URCC (Philippines), Cage Fighting Championship (Australia), ROAD Fighting Championship (Korea), DARE Championship (Thailand), Team Lakay Wushu (Philippines), Tiger Muay Thai and MMA (Thailand), Tigers Gym (India), Evolve Mixed Martial Arts (Singapore), Legacy Gym (Thailand), Tough MMA (Taiwan), Synergy Jiu-Jitsu (Indonesia), Juggernaut FC (Singapore), Fightworks Asia (Singapore), PAK MMA (Pakistan), Team Force (Korea), MuayFit (Malaysia), Leverage MMA (Malaysia)
Aside from this list, CEO/Owner Victor Cui announced that they would be adding 23 more gyms and promotions to their network in the following weeks in an effort to “unify Asian MMA and to build the sport that we all love dearly.” Cui continued:
URCC (Philippines), Cage Fighting Championship (Australia), ROAD Fighting Championship (Korea), DARE Championship (Thailand), Team Lakay Wushu (Philippines), Tiger Muay Thai and MMA (Thailand), Tigers Gym (India), Evolve Mixed Martial Arts (Singapore), Legacy Gym (Thailand), Tough MMA (Taiwan), Synergy Jiu-Jitsu (Indonesia), Juggernaut FC (Singapore), Fightworks Asia (Singapore), PAK MMA (Pakistan), Team Force (Korea), MuayFit (Malaysia), Leverage MMA (Malaysia)
Aside from this list, CEO/Owner Victor Cui announced that they would be adding 23 more gyms and promotions to their network in the following weeks in an effort to “unify Asian MMA and to build the sport that we all love dearly.” Cui continued:
With today’s announcement, many of the top MMA organizations and gyms in Asia have joined hands. These strong partnerships will help to accelerate the development of Asian fighters and the sport of MMA in the region. Asian fighters need platforms to gain invaluable experience and to showcase their skills to the world.
Damn, playa. DW would be proud.
Since the fallout of Pride, there is little denying that the opportunities for Asian mixed martial artists have shrank considerably. Under this new deal, any fighter signed under One FC will be able to compete under 5 different smaller banners (Cage Fighting Championships, Road FC, URCC and Dare Championships) for the opportunity to be called up to OneFC based on their performances, in turn allowing One FC to promote upwards of 30 events in 2012.
And, proving the theory that people on that side of the world simply work more efficiently than us, One FC has already announced three events to transpire across three countries in 2012. Though no fights have been announced, the first event will take place on February 11th in Kelapa Gading Sports Mall in Jakarta, Indonesia. The second, at the 12,000 capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium on March 31st. The third, will be the first ever major MMA event held in Malaysia, and will go down at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur on April 27th.
With the DREAM promotion currently hovering between “sporadic” and “possibly going under”, it is great to see that there is hope for the face of Asian MMA, and with a CEO as ambitious as Cui, it seems the sky is the limit for One FC.
Filed under: ONE FCAfter an impressive first showing back in early September the self-proclaimed “Asian major leagues”, ONE FC, has been dormant. The upstart Singapore-based promotion broke their silence on Monday evening however, announcing an ambitio…
After an impressive first showing back in early September the self-proclaimed “Asian major leagues”, ONE FC, has been dormant. The upstart Singapore-based promotion broke their silence on Monday evening however, announcing an ambitious schedule of three events in three countries over three months for early 2012.
Jakarta will host Indonesia’s first large-scale MMA event on Feb. 11, 2012 as ONE FC heads to the 4000-capacity Kelapa Gading Sports Mall. On Mar. 31 the promotion will return to the home of the debut ONE FC event in September: the 12,000-capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. Finally, ONE FC will also host Malaysia’s first large-scale MMA event on Apr. 27 as the promotion heads to the 10,000-capacity Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur.
Although no bouts have been announced for the upcoming events, the promotion is expected to announce a number of new signings in the coming week. ONE FC has been publicly quiet since their debut event on Sept. 3 but behind the scenes the young promotion has been hastily forming alliances across the continent – recently forging relationships with South Korea’s Road FC, the Philippines’ Ultimate Reality Combat Championship and Thailand’s Dare FC.
