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 Nong Stamp after taking off two-and-a-half years 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 the 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 for most of the time, 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 opponent’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 rule set. 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 his opponent on several occasions. While “Mighty Mouse” fought on the back foot for the first frame, he did survive his opponent’s ferocious offensive.
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 on his opponent’s back and brought him to the canvas after a few seconds. Once Johnson secured the position and sank the hooks, he fired 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; a 46-year-old Yoshihiro Akiyama (16-7, 2-1 One) landed 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 a $50,000 performance bonuses.
More must-reads: