It needed all 5 rounds in the co-main event to crown Bibiano Fernandes as the ONE FC Interim Bantamweight World Champion. Fernandes dominated his opponent Koetsu Okazaki in every round with his significantly superior grappling. In the ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix Final, it was a fight-of-the-night from the very beginning till the end. Masakatsu Ueda was crowned the first ever ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix Champion after defeating Kevin Belingon.
Weird nights it must have been in Manila Philippines. First, there were fighters who failed to make weight. Then on fight night, things went totally unpredictable. Phil Baroni dislocated or broken his right ankle by just falling onto the ground (it seems that his opponent Nobutatsu Suzuki was stepping on his feet when he fell). Rey Docyogen impressed but lost by split decision. Fights with many rear naked choke attempts but none succeeded. And the biggest surprise of all was that all 5 Filipinos on the card lost their bouts.
Quite frankly, I was only truly entertained by 3 of the main card fights. Probably 'cause no fighter was representing or fighting out my country. Can't imagine how the home crowd are feeling with none of their local fighters winning on the night although some of them did impress.
Fight of the Night: Masakatsu Ueda vs. Kevin Belingon.
An action-packed bout between a striker and a grappler. Belingon showed his aggressiveness and explosiveness even when he's on the ground, and Ueda who was fearless to go for leg takedowns despite his opponent's powerful leg-swing counters. Really an end-to-end stuff in all three rounds with plenty of strikes and submission attempts.
KO of the Night: Koji Oishi.
Calling it "a massive bomb that dropped The Rock" would still be an understatement. The Japanese himself almost got knocked out in the first round. He had to survive that and wait patiently for the right time to catch his opponent by surprise successfully and accurately. It's a brilliant right hook to the face. This was actually one of the only two KO's, the other one being Suzuki's which might have been helped by Baroni's broken ankle so it wasn't really difficult to choose between the two. Besides, Oishi's won him a title.
Submission of the Night: Yusup Saadulaev.
There was no other to compare with. Yusup's Anaconda Choke was the only submission of the night. Didn't get to see it yet due to the apparent technical difficulties with the live streaming of the Undercard fights.
Questionable judges' decision? Yasuhiro Urushitani def. Rey Docyogen by split decision.
Although Rey's nose got broken, I thought he landed more significant strikes than Urushitani. He definitely was more entertaining with his Bruce Lee style and all. But the problem was that he started running away from Urushitani late in the second round instead of facing Urushitani's close downs. Then he did again in the third round and he wasn't even hit. 2 of the 3 judges probably felt that a fighter should win, not a runner. It may be a controversial decision but it'll set an example with a no-fighters-can-pull-an-Anderson-Silva-BS-here warning to the fighters.
Ring Girl of the Night: Christine Hallauer.
Simply 'cause she flirted better with the camera and looked naturally hotter (if you know what I mean).
ONE FC 9: Rise to Power results
MAIN EVENT
Featherweight Title: Koji Oishi def. Honorio Banario (C) by KO (punches) at 1:45 mins of round 2
CO-MAIN EVENT
Bantamweight Title: Bibiano Fernandes def. Koetsu Okazaki by unanimous decision
MAIN CARD
Bantamweight Grand Prix: Masakatsu Ueda def. Kevin Belingon by unanimous decision
Flyweight: Yasuhiro Urushitani def. Rey Docyogen by split decision
Welterweight: Nobutatsu Suzuki def. Phil Baroni by KO (knee & punches) at 4:17 mins of round 1
Lightweight: Kamal Shalorus def. Eduard Folayang by unanimous decision
Flyweight: Andrew Leone def. Geje Eustaquio by unanimous decision
UNDERCARD
Bantamweight: Yusup Saadulaev def. Ryan Diaz by Anaconda Choke submission at 2:57 mins of round 2
Lightweight: Lowen Tynanes def. Felipe Enomoto by TKO (ground & pound) at 2:41 mins of round 1
Heavyweight: Tony Johnson def. Tim Slyvia by doctor stoppage (?) at 3:25 mins of round 2
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