Although no broadcast details have been announced, the upcoming ONE FC events are expected to air on ESPN Star Sports in Asia and via an online stream.
Filed under: ONE FCOn Sept. 3, we saw a new potential contender on the global MMA scene. The self-proclaimed “Asian major leagues.” The new “king of MMA in Asia.”
The first event from the Singapore-based ONE FC was highly touted and full of action, b…
On Sept. 3, we saw a new potential contender on the global MMA scene. The self-proclaimed “Asian major leagues.” The new “king of MMA in Asia.”
The first event from the Singapore-based ONE FC was highly touted and full of action, but did it live up to the hype?
After the break, we have a detailed look at the good, the bad and the future of the upstart promotion.
The Good: Talent. Like most people, this was my first time seeing a lot of these fighters in an MMA ring – and on the whole, I was very impressed. Although there were matchmaking issues (see below), ONE FC (and the pilot promotion Martial Combat) has unearthed some genuinely good talent.
Eduard Folayang and A Sol Kwon put on a fantastic show in the main event, and I can’t wait to see Zorobabel Moreira, Eddie Ng, Vuyisile Colossa, Eric Kelly and Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai again. That is an impressive amount of names for a debut show. Yes, some of these guys were given squash matches, but it was clear that they had legitimate MMA skills and were not your typical ill-equipped crossover athletes.
Pre-fight hype. This was promotion done right. ONE FC CEO Victor Cui’s experience was clear as his debut event garnered far more interest than any recent event in Asia. Some of the claims leading up to the event were dubious (calling it “Asia’s largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event,” before their first event springs to mind), but they served their purpose.
In their first event, ONE FC was able to generate far more fan interest than the likes of Shooto, Pancrase and Deep in Japan, the Hong Kong-based Legend FC or the South Korean Road FC – no mean feat considering that a significant portion of the card was populated by MMA rookies.
Those expecting the second coming of Pride FC were gullible but people were genuinely excited – and that is something no Asian MMA event has been able to accomplish for a long, long time.
Local focus.Phil Baroni was the only real international “name” fighter brought in for the event and that is very smart. ONE FC is tailored to an Asian audience and they don’t need to waste money bringing in expensive foreign heavyweights or the big MMA names that western fans know – they need local, sustainable talent.
ONE FC is looking for long-term success here, and bringing in outside talent, would only bring short-term benefits at a high cost. Developing its own stars is the way to go.
The Bad: Matchmaking. The biggest problem with the event,and the most difficult issue to overcome for ONE FC brass, was the matchmaking.
With so many inexperienced MMA fighters on the card, it really wasn’t a difficult issue to foresee, but five of the 10 bouts were completely one-sided. These mismatches made for great violence, but they were not great sport. The challenge in fixing this issue will be finding depth
This is not to say the entire card consisted of poorly made bouts though, the main event between Eduard Folayang and A Sol Kwon was absolutely superb.
Production. ONE FC has a lot of new athletes and is appealing to a new fan base – they really needed to introduce the fighters better. Just having the commentators list accomplishments and a few tidbits of information as a fighter makes his way to the ring is not enough. Potential fans need to care about these fighters. Small vignettes introducing the fighters were posted on YouTube so why not include them in the stream?
Unfortunately the ring announcer’s voice wasn’t capable of doing the epic things, he thought it could do. Normally I would not deem something like this worth mentioning, but it detracted from an otherwise polished production.
I would also like to see localized introductions to MMA prior to the event. The vast majority of the audience will have never seen MMA before.At the time of writing there is still no schedule for the ESPN Star Sports broadcast through Asia and so it his highly likely that these minor production issues are addressed.
Fight week. Despite generating an impressive level of media and fan interest leading up to the event, the international promotional efforts tapered off in the week leading up to the event.
The ONE FC website provided no link to the live stream, no TV broadcast information, no links to fight week interviews, no weigh-in results and at the time of writing, 24 hours after the event finished, still no results.
