Majority of the crowd at Stadium Negara Kuala Lumpur last night probably hoped that Ariel "Tarzan" Sexton's strong built body and Gracie Jiu Jitsu black belt advantages would be cancelled out by our home boy Peter "The Pistol" Davis' longer reach, unorthodox striking and confidence gained from his winning streak... but unfortunately it didn't. Sexton got the referee stoppage win with 10 seconds left in the first round. The grappler beats the striker in this one. It was the perfect debut for the newly signed ONE FC lightweight fighter.
As soon as Peter Davis threw his first test kick at Ariel Sexton, I knew it was going to be way tougher for Peter that I had anticipated 'cause Sexton dodged it so quick and smooth like it was nothing. None of Peter's previous opponents had gave this feeling of great concern before. I could actually sorta feel the threatening presence of Sexton even from where I was sitting. Sexton caught one of Peter's kicks with his hands and used it to pull Peter to him to get the double underhooks which led to the take down. Peter did a great job trying to defend Sexton's patient advancement but in the end, he still got mounted and took some pretty vicious elbows. He got cut above the eye and couldn't defend himself from the blows, leaving the referee no choice but to stop the fight.
In the other two ONE FC bouts, home boy Saiful "The Vampire" Merican defeated Aditya Deshpande for his first ever MMA and ONE FC win while Eric Kelly's brother, Edward "The Ferocious" Kelly, beaten Tanaphong "The Lanna Warrior" Khunhankaew in his pro debut. Both wins were by unanimous judges' decision.
Saiful dominated in his bout for all 3 rounds with his Muay Thai striking, landed plenty of powerful outside leg kicks but somehow Deshpande managed to hold on to the final bell. With this first MMA and ONE FC win, Saiful has shown significant improvement from his previous fight, especially with his BJJ and take down defense. Kelly on the hand did not show as much confidence, explosiveness and intelligence (he tried standing himself up from the ground without the referee's call!) as his elder brother but strategically, he was spot on, keeping the fight on the ground most of the time instead of exchanging blows with his Thai opponent (even the announcer-cum-commentator Matt Pelino had trouble calling him by his name), who apparently has over 150 Muay Thai fights under his belt.
The Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts (MIMMA) Grand Finals wasn't all about the ONE FC Superfights. Seven finalists in the amateur tournament were crowned the first ever MIMMA Champions of their respective weightclasses. I could see some of them have very high potential and could very well at pro level. Once again, like in the Semi-Finals, I was most impressed by Keanu Subba and Prabu "Superman"Somanaidu.
Fight of the Night: Ooi Aik Tong vs. Chew Chee Chan.
Never thought an amateur fight would entertain me more than a professional one. These two technical fighters went at each other at a pretty high pace and aggression through out the bout. Ooi was doing better standing up before the fight was taken to the ground where Chew was more dominant and in control. Ooi was successful in some Judo trips, one of them got him mounting Chew but Chew escaped skillfully. In the third round, the exhausted Chew got out of balance (I think) and was pushed to the ground, where Ooi took advantage with some ground and pound. One of punches had Chew's ear splashing out massive blood. Pity that this fight had to be stopped by the doctor due to the injury. Apparently there were "too much blood". Who knows what the results would've been if the fight continued.
Knockout of the Night: Keanu Subba via punches.
The 18-year-old took only 29 seconds to knock out the Muay Thai-cum-fitness trainer, Muhd Ikram. He actually dropped him thrice in my count before the referee finally decided that it's over. The runner-up KO of the night was definitely Jim "The Believer" Chong's TKO by hammerfists on his nicely set up crucifix against his opponent Hafiz Chandran.
Submission of the Night: Allen Solomon Chong aka "Orang Utan".
A real win snatcher. Shammah Chandran was landing some heavy pounding in top position on the ground with Chong pressed up against the fence and just when everyone thought the referee was going to stop the fight, Chong somehow managed to transition a belly-down armbar out of nowhere which forced Chandran to tap out. If he had done that a few seconds earlier, he probably wouldn't have had his face messed up as badly.
Snapshot of the Night: Ariel "Tarzan" Sexton's post-fight pose.
To view all my photos from this event, log on to this blog's Facebook Page or click here. All credits to my photographer girlfriend.
Ring Girl of the Night: Merveen Tan.
Simply 'cause she's cute. However, she didn't seem to possess the skill of live camera-flirting.
MIMMA Grand Finals Results
ONE FC Superfights
Lightweight: Ariel Sexton def. Peter Davis via TKO (ground pound elbows) - R1 4:50
Catchweight (59kg): Saiful Merican def. Aditya Deshpande via Unanimous Decision
Featherweight: Edward Kelly def. Tanaphong Khunhankaew via Unanimous Decision
MIMMA Championship Bouts
Flyweight: Kenny Yap def. Ngeoh Jian Chong via Unanimous Decision
Bantamweight: Prabu Somanaidu def. Muhd Aiman via Unanimous Decision
Featherweight: Keanu Subba def. Muhd Ikram via KO (punches) - R1 0:29
Lightweight: Allen Solomon Chong def. Shammah Chandran via Submission (armbar) - R3 ?:?? (TBC)
Welterweight: Ooi Aik Tong def. Chew Chee Chan via Doctor Stoppage (major bleeding) - R3 1:08
Middleweight: Jim Chong Jing Yi def. Hafiz Chandran via TKO (hammerfists) - R3 1:40
Heavyweight: Adrian Tham def. Christopher Leow (82.6 kg) via TKO (ground & pound) - R3 2:46
To view all my photos from this event, log on to this blog's Facebook Page or click here. All credits to my photographer girlfriend. Follow me on Twitter here.