He may have been one of the UFC’s fastest-rising stars only a few years ago, but Sage Northcutt is moving on to Asia’s ONE Championship. The super-positive karate expert recently made headlines as the latest fighter to leave the UFC for ONE. ‘Super’ Sage joined former champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez in the move. […]
He may have been one of the UFC’s fastest-rising stars only a few years ago, but Sage Northcutt is moving on to Asia’s ONE Championship.
The super-positive karate expert recently made headlines as the latest fighter to leave the UFC for ONE. ‘Super’ Sage joined former champions Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez in the move. ONE CEO Chadri Sityodtong claimed the always-respectful Northcutt embodied the respect for martial arts that the promotion covets.
It’s not hard to see why. Northcutt may be the nicest fighter in the fight game. But his skills in the cage are nothing to be trifled with, as he picked up a 6-2 overall record in the Octagon. He’s still extremely young and evolving, and the sky could be the limit for him in ONE. His run with the rapidly improving promotion will apparently begin early next year as well.
Northcutt revealed on today edition of “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show” that he was planning to make his ONE debut in February next year. When he does, he’s planning on competing in the ONE welterweight division:
Northcutt also discussed the UFC’s final offer for a fight. He was apparently given Demian Maia as a potential opponent. He would have taken it, too, but had already planned on signing with ONE:
As for his next stop in mixed martial arts, Northcutt said the ONE event he attended in Singapore was as big or even bigger than a UFC event:
There were a number of championship-level competitors on the ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS bout. It’s safe to say most of them have aspirations of one day attaining ONE gold, but truthfully, some are closer to their goals than others. In the main event, Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex smashed his way through Luis Regis in a Muay […]
There were a number of championship-level competitors on the ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS bout. It’s safe to say most of them have aspirations of one day attaining ONE gold, but truthfully, some are closer to their goals than others.
In the main event, Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex smashed his way through Luis Regis in a Muay Thai bout. The win proved the “Boxing Computer” still has what it takes to evaporate an opponent with his strikes.
While it’s not technically a championship, Yodsanklai’s win might have just set up a bout with Giorgio Petrosyan. If those two meet in the ring, it will feel like a championship bout.
As we move further down the card, we can find winners who have established belts to pursue. Of all the winners, the following combatants are the most realistic championship contenders.
Kiamrian Abbasov
Kiamrian Abbasov scored a dominant win over Agilan Thani in the event’s co-featured bout.
If Abbasov’s victory were to be described with one word, it would have to be pressure. He never relented against the promising 24-year-old Malaysian.
Abbasov’s strikes in the clinch and overall strength overwhelmed Thani. Ultimately, Abbsaov would get the victory via rear-naked choke.
The loss was Thani’s third in his career. The other two came against former welterweight champion Ben Askren, and current titleholder Zebaztian Kadestam.
With Friday’s win, Abbasov joins some impressive company. We don’t know who Kadestam will defend his title against after winning the title in November with a fifth-round KO victory over Tyler McGuire.
A matchup with Abbasov wouldn’t be the worst matchup for a card sometime in spring. We’ll see if that comes to fruition, but Abbasov has to at least be knocking on the door.
Mei Yamaguchi and Jihin Radzuan
Mei Yamaguchi wasn’t competing on the main card in Kuala Lumpur, but she still produced another signature performance on the prelims.
Taking on Jomary Torres, Yamaguchi ground out a tough win. Yamaguchi has already had two shots at the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Title.
She fell short in two very competitive matches with Angela Lee. It’s possible Lee might permanently move up to the strawweight division. She was scheduled to face the reigning champion Jingnan Xiong at ONE: HEART OF THE LION in November.
An injury forced Lee out of that bout, but the match is expected to be rescheduled in 2010, if Lee is ready, the February 22 event in Singapore, which is ONE: CALL TO GREATNESS.
Meanwhile, if Lee does vacate the atomweight title, Yamaguchi would have to be considered a frontrunner to battle for the vacant belt. The question is, who would her opponent be?
The answer might be another competitor on the ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS card. The 20-year-old Jihin Radzuan showed great form in front of her hometown Malaysian fans in her win over Jenny Huang. Radzuan is a relentless competitor and it showed on Friday. She took control of the bout with her grappling and outworked her more experienced opponent.
It’s possible Radzuan could be held back for more experience, but a scrap between her and Yamaguchi, perhaps on the undercard of Lee-Jingnan, would make for a heavy duty duo of featured bouts. It would also be a huge evening for women’s mixed martial arts. While Lee is the present and the future, Radzuan might have the potential to make a similar impact because of her youth, talent, warrior spirit, and commercial appeal.
Another competitor who is new to the fold, but could factor into the championship picture in the atomweight division is the recently signed Bi Nguyen. Her first bout hasn’t been announced, but she was brought to ONE to make an impact. We’ll see how quickly she can get into the championship mix.