The Future:
The biggest difficulty facing ONE FC is correcting the matchmaking problems. This is mainly due to the simple fact that there is a lack of MMA gyms in Asia outside of Japan and South Korea. ONE FC will need to do some impressive scouting to come up with local guys that can compete with the likes of Eduard Folayang, Zorobabel Moreira, Eddie Ng, Vuyisile Colossa, Eric Kelly and Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai.
Given some of the talent they were able to unearth in their debut event though, I have faith.
The production and promotional issues we saw are easy to fix – some of them were just minor organizational problems and obviously any new event will have hiccups initially. The challenge will be to tailor the production to this completely new audience through Asia. Victor Cui has a huge amount of experience here and I’m interested to see how he introduces the sport and fighters. It will be crucial to their success.
Prior to the first ONE FC event, the Singapore-based promotion was being touted as “The king of MMA in Asia.” It’s premature to crown ONE FC, it will take at least a year for the promotion to really show its true potential, but it is off to a solid start.
Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo. PicProps: onefc.com
OK, first: if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:
Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk. Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.
Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo. PicProps: onefc.com
OK, first: if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:
Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk. Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.
Much the excitement for the event came from the comparisons to PRIDE. According to ONE’s website, they utilize “a combination rule set of global MMA best practices, blending Asian and non-Asian rules”, meaning no restriction to elbow, knee, or kicking attacks on a grounded opponent. We didn’t see any at the first event, and I’m still not entirely clear on how the fighters were instructed.
They didn’t get Lenne Hardt (AKA The Crazy Screaming PRIDE Lady), but they did get Yuji Shimada (AKA “I don’t care, kill him. Do you want to win?”) in to referee.
It does seem that ONE is shooting for high production values as PRIDE did, but there were no grand displays. No elaborate entrances, although there was an amusingly eclectic mix of music chosen for walkouts, which led to the revelation that Bas Rutten digs Lady Gaga and Johnny Cash. The crowd was relatively sparse in the 12,000 capacity stadium, but they were an enthusiastic bunch.
And with good reason: the card was full of good action throughout.
For the grappling fans:Kelly vs Chilson, BJJ aces vs South Koreans named “Kim”. Both Gregor Gracie and Leandro Issa outpointed Kims, and there was jits popping out all over the place. Gracie’s opponent Seok Mo Kim had outstanding submission defense, escaping a triangle and surviving multiple arm triangle chokes from Gracie, who is going to be catching hell from family for failing to finish a fight in which he scored and maintained mount for minutes at a time. Kelly took home a $5K bonus for sub of the night for sleeping Chilson with a standing RNC.
For the KO junkie: Sityodong vs Mashamaite, Ng vs Bo, Colossa vs Yu, Rahman vs Ghosh. Both Ng and Bo are generally favorites of livebloggers everywhere. Beats the hell out of Magomed Sultanakhmedov, Georgi Karakhanyan, and Jadamba Narantungalag, is all I’m saying.
For the “PRIDE mismatch to make the home team look like a ninja” fan: Rahman vs Ghosh. Raheem Rahman picked up the $5K knockout of the night bonus after plowing through his opponent in the first.
For the sadist: Moreira vs Wang. Not a gory fight, but painful nonetheless. Yuji Shimada has seen some world-class ass whoopings in his lifetime, so don’t expect him to stop a fight unless someone’s ear falls off. If a fighter wants to continue to soak up punishment in the second round, Shimada is willing let him. And the fighter does. So Shimada does.
Fight of the night: Folayang vs Kwon. Supposedly a mismatch on paper, this was a fast-paced, even contested fight with lots of fun kick technique and some wild exchanges. Go watch it.
Notes to Victor Cui (ONE CEO): Can you hook up with HDNET? That would be great, then we can watch these in high def, and rewind when Folayang and Kwon are moving to damn fast for us to follow. Also, a little pyrotechnics never hurt nobody.*
All in all a fun event, albeit short of rivaling PRIDE’s inaugural event or UFC’s current dominance. If the first broadcast is any indication, ONE FC will be the leader in MMA in the eastern hemisphere in short order. I know I’ll tune in again.
