ONE Japan: First staging, excellent fights

ONE Japan: First staging, excellent fights

ONE Japan: First staging, excellent fights

ONE Japan: First staging, excellent fights

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TOKYO — The first event of ONE Championship in Japan was successfully held on Sunday and was marked by solid reception and excellent fights in the cage.

Took years to finally happen, officials of ONE said they are very satisfied with how their debut foray in the “Land of the Rising Sun,” dubbed “A New Era,” panned out, highlighting how it was talked about on various social media platforms, got solid TV ratings across the globe and how it packed the famous and historic Ryogoku Kokugikan here.

Speaking to members of global media after the stacked fight day, ONE chairman and chief executive officer Chatri Sityodtong shared how happy and excited they were with their first Japan event and how it was just the beginning for the eight-year-old Singapore-based promotion in this part of the world.

“Japan, the world, it’s a new era. We are the number one trending topic on Twitter in the US, Japan and most countries across Asia… It’s a new era of record-breaking TV ratings, record-breaking social media matrix and a full house. Thank you so much, Japan. Thank you,” Mr. Sityodtong gladly reported post-event.

“For me it’s the beginning of a new era for martial arts not only in Japan but globally. And to receive so much love across the globe is just unbelievable and I could not have asked for a better night. And I tell you, it’s just the beginning, the very beginning,” he added.

“ONE: A New Era” was the first of what ONE hopes to be of many to be staged in Japan, taking it to four events next year and eventually settle for 12 a year.

The biggest winners on Sunday included hometown bet Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki, who beat erstwhile ONE lightweight champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang of the Philippines to reclaim the title, as well as women’s strawweight champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan of China, who stopped Angela “The Unstoppable” Lee of Singapore in their champion-versus-champion match.

Mr. Aoki was dominant against Mr. Folayang, making short work of the latter to reclaim the lightweight belt. After taking down the Team Lakay stalwart to the mat, the Japanese legend quickly transitioned to an arm-triangle and moments later had the Filipino passing out, prompting the referee to stop the fight at the 2:34 mark of the opening round and sending the hometown fans into celebration.

Ms. Xiong, meanwhile, was a picture of determination as she survived the gallant stand that Ms. Lee put up. Nearly forced to submission after her opponent put her into a solid arm-bar in the fourth round, the Chinese champion did not give in and forged ahead, stopping Ms. Lee in the fifth and final round with blows to the body.

With the win, Ms. Xiong retained her title while besmirching the immaculate record of Ms. Lee, who is still the women’s atomweight champion despite the loss.

Also winning and retaining his middleweight title was two-division champion Aung La N Sang of Myanmar, who topped Japanese Ken Hasegawa for the second time in a title fight with powerful punches and thunderous kicks.

His great performance led to the setting up of a champ-versus-champ collision with heavyweight champion Brandon Vera of the Philippines later this year for Aung La N Sang’s light heavyweight crown.

Meanwhile, the world bantamweight title clash of Filipino Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon and Brazilian Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes came to an abrupt end in the third round with the former losing his title due to disqualification over illegal strikes to the back of the head of his opponent.

Mr. Belingon was apologetic after the fight, saying “I did not mean to do it. It just happened.”

With the outcome of the match, a mandatory rematch is set, making it the fourth time that the two rivals will face each other in the ONE cage.

Winning fight of the night was that between lightweights Timofey Nastyukhin of Russia and Eddie Alvarez of the United States with Mr. Nastyukhin scoring a technical knockout win in the first round of their grand prix encounter.

The Russian did not allow the American to get his game going, eventually spoiling the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion’s ONE debut in devastating fashion.

For his efforts, Mr. Nastyukhin earned a $50,000 bonus and made his way to the semifinal of the grand prix.

While Mr. Alvarez fell in his ONE debut, fellow former UFC champion and ONE transferee Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson was a slam-bang winner over Yayu Wakamatsu of Japan in their flyweight grand prix joust.

Mr. Johnson showcased his impeccable grappling skills to transition from one position to the next with relative ease, culminating in him putting his opponent on a guillotine choke for second-round submission win.

“Growing up I was watching great martial arts events here in Japan and for me to be here fighting for the first time was really exciting. I love the competition and it really exceeded my expectations,” Mr. Johnson said.

Meanwhile, it was not all defeat for the Philippines at A New Era as flyweight Danny “The King” Kingad won his grand prix match over Japanese Senzo Ikeda by unanimous decision.

Dominated for much of the full three rounds, Mr. Kingad of Team Lakay did not leave any doubt with his consistent activity in the cage, eventually getting the nod of all three judges when the battle smoke cleared.

“I’m happy that we won and I’m looking forward to the next challenge in the grand prix. I just stuck to my game plan which was to do strikes and takedowns. He was a tough opponent. But I’m happy with the win,” Mr. Kingad said.

The win improved Mr. Kingad to 10 wins and a loss and set him up for a semifinal encounter in the flyweight grand prix with Kazakhstan’s Kairat Akhmetov, who beat Australian Reece McLaren in an earlier match by way of unanimous decision as well.

Next for ONE Championship is “ONE: Roots of Honor” in Manila. Philippines, on April 12.