Pinoy MMA fighters go 0-5 in ONE FC: Rise to Power
Winning is more fun in the Philippines. Unfortunately, losing is just as painful here as anywhere else.
In a nightmarish evening for Philippine mixed-martial arts, all five Filipino fighters on ONE FC: Rise To Power lost on Friday in the Mall of Asia Arena. If you count Fil-Canadian Ryan Diaz, then six Filipinos were beaten.
The lack of wrestling and grappling experience showed as the Filipinos, all Wushu strikers, struggled when the fights went to ground.
And yet ironically it was a punch that forced Honorio Banario to surrender his ONE FC Featherweight belt in the main event. Banario lost via a second-round knockout to Koji Oishi of Japan in his first title defense.
Banario started well, ending the first round with a series of punches that rocked Oishi. The Japanese veteran, with a puffy left eye, was saved by the bell.
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But in the second round Oishi tagged Banario with a lethal right to the jaw. The Filipino slumped to the canvas and Oishi followed up with several punches that prompted referee Yuji Shimada to end the bout.
As Oishi jumped up and down in delight, the shellshocked crowd at the Arena quietly started to go for the exits.
They had already seen four Pinoy warriors defeated by then, and had suffered enough.
The most gallant defeat came from Kevin Belingon. The Kiangan, Benguet native showed massive reserves of character in going down swinging against Masakatsu Ueda in the final of the ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix.
Ueda dominated the 25-year-old Belingon in the first round, taking him down early and nearly succeeding with an armbar submission attempt.
In the second round Belingon had the upper hand on a takedown for a moment but it didn't last. The slippery and fiesty Japanese nearly pulled off an armbar again but Belingon did enough to deny him the leverage.
With nothing to lose Belingon stormed back midway through the third, bloodying Ueda with some fierce striking and electrifying the crowd.
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Belingon had a shot at a rear naked choke but the wily Ueda slithered free. The man nicknamed “The Silencer” seemed to come agonizingly close to either knocking out Ueda or submitting him but each time the Japanese fighter's defense held.
Both fighters looked exhausted at the end of the bout and the round ended with Ueda straddling Belingon and hammering him with punches.
All three judges gave it to the Japanese fighter, who won a trophy to go along with a shot at the ONE FC Bantamweight belt. It's Belingon's third loss against eleven wins.
“The Silencer” had previously beaten Yusup Saadulaev and Australian Thanh Vu to reach the Bantamweight GP final, an eight-man single elimination tournament. Ueda will fight either Bibiano Fernandes or Soo Chul Kim for the Bantamweight title.
Andrew Leone of the USA gutted out out a unanimous decision victory over Team Lakay's Geje Eustaquio in a Flyweight bout. The Filipino Xanda champ was unable to keep the fight standing. Leone succeeded in bringing the game to the mat time and time again, and he thrived in that envirnment.
The Pinoy spent much of all three rounds with his back on Leone's stomach. The American nearly got the Eustaquio in a rear naked choke in the second round but the Pinoy wriggled free.
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Eustaquio showed some showmanship, repeatedly flashing a thumbs up sign to the camera as he lay on Leone. The man dubbed “Gravity” goes to 4-2 in his MMA career.
It was another loss for the Philippines when Eduard Folayang succumbed to Iran's Kamal Shalorus via unanimous decision in a Lightweight fight.
Folayang attempted several kicks that Shalorus exploited into takedowns, as the Iranian, a veteran wrestler, controlled the tempo of the fight.
“He's a warrior” said Kamal Shalorus of Folayang. “I know he is a striker that's why I used my wrestling.”
In the third round Folayang briefly had a shot at a guillotine choke on his opponent but Shalorus broke free.
“I have a bald head so I'm slippery” said the fighter dubbed “Prince of Persia” of his ability to elude the guillotine. Shalorus improves to 8-3-2 while Folayang has now lost two fights in a row in slumping to 12-4.
Yet another Pinoy fighter came out on the losing end when Yasuhiro Urushitani edged Team Lakay's Rey Docyogen via split decision in a battle of Flyweights.
Docyogen likely won a cagey first round but the second was closer although Docyogen, an architecture graduate, did land a few kicks and punches.
In the third Urushitani bloodied Docyogen's nose and the fight was suspended momentarily while the Filipino's corner patched up the wound.
Docyogen seemed to run away from Urushitani's aggression in the last round and that perhaps sealed Docyogen's doom, as two of the three judges handed the bout to the visitor.
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Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil needed all of his skills to win a bruising five-round unanimous decision over Koetsu Okazaki in the final undercard before the main event. The win gives Fernandes the ONE FC Interim Bantamweight belt. The interim belt is necessitated by the injury to ONE FC Bantamweight title holder to Soo Chul Kim.
Japanese Welterweight Nobutatsu Suzuki knocked out American Phil Baroni with 42 ticks left in the first round with a savage volley of kicks and punches. Suzuki goes to 10-1-2 and fulfilled a prefight prophesy that he would have the Mall of Asia Arena crowd cheering for him at the end of the fight. Baroni absorbs his seventeenth loss against fifteen wins.
American Tony Johnson beat Tim Sylvia in a heavyweight matchup. The doctors stopped the contest in the third round after Sylvia suffered a ghastly cut over his right eye thanks to a vicious left elbow from Johnson.
Another American was also victorious in one of the undercards. Hawaiian Lightweight Lowen Tynanes obliterated Peruvian-Swiss Felipe Enomoto, forcing a referee stoppage due to strikes 2:41 into the 1st round. Tynanes got Eonomoto in a side mount, pinned the Peruvian's left arm with his knee, and pummeled him with elbows and fists into the face before Yuji Shimada called an end to the fight.
Tynanes further ups his pro MMA record to 5-0-0. Tynanes, who last defeated Vuysile Colossa in ONE FC, is one-fourth Filipino.
In a Bantamweight undercard clash Russian Yusup Saadulaev nailed Filipino-Canadian Ryan Diaz with a D'Arce choke 2:02 into the second round, forcing Diaz to tap out. Saadulaev improves to 10-3-1.
Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333. Follow ONE FC @ONEFCMMA.