Filed under: Results, ONE FCMMA Fighting has ONE FC results of A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang, Phil Baroni vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida and the rest of the inaugural ONE FC event on Sept. 3 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
MMA Fighting has ONE FC results of A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang, Phil Baroni vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida and the rest of the inaugural ONE FC event on Sept. 3 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
In the main event, lightweight Kwon aims for his seventh straight win against the Martial Combat veteran Folayang.
ONE FC results are below.
Eduard Folayang def. A Sol Kwon via unanimous decision (live blog)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida def. Phil Baroni via unanimous decision (live blog)
Eric Kelly def. Mitch Chilson via Technical Sub (Rear-Naked Choke) – Round 1, 3.10
Gregor Gracie def. Seok Mo Kim via Unanimous Decision
Zorobabel Moreira def. Andy Wang via TKO (Knees) – Round 2, 1.49
Eddie Ng def. Yuan Chun Bo via KO (Punches) – Round 1, 0.45
Radeem Rahman def. Susovan Ghosh by TKO (Punches) – Round 1, 3.18
Vuyisile Colossa def. Ma Xing Yu by KO (Punch) – Round 1, 0.49
Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai def. Daniel Mashamaite via TKO (Knee) – Round 2, 0.14
Leandro Issa def. Soo Chul Kim via Unanimous Decision
Filed under: Results, ONE FCThis is the ONE FC 1: Champion vs Champion live blog for A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang and Phil Baroni vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida, the headliners of the debut event for the upstart promotion from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in …
This is the ONE FC 1: Champion vs Champion live blog for A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang and Phil Baroni vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida, the headliners of the debut event for the upstart promotion from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
Korea’s A Sol Kwon will look for his ninth straight victory against 9-1 Filipino Eduard Folayang, and Phil Baroni will look for his second consecutive win post-UFC against fellow UFC veteran Yoshiyuki Yoshida.
The first bout is scheduled to begin at around 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT.
A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang
Round 1: A cautious start with Kwon watching carefully as Folayang edges forward and makes his way in with strikes. A jab and right hand from Kwon snaps Folayang’s head back – the best blows so far. Folayang hammers the body a kick and Kwon counters with a hook that briefly buckles Folayang. Kwon is landing well here although not throwing a huge number of strikes. Folayang lands another hard kick to the body and then a blow to the leg that seems to damage the lead knee of Kwon. Folayang rushes forward with strikes and Kwon reacts badly – moving straight backwards.
Round 2: Folayang’s nose looks to be crooked as we start the second period. Folayang is aggressive but gets caught with a blow that opens up a cut that sends blood streaming down his face. The cut is just off to the side of the eye and should be OK. We stop for a doctor check. We have had a couple head clashes in this third round, the cut may have be a result of that.
We restart and Folayang turns it up a notch, his footwork excellent as he covers a massive amount of distance to deliver kicks to a retreating Kwon. Referee Matt Hume warns Kwon for a lack of action. Folayang continues to blast Kwon with kicks to the body and legs, the Korean relatively inactive although landing well with punches when he does launch them.
Round 3: Folayang is again the aggressor but an errant kick catches Kwon low. After a short break we restart and Kwon clinches, looking for a takedown. An outside trip is violently reversed by Folayang, Kwon getting thrown to the mat. They get back to their feet after Kwon lands a throw of his own and Folayang catches Kwon with punches while moving straight backwards. Folayang looking badly damaged here despite landing much better. Kwon again gets caught with punches while moving backwards – the third time this has happened during the bout. Folayang lands punches that rock Kwon’s head back and bloodies his nose. As the round ends Folayang again drives Kwon straight backwards.
Folayang’s work rate should lead to him easily taking the decision here. In the post fight interview we see the extent of the damage Kwon did – Folayang has a broken nose, mouse under one eye and a cut about the other.