Vitaly Bigdash
Last but not least, former middleweight champion Vitaly Bigdash got back in the win column after suffering the first two defeats of his career.
With a slick reverse triangle choke, Bigdash forced Yuki Niimura to submit. Bigdash wants nothing more in his professional career than to recapture the ONE Middleweight World Title he lost in his rematch via unanimous decision to current champion Aung La N Sang. Bigdash took the first matchup and is still the last man to defeat Aung La.
Since Bigdash’s win also came via unanimous decision, neither man owns a stoppage or definitive victory over his rival. When the decision was read and Bigdash came up on the short end of the stick, he was visibly upset. A trilogy seems to be in order, but Bigdash might have to win another bout before he earns another shot at the Burmese Python.
Although, it wouldn’t be preposterous to see it happen in March. ONE is scheduled to head back to Aung La’s homeland of Myanmar in March for ONE: REIGN OF VALOR. No bouts are signed yet but don’t be shocked if the main event is a third bout between Aung La and Bigdash.
The final ONE Championship event of the year sent fans home on a high note with a thrilling KO stoppage in the last bout of 2018. The main event of ONE: Destiny of Champions, held inside the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was a short-lived affair that felt like it was over before it […]
The final ONE Championship event of the year sent fans home on a high note with a thrilling KO stoppage in the last bout of 2018.
The main event of ONE: Destiny of Champions, held inside the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was a short-lived affair that felt like it was over before it had begun.
Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex said he would stop Luis Regis in their Super Series Muay Thai clash. And stop him he did, in spectacular fashion. The end came quick and decisively, just after the two-minute mark of the first round. Yodsanklai backed Regis up against the cage, delivered a straight one-two and then dropped the Australian with three lead uppercuts.
The 33-year-old Muay Thai legend appears to be truly over his previous injuries, and a bout with Giorgio Petrosyan now seems all but inevitable.
Abbasov Dismantles Thani
The evening’s co-main event was a welterweight clash between Kyrgyzstan’s Kiamrian Abbasov and Malaysia’s Agilan Thani. Both men had lost their last ONE outings, and neither athlete could afford a second straight defeat.
The bout ran just a few seconds longer than the main event but was as equally as one-sided. Abbasov came out of the gate at 100 miles per hour and relentlessly manhandled Thani. He caught his opponent in a body lock early in the round and took him to the floor. Abbasov then proceeded to slam Thani to the ground whenever the Malaysian attempted to get to his feet
Thani looked like a deer caught in the headlights. When the end came via rear-naked choke, the home crowd was stunned into silence.
This was Abbasov ‘s second ONE championship bout. His first was a disappointing unanimous decision loss to Luis Santos in March.
However, the Abbasov that competed tonight was a different animal from the one that fought Santos. If he can put together another performance like this when he next steps into the cage, he will be well on his way to a title shot.
As for Thani, the 23-year-old is still a talented athlete, but will need to take time out and reassess where he goes to from here. Consecutive defeats to Zebaztian Kadestam and Abbasov demonstrate there is work to be done before he can mix it up with the elite of the division.
An Atomweight Contender Emerges
Malaysia’s undefeated Jihin Radzuan capped off what has been an outstanding year for the ONE newcomer with her best performance to date. Radzuan has been the breakout star of the atomweight division in 2018.
The 20-year-old came into her bout with ONE veteran Jenny Huang with an air of expectation surrounding her. Victories over Pooja Tomar and Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol won Radzuan attention from both the public and the media. However, up until tonight, the jury was out on how she would fare taking on an experienced grappler like Huang.
Radzuan forced the pace of bout right from the outset, dominating the stand-up portions of the contest.
A perfectly timed Superman punch from Radzuan was symbolic of the dominance she had while the bout remained standing. Huang had no answer for the shots Radzuan delivered throughout the course of three rounds. She had some success on the mat, but even there, Radzuan was the one controlling the action.
A couple of times Radzuan’s eagerness gave Huang the opportunity to lock in a triangle choke. However, on both occasions, Radzuan was either able to break free or survive until the round ended. It will be interesting to see whom ONE pair her with next. On the back of today’s showing, she earned a title shot.
The risk there would be of rushing Radzuan into a bout with Angela Lee too soon when another couple of matches would help Radzuan refine her game.
The ONE cage will now be packed away for the rest of the year as the company takes time out to prepare for 2019.
The upcoming flyweight and lightweight Grand Prix tournaments plus the companies push into Japan will ensure fans are kept sated with a steady diet of big-name clashes.
For fans, the main talking point will no doubt be how Demetrious Johnson, Sage Northcutt, and Eddie Alvarez perform in their new surroundings. It will be interesting to see how the current athletes stack up against the newcomers.
However it unfolds, it should make for must-see viewing.
