring after submitting Valmir da
Silva for his fifth straight finish. Tetsuka (14-4) won his
last two fights via armbar, but after Da Silva showed he was
prepared for it, Tetsuka converted the submission attempt into a
north-south choke before closing the show with some sick
breakdancing.
Songchainoi
Kiatsongrit has impressed the masses since signing with ONE
Championship last summer. The 23-year-old Thai boxer reeled off
five straight wins and three knockouts and was rewarded with his
first U.S. primetime slot on Friday against Nicolas Leite
Silva.
Songchainoi showed his class early. After picking Silva’s legs
apart in the opening period, he turned up the pressure and dropped
the 19-year-old Brazillian in Round 2. Silva proved to be no
slouch, however. Despite being dazed on his feet, Silva cleared his
head and fought his hardest in the final stanza. Silva backed up
Songchainoi and landed several hard blows, but it wasn’t enough to
come back on the scorecards as Songchainoi won by UD.
China’s Shuo Wang
entered his 145-pound clash against Jeremy
Pacatiw looking to rediscover his momentum after his five-fight
win streak was snapped.
Wang tried to take Pacatiw down early but his gameplan backfired
quickly. Pacatiw reversed position and took Wang’s back, securing
him with a body lock. Trapped in between Pacatiw’s legs, Wang tried
to twist his way out but gave up his neck. Pacatiw quickly took
advantage and ended the fight via rear-naked choke.