UFC and Pancrase veteran Koji Oishi overcame a difficult first round against Honorio Banario at One FC 9 to claim the organization’s featherweight title with a second-round convincing TKO win over his Filipino opponent on Friday in Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines.
Oishi initially drilled Banario with a right hand, but the hometown favorite worked his way back to his feet and without hesitation, drove Oishi back with a non-stop barrage of punches. With his back to the fence, Oishi ate strike after strike, culminating in a right hand from Bonario that sent the Japanese featherweight slumping to the mat. With a few seconds left in the round, Banario was unable to finish, but was seconds away from a stoppage as referee Kenichi Serizawa looked on.
In the second round, however, it would be Oishi picking up where he left off. As Banario took center of the cage and pressed the attack, Oishi parried a jab and quickly fired a right cross that landed flush on Banario’s jaw, sending the then-champion crashing to the mat. A few follow-up strikes on the nearly helpless Bonario
“It’s great,” Oishi said. “It’s a great night. I’m so happy.”
Through his interpreter, Oishi later claimed his initial game plan was to wrestle, but he ultimately changed plans. “I planned to do more wrestling,” he said, “but when (Banario) landed some shots, my plans changed.”
Oishi, who fought on Friday on his 36th birthday, is now 24-9-10 in professional MMA and is the new One FC featherweight champion. Banario slides to 8-2.
In other main event action, Bibiano Fernandes claimed the One FC interim bantamweight title with a complete route of Koetsu Okazaki. Despite a few moments where Okazaki was able to reverse position, Fernandes was able to control nearly the entire bout with takedowns and positional dominance either in the clinch or on the ground. Okazaki fended off several submission attempts – most notably, a near-finish rear naked choke in the first frame – but ultimately did little more than survive for 25 minutes against the decorated jiu-jitsu black belt. Fernandes is now 14-3 in professional MMA while Okazaki moves to 8-3.
The bout for the One FC Bantamweight Grand Prix ended up being arguably the best fight of the night as Masakatsu Ueda survived tough rounds and a near finish in the third frame to defeat Kevin Belingon.
Ueda was successful enough to capture a unanimous decision victory with his dominating takedowns and positional advancement, but had a tougher time than the result indicates. Belingon repeatedly stuffed takedowns in all three rounds or at least found ways to climb back to his feet after waiting out the Japanese fighter’s attacks.
In the third frame, Belingon uncorked several clean, hard strikes on Ueda and had him badly hurt while bleeding profusely over his face. Ueda managed to physically hang onto Belingon long enough to not be stopped while eventually ending the round mounted on Belingon, raining down punches. Ueda is now 18-2-2 in MMA while Belingon is 11-3.
UFC veteran Yasuhiro Urushitani had early trouble with Rey Docyogen as the Filipino talent was able to stuff much of Urushitani’s takedowns and land multiple kicks to the body and head of the Japanese fighter. Urushitani was able to make adjustments, however, and ultimately landed jabs and crosses enough to collapse Docyogen’s nose in the third round. While the bout was allowed to continue, Docyogen was drained on the defensive, allowing Urushitani to pour on offense in a surprisingly-competitive bout. Urushitani clims to 20-6-6 in MMA with Docyogen moving down to 10-2.
UFC, PRIDE and Strikeforce veteran Phil Baroni didn’t just lose via knockout, he appears to have gruesomely injured his right ankle in the process. After a respectable start to his bout with Nobutatsu Suzuki, the AKA product ultimately was pushed back by pressure from Suzuki and ate a right hand that sent him falling to the mat. As he did, Baroni’s ankle appears to have been broken badly in the process. The bout was ended a few seconds after the injury as the American fighter was unable to defend himself. Baroni drops to an uninspiring 15-17 with 1 no-content in MMA while Suzuki advances to 10-1-2.
WEC and UFC veteran Kamal Shalorus was able to get back to his winning ways, wrestling local product Eduard Folyaang to a unanimous decision victory over three rounds. Shalorus ended his three-fight losing streak and moves to 8-3 in MMA. Folayang is now 12-4.
Phuket Top Team’s Andrew Leone opened the main card with a stifling victory over Geje Eustaqio. Leone claimed a unanimous decision nod and moves to 6-2 in professional mixed martial arts. Eustaqio is now 4-2 as a professional.
In preliminary card action, Yusup Saadulaev overwhelmed Ryan Diaz to stop with him a d’arce choke at 2:57 of the second round of their bout. Diaz hadn’t competed professionally since 2010 and had no answer for the takedown and passing ability of the One FC veteran. Saadulaev is 10-3-1 in MMA while Diaz goes under .500 with a 13-14 professional record.
Prospect Lowen Tynanes made short work of Felipe Enomoto, moving to mounted crucifix and forcing referee Yuji Shimada’s hand with unanswered punches and elbows at 2:41 of the very first round. Tynanes holds a perfect record of 5-0 in MMA while Enomoto is even at 6-6.
Lastly, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia was outwrestled and largely outstruck by Tony Johnson en route to a doctor stoppage loss. For most of the entire bout, Sylvia was either fighting back against Johnson’s takedowns and ground and pound or exchanging on the feet against the faster Johnson. Sylvia appeared to be hurting Johnson in the third with several knees that landed to the body and head, but Johnson caught one and used to it take Sylvia to the mat. From there he scored a left elbow that opened a gash on Sylvia’s forehead that caused ringside physicians to recommend to the referee to stop the action. Johnson is now 7-1 in MMA while Sylvia is 31-9 with 1 no-contest.