Winner: Eduard Folayang by Unaimous Decision
Phil Baroni vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Round 1: Baroni stalks Yoshida, looking for an quick finish. After the first swing from his opponent, Yoshida clinches and uses his judo to throw to side control. Yoshida taking his time, Baroni looking for weak hammerfists from his back and eventually shrimping and escaping to his feet. Yoshida instantly gets the takedown again though, pinning Baroni against the cage and landing blows to the ribs. Yoshida advances to half guard before passing again to side control, dominating the round although not causing a lot of damage. Baroni works his away back to his feet only to be kicked in the head before round ends.
Round 2: We start the second stanza and Baroni shakes his arms and bounces up and down, attempting to regain some energy. Yoshida is relaxed but only just avoiding Baroni’s looping hooks. Baroni looks to be tired and is not keeping his hands up at all between exchanges. Yoshida shoots a double leg but Baroni easily sprawls on it and finds himself on top in half guard. Yoshida is able to stand quickly and then tries again for the high double, getting the takedown this time against the cage. Yoshida controlling the action, pounding from Baroni’s open guard and then moving to get his opponent’s back. Baroni escapes and attempts to rough up Yoshida with punches but there is little heat behind them at this point.
Round 3: Yoshida has a winning gameplan here and drives for the takedown as soon as we start the round. Baroni stands but looks exhausted, Yoshida tireless in his takedowns. Baroni looks for the Hail Mary guillotine choke from half guard but nothing happening. Yoshida passes through into mount and grapevines the legs of Baroni, taking away his ability to shrimp out. Yoshida retains mount, throwing in just enough punches to keep the bout from being stood up. Baroni is visibly exhausted and ask referee Yuji Shimada for the time. Yoshida looks for the finish in the closing seconds, attempting to get a kesa gatame choke but not getting the tap.
We go to the final bell and Baroni ignores Yoshida’s attempt to embrace. The Japanese fighter easily takes the decision. Totally one-sided fight.
Winner: Yoshiyuki Yoshida via Unanimous Decision
Mitch Chilson vs. Eric Kelly
Round 1: Kelly an impression early, driving his foot through Chilson’s face with a front kick. Wanting no more of that Chilson takes the bout to the ground where he lands some elbows, but Kelly’s guard is good. Kelly attempts to stand and after a brief scramble, manages to get it back to the feet.
As the fighters stand we see a large cut over Chilson’s eye. The doctor’s check the cut and he is fit to continue.
Both fighters have a sense of urgency as the bout restarts, haymakers threatening to take out the ring lights. Chilson gives up his neck as he overreaches for a takedown and Kelly slaps on a standing rear naked choke. Chilson drops unconscious to the mat seconds later, handed the first loss of his career. Referee Yuji Shimada stops the bout as Chilson wakes up from his slumber and attempts to put Kelly in a clinch, unaware that he was asleep only moments prior.
Post fight Kelly says he wants to represent the Philippines in the UFC.
Winner: Eric Kelly via Technical Submission (Rear Naked Choke) – Round 1, 3.10
Gregor Gracie vs. Seok Mo Kim
Round 1: No Gracie Train as Gregor Gracie makes his way to the round cage. I’m disappointed. Bout starts and Gracie jumps back, apparently not ready to start. After moment he comes back in with a pair of punches that bring Kim’s hands up, opening up the possibility for a shot. Gracie gets the easy takedown into mount. Gracie picks his punches from mount, taking his time and edging his way up into a high mount. Gracie looks for a triangle, rolls to guard to finish it but Kim easily pulls out. Back on the feet, Kim lands a low kick that hits Gracie square in the cup.
After a break, they restart and Kim comes to life, landing punches, knees and a high kick that has Gracie on rubber legs. The round ends as Gracie recovers.
Round 2: Kim has confidence after his efforts in the late in the last round, his strikes have Gracie intimidated. Punches and a knee slip through for the Korean before Gracie shoots a power double and immediately looks for the head-arm triangle on the mat. The choke looks good but Kim waves it off and Gracie is unable to finish. Gracie squeezes again for the finish but it just isn’t there. Gracie gives it up and moves to mount. Gracie picks his shots in mount but is not able to get much through. The round finishes with Gracie sitting on his opponent.
