ONE Championship confirmed the grand finalists for their 155-pound kickboxing tournament on Friday night, as Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong and Chingiz Allazov won their semi-final bouts.
Their victories took place at the top of the promotion’s “Only The Brave” card on Friday night from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
It was announced Friday that the Grand Final bout between Sitthichai and Allazov will be on ONE’s 10th-anniversary card on March 26th.
Sitthichai Beats Tough Kiria Via Decision
Sitthichai dominated his fight against Davit Kiria, controlling him for a unanimous decision win in the semi-finals.
Sitthichai completely out-landed Kiria throughout, moving forward with combinations of shots that connected.
The tough Kiria remained on his feet for most of the fight, only getting dropped once.
Sitthichai’s sole knockdown came late in the second round, landing a head kick to Kiria. This blow dropped him, although he briefly protested the referee ruling it as a knockdown.
Sitthichai beat Tatfun Ozcan in the opening round, defeating him via split-decision.
Kiria earned his first ONE victory in the opening round of the tournament last year. The former GLORY Kickboxing Champion knocked down Enriko Kehl three times in the quarter-finals.
Allazov Defeats Short-Notice Opponent Nattawut
Allazov picked up his win in the co-main event of the show, stopping short-notice opponent Smokin’ Jo Nattawut within a round.
The dominant victory saw Allazov put Nattawut down twice before the fight concluded.
Allazov earned a knockdown in the second minute, landing a punch and a knee to Nattawut. A combo of punches dropped him yet again a minute later, causing an end of the fight.
Nattawut wasn’t originally scheduled to fight in the semi-finals. However, he was placed in this fight after Marat Grigorian was removed from the card due to COVID-19 protocols.
Allazov won his quarter-final fight in the tournament, defeating Samy San in just 39 seconds last year.
Zhang Picks Up Second ONE Victory In Less Than Minute
Veteran Zhang Lipeng earned a finish win on Friday’s card, stopping Ruslan Emilbek Uulu in the first minute of their MMA fight.
Zhang knocked Emilbek out early, connecting with a left hook during an exchange that concluded the fight.
Zhang won his ONE debut last year, beating Eduard Folayang in the main event of a card.
Zhang is an incredibly experienced fighter with a record that includes four fights in the UFC.
Emilbek now has a ONE record of one win and two losses. His prior appearance was his sole win in the promotion, defeating Pieter Buist on scorecards.
Opacic Drops Xhaja Four Times En Route To Stoppage
Rade Opacic had another explosive win on Friday, scoring four knockdowns against Francesko Xhaja for a second-round stoppage.
Opacic’s first knockdown came near the end of the first round, where a quick combination of punches backed Xhaja up and dropped him.
The second knockdown came as a left hook to the body winded Xhaja. Just moments later, a combination of punches to the head and body got Xhaja down again.
The fight finally came to a close after a two-punch combo to the body of Xhaja but him down again.
Opacic now has a strong four-fight winning streak in ONE’s heavyweight kickboxing division. All of those appearances have come via stoppage.
Xhaja was making his ONE Championship debut in the fight.
Tetsuka Drops Marques Late For Win
Hiroyuki Tetsuka picked up a finish win in his second appearance for the promotion, defeating Edson Marques.
Tetsuka suddenly dropped Marques early into the final round, connecting with a left hook that floored him. The referee was quick to step in and end the fight before ground and pound could be landed.
Tetsuka was successful in earlier rounds as well, taking Marques down numerous times and landing a fair amount of ground and pound.
Tetsuka won his ONE debut months ago, defeating Agilan Thani via stoppage.
Marques was returning to ONE, hoping to score his first victory in the promotion. His prior fight in the promotion came against Raimond Magomedaliev in 2020.
Brooks Dominates Minowa For Decision Win
Jarred Brooks continued his winning streak to open the main card, defeating Hiroba Minowa via unanimous decision.
Brooks took Minowa down in every round, allowing him to do damage and notch control time. He cut Minowa open early into the fight, hurting him with ground and pound from full guard.
Brooks, a former UFC fighter, won his ONE debut last year. Brooks was able to earn a submission win in that fight, stopping Lito Adiwang.
Brooks called for a title fight afterward.
“Daddy’s home, Joshua Pacio,” said Brooks in his post-fight interview.
The fight on Friday was Minowa’s first loss in ONE. He had previously scored two wins in the promotion.
The main card was also scheduled to have a fight between Kim Jae Woong and Tang Kai. The promotion announced Friday that the fight was removed from the card due to an injury to Kim.
The show also lost a heavyweight prelim between Anderson Braddock Silva and Paul Elliott. That fight was removed from the card after Silva tested positive for COVID-19, per Sherdog.
Lower On The Card
Ivan Kondratev picked up his first ONE kickboxing victory, dropping Dovydas Rimkus with a left cross in the third round to end the bout.
ONE veteran Tatsumitsu Wada broke the winning streak of Wang Shuo, using a solid mix of grappling and striking to win all of the rounds.
Purev Otgonjargal had a longer showing for his second ONE appearance, going the distance against Micael de Jesus for a win. His prior fight in the promotion was much quicker, stopping Ben Royle within a minute last year.
Quick Results
Main Card (7:30AM EST / 8:30PM SGT) (Youtube / Bleacher Report)
Bout 9: Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong def. Davit Kiria via Decision, Unanimous (ONE Kickboxing 155-Pound Grand Prix Semi-Finals)
Bout 8: Chingiz Allazov def. Smokin’ Jo Nattawut via TKO, Strikes (RD 1) (ONE Kickboxing 155-Pound Grand Prix Semi-Finals)
Bout 7: Zhang Lipeng def. Ruslan Emilbek Uulu via Decision, Unanimous (MMA Bout)
Bout 6: Rade Opacic def. Francesko Xhaja via TKO, Strikes (RD 2) (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 5: Hiroyuki Tetsuka def. Edson Marques via TKO, Strikes (RD 3) (MMA Bout)
Bout 4: Jarred Brooks def. Hiroba Minowa via Decision, Unanimous (MMA Bout)
Lead Card (5:30AM EST / 6:30PM SGT) (Youtube / Bleacher Report App)
Bout 3: Ivan Kondratev def. Dovydas Rimkus via TKO, Strikes (RD 3) (Kickboxing Bout)
Bout 2: Tatsumitsu Wada def. Wang Shuo via Decision, Unanimous (MMA Bout)
Bout 1: Purev Otgonjargal def. Micael de Jesus via Decision, Unanimous (MMA Bout)
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