Tag: Ryuto Sawada

ONE on TNT III results: John Lineker scores first-round knockout of Troy Worthen, calls out champ Bibiano Fernandes

Brazilian slugger John Lineker kept his ONE championship record perfect, scoring an emphatic first-round knockout of Troy Worthen.

Brazilian slugger [autotag]John Lineker[/autotag] (34-9) kept his ONE championship record perfect, scoring an emphatic first-round knockout of [autotag]Troy Worthen[/autotag] (7-2) to move to 3-0 in the promotion.

The contest served as the headlining bout of ONE on TNT III, which took place at Singapore Indoor Stadium and aired in primetime Wednesday in the U.S on TNT.

Lineker was aggressive early, pushing forward and landing massive bodyshots with high pressure and reckless abandon. Once Worthen felt the power, Lineker added punches to the chin to his flurries, as well. To his credit, Worthen stood his ground and tried to return fire, but he wasn’t able to implement his wrestling while he was defending powerful strikes.

It was playing with fire, and it cost Worthen, who caught a straight right hand to the chin late in the frame. Another right hand landed clean while he was on the floor, ending the fight at the 4:35 mark of the opening round.

After the win, Lineker called out current ONE bantamweight champ [autotag]Bibiano Fernandes[/autotag].

“I know that I’m better than him,” Lineker said through an interpreter. “I’m the best, and I showed all the world that I will be the best in the world.”

In an intriguing flyweight matchup, [autotag]Yuya Wakamatsu[/autotag] (14-4) was able to outwork [autotag]Reece McLaren[/autotag] (14-8) over the course of 15 minutes and was awarded with a unanimous decision victory for his efforts.

While McLaren flashed his grappling chops in the early stages of the fight, he was never able to really secure an earnest submission attempt. Solid takedowns and flashy sweeps were impressive for McLaren, but it didn’t match the power Wakamatsu showed on the feet with big strikes. Complicating matters for McLaren, he seemed to fade down the stretch, and Wakamatsu continued pressing forward, scoring a decision win in the process.

Wakamatsu now boasts a four-fight winning streak, built following a 2019 loss to Demetrious Johnson in the ONE debut of “Mighty Mouse.”

On the card’s featured prelim, [autotag]Rae Yoon Ok[/autotag] (14-3) got off to a hot start and then survived the late pushes from a gritty [autotag]Marat Gafurov[/autotag] (18-4) to secure a hard-fought win via unanimous decision. With the result, Ok earned a booking against [autotag]Eddie Alvarez[/autotag] (30-8) at next week’s ONE on TNT IV event.

ONE on TNT III results include:

MAIN CARD

  • John Lineker def. Troy Worthen via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:35
  • Yuya Wakamatsu def. Reece McLaren via unanimous decision

PRELIMINARY CARD

  • Rae Yoon Ok def. Marat Gafurov via unanimous decision
  • [autotag]Miao Li Tao[/autotag] def. [autotag]Ryuto Sawada[/autotag] via unanimous decision

ONE Championship 128: Alyona Rassohyna stuns Stamp Fairtex with last-gasp submission

Stamp Fairtex looked to be on her way to a hard-fought decision win against Ukrainian debutant Alyona Rassohyna, but a late guillotine choke forced the Thai starlet to tap with just eight seconds remaining as she suffered her first defeat in MMA. …

[autotag]Stamp Fairtex[/autotag] looked to be on her way to a hard-fought decision win against Ukrainian debutant [autotag]Alyona Rassohyna[/autotag], but a late guillotine choke forced the Thai starlet to tap with just eight seconds remaining as she suffered her first defeat in MMA.

Former ONE atomweight kickboxing and muay Thai champion Fairtex (5-1) faced submission specialist Rassohyna (13-4) in the main event of “ONE Championship 128: Unbreakable III” at Singapore Indoor Stadium, and over the course of their three-round battle showed her evolution as an MMA fighter as she happily scrambled back and forth on the mats with her more seasoned opponent.

Rassohyna’s tactic was clear from the very start, and in Round 1 the Ukrainian was successful in getting the fight to the canvas. But once the action hit the mat, Fairtex surprised Rassohyna with her scrambling ability as she repeatedly denied the debutant in her quest to claim her 11th first-round armbar submission finish.

When the fight was on the feet, it was all Fairtex, as the decorated striker dominated the kickboxing exchanges, but although Rassohyna was able to repeatedly take the action to the canvas, Fairtex’s defensive skills were enough to thwart the Ukrainian, with the Thai fighter even attempting a gogoplata before escaping an armbar attempt and finishing the round with punishing strikes when they returned to the feet.

Round 2 followed a similar pattern, but with Fairtex finding it a little easier to keep the fight standing, as the tide appeared to be turning in her favor through the midway point in the fight. A late body shot even put her opponent on the canvas in the final moments of the round as Fairtex’s striking power appeared to be taking over the fight.

With Rassohyna running out of ideas, and clearly tiring, Fairtex took control of Round 3 as she kept the Ukrainian on the end of her strikes as she scored repeatedly with straight punches and thumping roundhouse kicks to the body. However, with one minute remaining, Rassohyna threw caution to the wind and landed a final takedown as she desperately looked to find a last-gasp submission. Remarkably, that persistence paid off when she caught Fairtex trying to escape and locked up a tight guillotine choke that forced the Thai to tap with just eight seconds of the bout remaining.

Seemingly believing the bout had reached the final bell, Fairtex initially celebrated as referee Olivier Coste stepped in to stop the fight, but that celebration immediately turned to denial and protest as she disputed the experienced official’s call. However, instant replays clearly showed Fairtex had tapped as victory was handed to a tearful Rassohyna, who picked up a huge win on her promotional debut and in the process handed Fairtex her first career defeat in mixed martial arts.