Martin San Diego | FCF
Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Bibiano Fernandes fought through a big black eye from resilient Japanese foe Masakatsu Ueda to retain the One Fighting Championship (ONE FC) world bantamweight belt via unanimous decision but it was the historic perfect performance of the Filipinos that brought the Mall of Asia Arena crowd to their feet.
Lightweight Eduard Folayang finally flexed his muscle on his ground game while flyweight Rey Docyogen returned triumphant after an eight-month hiatus to repulse former ONE FC world champion Kotetsu Boku of Japan and Joshua Alvarez of Guam, respectively.
Folayang, a bemedalled wushu national athlete, displayed a solid grappling game against Boku in the first two rounds then went on mauling the kickboxing legend with a roundhouse kick at the end of the second round and a solid left straight on Boku’s face in the third round, which resulted in a knockdown.
Folayang’s display of aggressiveness and overall ground control, despite sustaining a cut on his left eyebrow from Boku’s equally powerful blows, was enough to earn a unanimous decision from the judges.
“I believe that my win puts me one step closer to the lightweight belt,” Folayang said in Filipino. “I guarded [myself from] his right cross and knew that his weakness [is to absorb] leg kicks.”
Fellow wushu artist Docyogen likewise scored a unanimous decision, surviving a bearhug and a rear-naked choke attempt from Alvarez. Docyogen then outmuscled Alvarez with a supplex and in the third round, he knocked down the Guamanian with a two-punch combo to the face and a ground-and-pound attack.
Docyogen returned to formal training last February, after passing the architecture licensure exam last January.
“After my loss last May 2013, I have to focus on my review,” he said. “It was hard to adjust in training, but I have to learn new moves and improve my ground game.”
Capping out the Filipino rampage are knockout wins by women fighters Ana Julaton and Jujeath Nagaowa, and a unanimous decision with by the upstart Eugene Toquero.
The flyweight Julaton, a former boxing world champion, survived a deep guillotine from Aya Saeid Saber before knocking the Egyptian out with a relentless ground-and-pound attack on the third round, while the atomweight Nagaowa displayed lightning-fast handspeed to knockout Indian Jeet Toshi in the second round.
Toquero, meanwhile, displayed superior control over Malaysian Gianni Subba to earn a decision win in their flyweight match.
Fernandes improvises to beat Ueda
The main event was replete with action and tactical battles of positioning, as Fernandes displayed superior ground control, beating Ueda on full mount in the first two rounds.
However, Ueda survived each take down by beating the bell, as he dealt Fernandes with furious standing blows and kicks to the head, resulting in a swollen left eye on Fernandes in the third round.
Fernandes then fought in a mix of southpaw and orthodox stance in the final two rounds as he aimed to defend and take Ueda to the ground to defend his badly swollen eye. Ueda tried his best to connect on standing strikes but Fernandes dictated the tempo with steady defense and excellent ground work en route to the unanimous decision win.
When reached for comment, Fernandes’ coach informed this writer that he was quickly rushed to the hospital after the fight to attend to his swollen eye.
In the other fights, Leandro Ataides of Brazil knocked out Tatsuya Mizuno of Japan with a ground-and-pound in the first of round of the middleweight division; James McSweeney of England knocked out Chris Lokteff of Australia with a crushing right knee in the first round of the heavyweight division; and Thailand-based Rob Lisita of Australia knocked out Yusuke Kawanago of Japan with a brutal ground-and-pound in the first round of their featherweight match.
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