MAIN EVENT
Featherweight Title Eliminator Bout: Eric Kelly defeats Rob Lisita (Submission: Rear Naked Choke/ 2nd Round): Words cannot describe this fight because there are no words in the English language that mean both “blood bath” and “tornado.” The main event was a whirlwind of strikes, kicks, takedowns, and ground and pound that even the most attentive viewer would have had a hard time keeping up with. Rob controlled the action from the start, repeatedly taking his opponent down and beating him to the point where the referee had to stop the fight in the second round due to Kelly’s bleeding. Kelly somehow turned the tide, though, and took Lisita’s back, securing a slippery, bloodied, rear naked choke.
CO-MAIN EVENT
Lightweight: Koji Ando defeats Rafeal Nunes (Submission via Rear Naked Choke/ First Round): We’re 9/10 of the way through, people, and still not a decision on the card. Koji Ando made his debut by reviving the first-round finishes that dominated much of the card earlier. The fight started out slowly, with Ando chasing Nunes around the perimeter of the cage. Both fighters ended up on the ground, but only one ended up on the other guy’s back, and the guy who ended up on the other guy’s back was none other than Koji Ando, who locked in a rear naked choke for the win.
MAIN CARD
Bantamweight Bout: Koetsu Okazaki defeats Yusup Saadulaev (Referee Stoppage Due to Strikes/ 2nd Round): Ladies and gentlemen, we’re ¼ of the way through War of Dragons, and still not a single match has gone the distance. Though Yusup looked like he had the upper hand early in the first round, Koetsu controlled the ground game throughout the rest of the fight. Late in the third round, Yusup rolled out of an Americana, but Okazaki took his back and hammered away with hooks and rear-naked-choke attempts. When Yusup lay there like rug, the referee said it was enough.
Light Heavyweight Bout: Jake Butler defeats Mohamed Ali (Referee Stoppage Due to Strikes/ Third Round): The Princeton-educated Jake Butler is smart enough to know that the Taiwanese crowd wants to see finishes, and a finish is just what he gave them. Butler repeatedly dominated the action with his superior wrestling, at one point ducking his opponent’s sweeping hook and responding with a clean, double leg takedown. Once on top, he chipped away at his Egyptian opponent’s elbows and punches. By the third round, Butler was comfortably sitting on top of his opponent and teeing off. By the time the referee had seen enough, Ali could barely defend himself.
Heavyweight Bout: Paul Cheng defeats Mahmoud Hassan (Corner Stoppage/ In Between Second and Third Round): Cheng may have stopped the first-round-finish streak, but he made sure the Taiwanese went home undefeated. Both rounds of this two round war of giants looked almost exactly the same: Cheng would shoot in for a double leg, get stuffed, work his way out of a guillotine choke, then dominate the action on the ground while his Egyptian opponent was able to do little more than cover and pray for the bell to ring. By the end of the second round, Hassan was unable to get up without help, forcing his corner to top the fight.
Heavyweight Bout: Chi Lewis Parry defeats Alain Ngalani (Knockout/ first round): It appears the fighters are determined to make every reporter’s job easy by keeping the fights short. Parry started out by dominating the action, keeping his opponent on the perimeter of the cage and returning his kicks with flurries of hard punches. Though Alain was able to trip Parry and keep him down, Parry rolled the Cameroonian-born Hong Kong resident over and chopped away at him with punches and elbows. When Alain could no longer defend himself intelligently, the referee had no choice but to stop the action.
Bantamweight Bout: Ming Yen Sung defeats Nick Lee (submission: first round): The first round finishes aren’t stopping tonight, folks – nor is Taiwan’s dominance. After a hip throw that would have made the Rowdy one herself jealous, Ming held his top position and secured his victory with a guillotine choke from mount.
PRELIMINARY CARD
Welterweight Bout: Jeff Huang defeats Bala Shetty (knockout/ first round): The first of Taiwan’s native-born sons represented his country well by making sure the preliminary card ended with all first-round finishes. Betty rushed in with a right and caught “The Machine” in a headlock, but Huang reversed it and wrestled his opponent to the ground, almost nailing a rear naked choke. The two fighters stood back up, but Jeff kept the pressure up by nailing his opponent with punches and knees. Again the fight went down to the ground with both fighters trying to leg lock each other. Jeff, however, ended up on talk and beat his limp opponent down to the cheers of the ecstatic Taiwanese crowd, earning himself a knockout victory.
Lightweight Bout: Elliot Corley defeats Rayner Kinsiong (knockout/ first round)Taiwan’s second foreign-born resident fared much better than the first. Eliot initiated the exchanges with hard punches and kicks, and it didn’t take the TOUGH MMA instructor long before he was able to press his opponent up against the cage pummel him with a barrage of elbows and punches, putting Kinsiong’s lights out.
Featherweight Bout: Nathan Ng defeats Florian Garel (submission via head and arm choke: 3:37/ first round): ONE FC’s first trip to Asia starts with a quick finish. Both fighters started out by measuring each other up, and though Florian was able to survive the first flurry, the French-born Taiwan resident wasn’t able to survive the second. Nathan sealed his opponent’s fate when he nailed a single leg take down and locked on a north-south choke.
