MAIN EVENT
Flyweight Title Eliminator bout: Adriano Moraes defeats Kosuke Suzuki (Tapout – Head and Arm Choke)
A dominant grappling game earned the Brazilian, Adriano Moraes, his victory and shot for the inaugural flyweight championship against Geje Eustaquio. Though Suzuki fought hard and repeatedly scrambled his way out of Moraes’ full mounts and side mounts, Moraes brought him right back down and hammered Suzuki with strikes and submission attempts. The clock saved Suzuki from the first of Moraes’ head and arm chokes, but the Japanese fighter wasn’t so lucky in the third round.
CO-MAIN EVENT
Bantamweight bout: Fransino Tirta defeats Sami Amin (Tapout – Rear Naked Choke)
And the hometown hero keeps his streak alive. Fransino Tirta, making his ONE FC debut in front of his fellow Indonesians, made quick work of his opponent, Sami Amin. Tirta took Amin down early in the first round. Sami made the mistake of giving up his back, and Tirta took advantage of him, driving his hooks in around Amin’s legs and securing a rear naked choke. It only took seconds for Amin to tap.
MAIN CARD
Flyweight Title Eliminator bout: Geje Eustaquio defeats Kentaro Watanabe (Unanimous Decision)
A hush came over the crowd when the first bell rang. Both fighters – Japan’s Kentaro Watanabe and the Philippines Geje Eustaquio – bounced lightly on their toes as they measured each other up. The anticipation built, but the crowd never broke its silence until Kentaro exploded with a flurry of punches. Geje looked like he was in trouble at first, but he quickly weathered the storm, and the two went back to measuring each other up as the crowd again went silent.
Other than a second-round kick to the groin from Eustaquio, the rest of the fight followed the same pattern as the first minute of the first round: silence followed by a flurry of punches. Though the match would have seemed even to many onlookers, the judges awarded Eustaquio the unanimous decision win.
Middleweight bout: Aung La N Sang defeats Mahmoud Salama (Referee Stoppage Due to Strikes)
The first-round stoppages aren’t stopping here at Era of Champions. Just like in the last match, these two fighters came out swinging hard. The Myanmar native, Aung La N Sang, took his opponent down early, but the Egyptian Top Team member, Mahmoud Salama, reversed the takedown and gained top position. However, Salama did not even have time to work out of Sang’s half guard before the “The Burmese Python” reversed position into mount and rained down heavy punches on his opponent, earning Sang a first round win via stoppage.
Featherweight bout: Ev Ting defeats Yohan Mulia Legowo (Referee Stoppage Due to Strikes)
Perhaps excited, or perhaps just angry that his opponent stole Chuck Liddell’s nickname, Ev Ting came in with his hands and feet swinging – and swinging to kill. Yohan “The Ice Man” answered back with punches and takedowns of his own, but late in the first round, Ting caught his opponent with a medley of punches, dropping his opponent to his knees and forcing the referee to save stop the match.
Flyweight bout: Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke defeats Jomanz Omanz (Referee Stoppage Due to Strikes)
Era of Champions not only has the man with the most interesting name on its card, but the man with the longest name, Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke. It wasn’t only a long name that “Rong” (as the color commentators called him) brought to the cage, though. Along with his two hundred and eighty two career wins, the Muay Thai fighter from Thailand brought a ferocity that quickly subdued his Filipino opponent, Jomanz Omanz. Rong started the fight out with a battery of punches, leg kicks, and soccer kicks. Jomanz answered with takedown after takedown, and though Rong could not defend himself against the first two or three, he reversed the last one. When Jomanz tried to fight his way off of the ground, Rong held the Filipono’s head down and pounded away until the referee ended the fight.
Flyweight bout: Gianni Subba defeats Ruel Catalan (Tapout)
Like almost all mixed martial arts matches, this one started out slowly. Both fighters bounced lightly and threw some punches at each other. But after feeling his opponent out for long enough, the baby-faced, Gianni Subba took his opponent down, avoiding a guillotine choke as they both went crashing to the ground. After a quick scramble, Subba took control in mount and hammered away at his opponent. Catalan did what even a white belt in jiu-jitsu knows not to do and rolled over on his stomach, giving Subba his back. Subba took advantage and went for a rear naked choke, but Catalan struggled his way up and put Subba on his back. Subba, secured a deep triangle choke and armbar, but somehow Catalan survived for at least a minute until the round ended.
After a quick clinch in the second round the two fighters again ended up on the ground and again Catalan ended up in Subba’s triangle choke. This time, though, Catalan couldn’t withstand the pressure, and he tapped out.
UNDERCARD
Welterweight bout: Barbod “The Unleashed” defeats Zuli Silawanto (Knockout)
Barbod “The Unleashed” not only brought the roster’s most interesting name (so far) to the ring, but a dominant performance as well. The Iranian taekwondo fighter rocked his Indonesian opponent, Zuli Silawanto, in the first minute of the first round. Zuli quickly turtled up, and though he was able to fend off Barbod’s rear naked choke, the tide turned on him when he put his Iranian opponent in his guard. After landing a couple of shots to the head, Barbod picked Zuli up and slammed him on the ground. If landing on his head did not knock Zuli out, the punch to the head certainly did.
Bantamweight bout: Desi Rahayu defeats Ella Tang (Unanimous Decision):
Desi Rahayu may very well be Indonesia’s answer to Ronda Rousey, because the twenty-three-year-old, judo and submission grappling champion did exactly what the UFC’s Women’s Bantamweight champion does best – dominate her opponent with judo and barrage her opponent with armbars. Though Rahayu and her opponent, Ella Tang, started out apprehensive, Rahayu quickly took control in the first round – tossing Tang over her hip and chipping away at the Malaysian with shots to the face and ribs. Though Tang mustered the strength to escape a deep armbar from Rahayu, she couldn’t shake her Indonesian opponent off of her and spent the rest of the round covering and cowering from Rahayu’s attacks.
The second and the third rounds told the exact same story – that is, until the very end of the third round. Tang dropped Rayahu to her knees with a knee, but rather than try to finish the fight, she simply let Rahayu run away. The Malaysian paid the price for her mistake with a unanimous decision loss.
