Bibiano Fernandes successfully defended his bantamweight title at ONE FC 23 courtesy of a second round rear-naked choke against Dae Hwan Kim in the Philippines, his first finish since joining the promotion.
In the co-main event Brandon Vera made a successful start to his time in ONE FC as he dropped Igor Subora with a stiff left hand, then embraced the promotions PRIDE style rule-set by soccer kicking his opponent in the head on the ground for an impressive TKO win with just 3.54mins on the clock.
Timofey Nastyukhin lived up to his name by producing a nasty, violent knockout against Eduard Folayang, connecting hard with a flying knee strike mid-way through the opening stanza, then landing a soccer kick to his grounded opponent to switch out his lights with 3.11mins gone.
Another former fighter Roger Gracie also got off to a good start in his debut, taking out TUF competitor James McSweeney without having to resort to his much vaunted BJJ skills, instead claiming a TKO stoppage in the third round.
See all the results from ONE FC 23 below.
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Main Card:
Bibiano Fernandes def. Dae Hwan Kim via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:16
Brandon Vera def. Igor Subora via TKO – Round 1, 3:54
Timofey Nastyukhin def. Eduard Folayang via knockout – Round 1, 3:11
Roger Gracie def. James McSweeney via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 3:15
Kevin Belingon def. Koetsu Okazaki via unanimous decision
Herbert Burns def. Honorio Banario via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 3:59
Jake Butler def. Sylvain Potard via unanimous decision
Prelims:
Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke def. Rene Catalan via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 2:30
Ana Julaton def. Walaa Abas Mohamed Kamaly via unanimous decision
Jujeath Nagaowa def. Tharoth Sam via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:34
