It may have been merely a footnote to most fans in an already sub-par chapter of MMA events, but this weekend’s ONE FC 4 gave fans a quick fix for soccer kicks, quick stoppages and some lesser-known talent making names for themselves.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about the names you’re already familiar with. Roger Huerta took to the cage at welterweight looking to rebound from an ugly TKO at the hands of War Machine. His initial opponent, Phil Baroni, was forced off of the card due to an ugly knockout loss at the hands of Chris Holland at Ring of Fire 43 earlier this month. Replacing “The New York Badass” was Zorobabel Moreira, a tall lightweight sporting a 6-1 record before the bout. If “El Matador” was looking to break out of his recent slump, Moreira was, on paper, the perfect opportunity.
In reality, Huerta had his moments early on in the fight, using his aggressive striking against the jiu-jitsu black belt. But once Moreira started to catch Huerta with kicks of his own, he controlled the fight. The second round was all Moreira, as Huerta seemed tired, and was often hesitant to exchange. The fight was essentially over once Moreira caught Huerta with a knee, but since the referee didn’t stop the fight, Moreira capped things off with a brutal soccer kick. Retirement might be a good idea for Huerta, who has now lost six of his last seven outings.
The same cannot be said for Renato “Babalu” Sobral. When it was announced that Babalu would be making his return to the cage against the 11-7 Tatsuya Mizuno, we posited that the Sobral’s time away from the cage was the only thing keeping this fight from being a PRIDE-era mismatch. Well, we were wrong: The fight played out exactly as it would have two years ago, when Babalu was a consensus top ten light-heavyweight. It only took Babalu thirty one seconds to put away Mizuno with an armbar. I know, I’m just as shocked as you are.
Okay, enough of the chit-chat. We first have videos of just the Huerta/Sobral fights. Then we have a video of the entire main card, followed by a list of results if you’re feeling especially lazy today. Props to IronForgesIron.com for the videos.
Full Results:
Renato Sobral def. Tatsuya Mizuno by submission (armbar), 0:31 of Round One
Zorobabel Moreira def. Roger Huerta by KO (soccer kick), 3:53 of Round Two
Leandro Issa def. Masakazu Imanari by unanimous decision
Adam Kayoom def. Gregor Gracie by unanimous decision
Eric Kelly def. Bae Young Kwon by unanimous decision
Arnaud Lepont def. Brian Choi by submission (rear-naked choke), 1:38 of Round Three
Preliminary Card:
Mitch Chilson def. AJ Lias Mansor by submission (rear-naked choke), 1:39 of Round One
Marcos Escobar def. Rodrigo Praxedes by submission (D’arce choke), 1:40 of Round Three
Peter Davis def. Kim Quek Hong by TKO (knees and punches), 0:55 of Round One
