A SUCCESSFUL ONE Championship event was held in Thailand last Saturday which unfortunately proved to have been rough for Filipino mixed martial arts fighters that saw action in it.
Strawweight Rabin Catalan, featherweight Jimmy Yabo, women’s strawweight fighter April Osenio and women’s atomweight Rome Trinidad all competed at “ONE: Warriors of the World” at the Impact Arena in Bangkok and all wound up on the raw side of things.
Mr. Catalan lost by technical knockout due to strikes in the second round to hometown bet Kritsada Kongsrichai while Mr. Yabo was knocked out by Sagetdao Petpayathai just 1:32 minutes into the opening round.
Ms. Osenio, meanwhile, was TKO’d (strikes) by Chinese fighter Xiong Jingnan in the first round just as Ms. Trinidad was submitted by rear-naked choke by Rika Ishige in the second round.
Mr. Catalan (4-4) has now lost three straight in ONE while Mr. Yabo has dropped four in a row.
For Ms. Osenio (2-3), it was her second straight defeat. She was submitted in her previous fight a year ago.
A member of Team Lakay, Ms. Osenio returned to the cage after completing her criminology studies.
Unfortunately for her, Ms. Jingnan (10-1) proved to be too big for her as she slumped to the loss upon her return.
Ms. Trinidad, for her part, made her promotional debut against Ms. Ishige.
While the former showed flashes of form in striking early on, she eventually succumbed to the more experienced Ishige when the fight went to the mat.
Both Filipino fighters vowed to learn from the lessons of their latest fights and come back better next time round.
Meanwhile in the main event, Brazilian Alex Silva became the new strawweight champion after seizing the belt from erstwhile champion Yoshitaka Naito by unanimous decision.
Next for ONE Championship is “Kings Of Courage” in Jakarta, Indonesia, in January as it kicks off a new year. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