ONE: Destiny Of Champions Full Results
Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex def. Luis Regis via first-round KO
Kiamrian Abbasov def. Agilan Thani via first-round submission
Jihin Radzuan def. Jenny Huang via unanimous decision
Petchmorrakot Petchyindee Academy def. Liam Harrison via second-round KO
Vitaly Bigdash def. Yuki Niimura via first-round submission
Yosuke Saruta def. Alex Silva via unanimous decision
Panpayak Jitmuangnon def. Rui Botelho via unanimous decision
Prelims:
Mohammed Bin Mahmoud def. Stergos Mikkios via first-round KO
Mei Yamaguchi def. Jomary Torres via unanimous decision
Chan Rothana def. Abro Fernandes via second-round TKO
Sovannahry Em def. Iryna Kyselova via first-round TKO
Two bouts Kevin Chung vs.Daichi Takenaka and Gianni Subba vs.Ma Hao Bin were both removed from the event.
Fans may know Bi Nguyen more for her time on the hit reality TV show “Survivor” rather than her time being inside the mixed martial arts cage. Known as “Killer Bee”, the Jackson-Wink MMA product will get the chance to turn the tables as she joins The Home of Martial Arts. Nguyen, 29, announced on […]
Fans may know Bi Nguyen more for her time on the hit reality TV show “Survivor” rather than her time being inside the mixed martial arts cage. Known as “Killer Bee”, the Jackson-Wink MMA product will get the chance to turn the tables as she joins The Home of Martial Arts.
Nguyen, 29, announced on her official Instagram account early Thursday that she had signed a contract with ONE Championship. She last competed at King of the Cage in July, losing to Jayme Hinshaw by rear naked choke.
“I’m so excited to finally announce that I have signed with @onechampionship !!! Thank you to the best managers in the business. I’m ready to represent America and Vietnam well!!! LETSGO,” Nguyen wrote on a post of herself with the ONE logo.
With a 4-3 professional record, the Vietnamese-American Nguyen, alongside ONE Featherweight World Champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen, will look to lead the charge as ONE plans to expand to Vietnam with an event in Ho Chi Minh City in the very near future. The first event in Vietnam is penciled in for September 2019.
The move to ONE certainly comes as no surprise as Nguyen has been vocal about wanting to join the promotion earlier this year. With aspirations to face reigning ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee somewhere down the road, Nguyen joins a roster of talent that recently also acquired big-name free agents Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson.
ONE Championship has been making big moves as of late, and the addition of Nguyen certainly bolster their popularity, not just among mixed martial arts fans in the United States, but also fans of Survivor.
Nguyen was a contestant on Survivor’s 37th season dubbed “David vs Goliath”. However, the 29-year-old had to pull out midway through the season after suffering an injury on the show.
Luis Regis has always dreamed of this moment. He’s longed for the opportunity to showcase his skills on the world stage. But the 33-year-old Australian could never have imagined he would be performing in front of 16,000 screaming fans and millions of viewers worldwide in his ONE Championship debut. Meeting Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex, regarded as […]
He’s longed for the opportunity to showcase his skills on the world stage. But the 33-year-old Australian could never have imagined he would be performing in front of 16,000 screaming fans and millions of viewers worldwide in his ONE Championship debut.
Meeting Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex, regarded as one of the finest Muay Thai champions in the world, at ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night, Regis admitted he had secured his “dream” bout.
“For sure, this will definitely be the biggest achievement of my career,” Regis said.
“Especially when they gave me a six-fight contract. It’s not just one fight, it’s two years and it brings the fire back because it had been waning for so long.
“I’d been fighting in Australia for 12 years and the fire is burning again. I’m heaps pumped.
“I just want to show the world that Australia has great Muay Thai. We’ve had champions like John Wayne Parr, but I felt over the last couple of years it’s been a bit slow, so I’m keen to get out there and show we can bang with the best in the world.”
Living in Maroubra, on Sydney’s east coast, Regis trains out of SRG Thai Boxing Gym in Alexandria. He also has a property at Bellingen, near Coffs Harbour, when he intends to build a “farm gym” close to the water, where he can continue his love affair with surfing.
But life for Regis hasn’t always been in Sydney. Born in Brusque, Brazil, he moved to the Gold Coast when he was 19.
“I just came on my own and I ended up staying. I loved it,” Regis said.
“I didn’t have too much to go back to and I just loved the lifestyle here. I moved to Sydney and I got a bit of work, and even though I was making money washing cars, it was more money that I could make back home.
“I ended up meeting my future wife after six months. We ended up moving back to Brazil and we had a baby and after a year we came back to Australia and made our life here.”
A decorated Muay Thai champion, Regis has toiled away in Australia for more than a decade, winning a host of belts. He was on the cusp of making the move to Thailand to compete professionally when the call came from ONE Championship.