Round 3: They are tentative on the feet, Gracie wary of striking, Kim wary of the ground. One minute in Kim lands another low kick to the groin and Gracie takes a break. They restart and Kim lands a hard knee as Gracie drives his opponent into the cage. Gracie turns the corner and again gets the bout to the canvas, again into mount.
Gracie ignores submissions this time, instead opting to retain position and attempt to pound his opponent. After a minute of Kim defending strikes, Gracie looks for another head-arm triangle but again Kim can escape. Gracie recovers mount and retains it until the final bell.
Gracie should take an easy decision here. Remember, we are scoring the bout as a whole rather than round by round.
Winner: Gregor Gracie via Unanimous Decision
Andy Wang vs. Zorobabel Moreira Note: Even after requesting that the bout moved from 155 lbs to 159 lbs, Andy Wang still missed weight, coming in at 163.1. Wang forfeits a percentage of his purse.
Round 1: Quite scrappy as the bout starts, both fighters seeming a little jittery. Moreira reaches out for a clinch but Wang takes a finger to the eye. Fight is stopped and Wang seems to be concerned about his eye. Worth noting that Wang’s last outing in 2010 was ruled a no contest due to an eye poke.
After approximately five minutes, Wang decides he is good to go and referee Yuji Shimada restarts the bout.
Moreira takes the center of the cage, looking for the clinch and knees. An awkward rhythm to the standup, Moreira leaving his lengthy hands extended after throwing punches. Wang gets an eye poke again but this time the bout doesn’t pause. Moreira turns on the flash, looking for a spinning elbow and downward elbows against the cage. Moreira’s reach is giving Wang trouble but aside from the eye poke, he doesn’t seem to be causing much damage.
Round 2: Wang is game, staying in the pocket against the much taller Moreira. Moreira looks for a high kick and Wang steps under it, taking the bout to the ground. They stand quickly and Moreira clinches again to throw his superb elbows. A right elbow devastates Wang, cuts him and sends him into the turtle position on the canvas. Moreira delivers undefended skyscraper knees to the body, appealing to Yuji Shimada to stop the bout. Wang doing nothing to defend himself. Some more knees and Shimada finally stops the fight. Both fighters look at Shimada in amazement – an awfully late stoppage.
Winner: Zorobabel Moreira via TKO (Knees) – Round 2, 1.49
Eddie Ng vs. Yuan Chun Bo
Round 1: Ng, clearly more muscled, starts quickly with a beautiful shot to get the bout to the canvas immediately. Bo, a sanda stylist, responds with a very slick armbar attempt, seemingly close to getting the finish. Ng is good enough to pull his way out and he delivers a punch from guard that knocks Bo out. Subsequent punches from Ng wake Bo up enough for him to protest the fair stoppage by Matt Hume.
Winner: Eddie Ng via KO (Punches) – Round 1, 0.45
Radeem Rahman vs. Susovan Ghosh Round 1: A straight left catches Indian karate stylist Ghosh as he moves backwards, causing him to fall to the canvas. Hometown favorite Rahman pouncing in and pours on the pain. Ghosh attempts to recover with a takedown against the cage but has absolutely to offer here. They stand and Rahman lands crisp punches while Ghosh swings wildly. Ghosh falls again to the canvas and Rahman takes mount where he lands punches until referee Matt Hume calls a stop to the bout.
A brutal one-sided beating.
Winner: Radeem Rahman via TKO (Punches) – Round 1, 3.18
Vuyisile Colossa vs. Ma Xing Yu
Round 1: Colossa, who came in 5.5 pounds heavier than his opponent, has a clear power advantage as he blasts Yu’s head back with a jab only seconds in. Colossa lands a hard knee and looks for the knockout with elbows while Yu scrambles to survive. Colossa steps back and lands a short left hook that sends Yu to the canvas and so referee Matt Hume stops the bout. One sided beating. Post fight, Colossa appeals for a title shot. Amusing, considering that there are no titles in ONE FC yet.
