Just a couple of weeks following the highly successful ONE FC 16: Honor & Glory in Singapore, Asia’s biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) organization did it again with a spectacular night of blazing fights that satiated Indonesian fight fans’ appetites for world-class MMA action. Those at Jakarta’s Mata Elang Stadium, along with millions worldwide watching on STAR Sports and Livesport.tv, were treated to some very memorable battles.
The first fight of the evening was between Indonesia’s first female MMA fighter Desi Rahayu and Malaysia’s Ella Tang in a flyweight contest (125 lbs). The hometown hero opened the night right for Jakarta with a spirited performance that granted her a win by Unanimous Decision. Nicknamed “Eagle Eyes”, Rahayu won her MMA debut while her opponent has skidded to 0-2 in her MMA record.
The next prelim fight was a welterweight clash that featured another Indonesian, Zui Silawanto, who fought the best way he can but failed to survive the first round against a very strong Barbod of Iran. The Persian fighter slammed the local hero hard on the ground and followed up with punches, forcing the fight to be stopped midway in the opening round at 2:24 minutes. Barbod registered his first win as an MMA fighter but Silawanto drops to 6-8-0 as this makes it his third consecutive stoppage.
Next up was the first fight of the main card where Gianni Subba of Malaysia returned to the cage to face Ruel Catalan of the Philippines. Subba proved that he is back to his dominant form, quickly imposing his will with snappy takedowns. He eventually trapped the Filipino in a triangle choke that warranted a tap at the 2:43-minute mark of the second round. The Malaysian climbed to 4-1-0 as his opponent bowed to a 2-5-0 card.
Possibly the most exciting bout of the night, three-time Lumpinee world champion and Evolve MMA’s top Muay Thai coach, Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke was matched against Filipino pro-boxer Jomanz Omanz as they both made their MMA debut. The Thai practically outclassed his opponent who only managed two takedowns and had no answers to the onslaught by the Muay Thai world champion. Dejdamrong stuffed one of Jomanz’s takedown attempts and made him pay for it with knees, elbows and punches that earned him a TKO win in their mutual MMA debut.
Fans then witnessed a relentless exchange of strikes between Malaysian Ev Ting and local fighter Yohan Mulia Legowo who is nine years older. The younger fighter landed the accurate and brutal blows that carved a TKO victory at 4:35 minutes of Round 1 of their featherweight match. Ting improves his record to 7-2-0 and Legowo adds a loss to make it 7-3-0.
The slated welterweight fight between Aung La N “The Burmese Python” Sang and Mahmoud “Steel Man” Salama finally came to fruition as the event’s sixth fight. Sang’s deep experience in grappling contrasted Salama’s sharp striker footwork, but Sang could deal with every opening in the stand up and excel in his speciality on the ground. He came up with a crafty sweep and got the mount, before proceeding to home a series of punches to Salama’s chin. That put the lights out for the Egyptian at 1:07 minutes of the opening round. The Burmese now holds a 15-9-1 record and Salama steps down to 4-5-0.
The fight between gutsy and patient Geje Eustaquio and a very agile Kentaro Watanabe would decide half of ONE FC’s first flyweight championship match-up, thus holding a lot of significance. The Japanese gave Eustaquio a rough first round with his quick hands and unorthodox springy movements. Upon the instructions of his corner, the Filipino wisely stayed away from Watanabe’s killer right hand from the second round.
Eustaquio was starting to win the exchanges when he landed an unfortunate low blow on the Japanese. The third round featured flurries of kicks and counters that etched Eustaquio’s right to claim a Unanimous Decision from the judges, moving up to 6-2-0 as Watanabe backslides to 10-5-0.
In the night’s co-main event, Indonesia’s top MMA fighter Fransino “Pitbull” Tirta barely broke a sweat in his bout against Sami Amin of Egypt. This was a highly-anticipated match as Tirta makes a comeback to the MMA cage after three years of absence.
He performed a butter-smooth takedown, got the back of Amin quickly, positioned hooks and earned an almost effortless rare naked choke submission. The Indonesian MMA hero pushes his unbeaten streak to 16-0-1 now, while the Egyptian has 4-2-0.
The headlining fight of the night was the biggest flyweight contest in ONE FC, in terms of size and potential. Brazil’s Adriano “Mikhino” Moraes faced Kosuke “Rambo” Suzuki of Japan. Despite being shorter by 12cm, the former Shooto champ managed to neutralize and escape all of the Brazilian’s submission attacks.
The fight, described as an ultra-fast-paced grappling match, displayed Moraes’ fighting wisdom with the way he masterfully used his length and his agility to claim back the dominant position in the ground scuffles. He attempted the arm triangle choke for three times before finally succeeding at the 1:35-minute mark of the third round when Suzuki tapped to a 10-4-2 record.
Moraes, who now possesses a mighty 11-1-0 record, will face Eustaquio for the inaugural ONE FC Flyweight Championship match.