But initially, Regis wasn’t in a position to answer it.
“I was on holidays in Indonesia – I was on a surfing trip – and I came back to a phone call (from ONE Championship),” Regis said.
“They pretty much offered me the fight. The matchmaker said ‘you’ve been No.1 in Australia for a few years now, ONE Championship is trying to get the best fighters from around the world, would you like to sign a six-fight contract and take this big bout (against Yodsanklai) straight away?’
“I was like ‘yes, absolutely, I’m happy to take a big fight’.
“He said ‘you’ll be fighting Yodsanklai’ and I said ‘cool, I’ll fight him, it will be the biggest fight of my career but I’m up for it’.
“I asked ‘is it next year?’ And he said ‘no, it’s in December ’ and that was only five weeks away. So it came as a surprise. I didn’t expect it all to happen that quickly.
“All I had to do was speak to my wife in regards to the kids, but I confirmed I would take the fight the next day. It’s the kind of opportunity that you can’t let go.”
Regis immediately put plans to build a “farm gym” on hold and turned to his wife to care for his two children, aged 10 and 4, while he prepared for the bout against Yodsanklai.
“The only thing I had to worry about was family,” Regis said.
“I usually spend two weeks in Sydney, one week on the coast, so I had to speak to my wife to see if she was going to be OK to do everything on her own for the next five weeks, which is happy to do.”
There are few athletes in the world like Kevin “Oldboy” Chung. And he wants to change all that. He wants the world to stand up and take notice. So when he steps into Axiata Arena to meet Japan’s Daichi Takenaka at ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 7 December, he aims to […]
There are few athletes in the world like Kevin “Oldboy” Chung. And he wants to change all that.
He wants the world to stand up and take notice.
So when he steps into Axiata Arena to meet Japan’s Daichi Takenaka at ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 7 December, he aims to make his people proud and inspire them to achieve great things in the cage, too.
He is eager to use his position on the global stage for martial arts to encourage more people like him to follow in his footsteps.
“There have been plenty of Korean fighters in promotions, but in my area, there aren’t any Asian-American fighters with the exception of Aung La N Sang and myself,” Chung said.
“I’m not just talking about the guys that did one or two amateur fights and went back to their regular jobs. I mean guys that make a career out of this.”
Chung was born in the United States after his parents moved from South Korea in pursuit of a better life.
Though the family was thousands of miles from their home country, they made sure Kevin stayed well connected to his roots as a child.
“My parents made me go to a Korean school at church,” Chung said.
“We learned how to speak, learned the alphabet, and the culture. At the time, obviously, I didn’t want to go, but I’m happy I did.”
But his ethnicity caused him a few problems as he was growing up in Centreville, Virginia, USA.
“I’m an American, but I’m also Korean,” Chung explained.
“That caused a lot of conflict when I was growing up – half the fights I got into, or a good amount.”
Chung’s struggles were amplified because he did not feel a strong sense of belonging as either a Korean or an American.
Although Chung is now proud of his heritage from both sides of the Pacific, when he was younger, he did not have such a strong sense of identity or belonging.
“I can go to a city in America, and I’m just some random Asian dude. I’m not considered an American,” Chung said.
“Or I can go to Korea, and I tell people I was born and grew up in Washington, D.C., they may not see me as a true Korean national.”
While he struggled to fit in, it was a different story when it came to sports.
Chung was active throughout his childhood and wrestled in high school.
He credits his father, a successful real estate agent, for the work ethic he took with him onto the mats.
Chung’s grappling experience turned out to be a gateway to mixed martial arts.
A teacher who visited the wrestling room during practices took a liking to Chung, and he became something of a father-figure to the young Korean-American.
In fact, he later introduced Chung to Leo Dalla, who became his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach.
Chung found solace on the mats when he began submission grappling at the age of 15. It was there he finally found a collective of like-minded souls.
“No matter how much money you made, or your race, people came together and worked hard for one common goal,” Chung said.
“That was jiu-jitsu. While you’re there, you start listening to other people’s stories. It opens doors for a lot of people. If it doesn’t, you probably did it wrong.”
Growing up watching mixed martial arts in the glory days of sport in Japan, a teenage Chung got hooked. And two years after he walked into a jiu-jitsu gym, he tried his hand at an amateur bout.
In November 2010, “Oldboy” won his debut via second-round submission.
He went on to build a 4-1 record before he made the jump to the professional ranks. Just as he did on the amateur circuit, Chung kept winning.
After four wins in the Maryland-Virginia area – the same region that produced two-division ONE World Champion Aung La N Sang – Chung earned the chance to compete in The Home Of Martial Arts.
Now, the rising bantamweight star has another opportunity to secure victory in Kuala Lumpur.
If he can get a win against a Shooto Featherweight World Champion like Takenaka on the main card, then people will surely start to take notice and be inspired.