Winner: Vuyisile Colossa via TKO (Punch) – Round 1, 0.49
Daniel Mashamaite vs. Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai Round 1: Yodsanan, a former WBA boxing champ, puts out his hand to touch gloves only to pull it back and try to catch Mashamaite off guard with a dirty hook. Mashamaite clinches and gets the takedown but sits back for a sloppy leg lock. Yodsanan easily avoids it and gets into Masamaite’s guard where he looks to throw some punches before standing and throwing kicks to the legs.
Mashamaite shoots a double from halfway across the cage, Yodsanan easily avoids it and delivers a hard knee as punishment. Yodsanan obviously superior on the feet is relaxed, stalking his opponent around the cage. A right hand rip to the body from the southpaw Thai hurts Mashamaite and has him leaning aginast the cage. Yodsanan continues to take his time, stalking his opponent as the round ends. Round 2: Yodsanan comes out with a pawing jab and Mashamaite responds by bending over for a weak takedown attempt. Yodsanan has clinches and throws a knee that seems to miss his opponent. Mashamaite freezes up for a second and then falls back, referee Yuji Shimada stopping the bout. The replay seems to confirm that the knee missed although commentary claiming that the blow hit Mashamaite’s nose. Strange happenings indeed.
Winner: Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai via TKO (Knee) – Round 2, 0:14.
Soo Chul Kim vs. Leandro Issa
Round 1: Issa opens up with an inside low kick, Kim responding with a superman punch, only to be caught with another low kick – directly to the groin.
Referee Yuji Shimada stops the bout to give Kim a chance to recover.
Bout restarts after minute, Issa fires out a left jab, catching Kim in the eye. A high kick misses for the Brazilian and Kim looks to clinch. With no action in the clinch the pair break and Issa is picking Kim apart early on the feet. Hard jabs knock Kim’s head back and a front kick knocks the Korean to the canvas. The fighters clinch again and Issa, a world champion BJJ practitioner, secures a takedown and quickly moves into side control. Kim seems to have a lack of escape options off his back and finds himself eating knees and elbows.
Kim makes his way back to his feet and he starts to get his striking game going, firing in lowkicks. Issa not reacting well to the kicks and again looks for the takedown. With only seconds left, Issa rains in elbows from side control. The bell sounds as Kim gets back to his feet.
Round 2: ?The second round starts and Issa again looks better with his hands and Kim looking sharper with his kicks. Kim leaps in with a flying knee attempt, not landing. Kim is light on his feet, circling back from Issa. A hard right hand smacks Issa across the face. Issa seemingly getting frustrated with Kim circling away. Issa lands a kick to the body which backs Kim up. Issa gets the takedown off the cage and easily moves into mount, Kim scrambling to get gives up his back before recovering to half guard. Issa looking for the finish with punches but is far from it. The bell brings an end to round two.
Round 3: Final round and Issa throws a heavy kick to the body but is countered with a stiff fist to the face. Kim gets poked in the eye again and appeals to the referee for a minute to clear his vision.
Fight restarts and Kim has a mouse under his eye. Kim comes in with a one-two and knee to the face, one of the few combinations thrown in the bout. Another leg kick lands for Kim. Issa misses with a sloppy takedown attempt but is able to recover and his second shot gets the bout to the canvas. Issa gets Korean’s back and wails away with punches but Kim is good enough to stand.
Kim rushes in with strikes and Issa flops to his back, getting Kim into his guard where he looks for a guillotine and kimura before getting the sweep into mount. After only a second, Kim rolls back into guard where he stands to throw kicks to the legs. Kim needs to finish here but makes a mistake and jumps into Issa’s guard where he is tied up for the rest of the bout.
We go to the judges – note that ONE FC scores the bout as a whole, not by round. MMA Fighting scores the bout for Issa.
After an 
On Sept. 3, we saw a new potential contender on the global 
MMA Fighting has ONE FC results of A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang, 
This is the ONE FC 1: Champion vs Champion live blog for A Sol Kwon vs. Eduard Folayang and