Tag: Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev

ONE Championship: Winter Warriors results – Stamp Fairtex submits Ritu Phogat to win atomweight grand prix

Stamp Fairtex put a stamp – pun intended – on her run through ONE Championship’s atomweight grand prix.

[autotag]Stamp Fairtex[/autotag] put a stamp – pun intended – on her run through ONE Championship’s atomweight grand prix.

Fairtex (8-1) submitted [autotag]Ritu Phogat[/autotag] (7-2) with a second-round armbar in the tournament final at ONE Championship: Winter Warriors. Fairtex had to work through early aggression from Phogat, but eventually found herself in position to get the tap and the win after back-to-back decisions in the grand prix’s opening round and semifinals.

Phogat tried to get the fight to the canvas early, but Fairtex, a former ONE muay Thai and kickboxing champion, used her kicking game to defend. And in the middle frame, Stamp locked up a triangle choke after a Phogat takedown, then transitioned to an armbar to get the tap at the 2:14 mark of the round and the grand prix title.

Also on the card, [autotag]Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev[/autotag] went to proverbial war with [autotag]Timofey Nastyukhin[/autotag] and ultimately shut him down in the third round. After a back-and-forth opening round, Arslanaliev had Nastyukhin on the ropes in the middle frame. Nastyukhin survived to see the third, but it didn’t take Arslanaliev long into the last round to land a big right for the finish just 49 seconds into the round.

ONE Championship: Winter Warriors MMA results included:

  • Stamp Fairtex def. Ritu Phogat via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 2:14
  • Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev def. Timofey Nastyukhin via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 0:49
  • [autotag]Marcus Almeida[/autotag] def. [autotag]Ji Won Kang[/autotag] via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:27
  • [autotag]Yuya Wakamatsu[/autotag] def. [autotag]Yong Hu[/autotag] via unanimous decision

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Aung La N Sang vs. Jon Jones? Fantasy matchmaking with ONE Championship’s Michael Schiavello

ONE Championship commentator Michael Schiavello chatted with MMA Junkie as he shared his dream fights to make once the MMA world gets back into full swing.

With no fights set to take place for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, much of the MMA world has been left pondering which big fights they’d love to see when the world gets back to normality again.

One man who has a wish list packed with blockbuster super fights is ONE Championship commentator Michael Schiavello, who chatted with MMA Junkie to offer his suggestions for some of the biggest post-coronavirus matchups he’d love to see under the ONE Championship banner later this year, as well as a pair of dynamite cross-promotion fantasy fights involving ONE Championship and UFC stars.

Aung La N Sang vs. Jon Jones

Schiavello: “[autotag]Aung La N Sang[/autotag] vs [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] is such a battle of styles and a battle of range.

“How does Aung La handle someone with the range of Jon Jones? He got past the range of Vera pretty easily, but Jones uses his range on a whole other level. And how does Jones react when he hits Aung La with these long-reaching high knees and hands and legs, and Aung La walks through them, gets in his face and lands that steel pipe to his jaw, and touches him up?

“That would be magnificent. But it also depends a lot on where you’re going to hold this match. If you hold it in the U.S., in Jones’ backyard, an obvious advantage swings to him. But if you hold this in Yangon, in Myanmar, in a soccer stadium with 50,000 people in there, I’m telling you, a big advantage swings back to Aung La. That crowd alone is like nothing you’ve ever seen in your life.

“I’ve commentated the biggest combat events. I’ve done the Olympics, I’ve done K-1, I’ve done DREAM, I’ve done Dynamite, I’ve done 80,000 people in the Tokyo Dome – I’ve done them all. But I’ve never heard anything like 10,000 inside Thuwunna Indoor Stadium when Aung La is fighting. To say you can’t hear yourself think is true. I can’t hear myself commentate these fights, even though I’ve got my headphones cranked up to 10 out of 10 on my levels. I can’t hear myself. It’s nuts.

“For anyone to come into that atmosphere – for Jon Jones to step into Myanmar and compete in that atmosphere – it’s so overwhelming. People might read this and go, ‘Come on, Schiavello! Jon Jones will obliterate Aung La.’ People are thinking you can’t compare Aung La to Jon Jones, but no, man. If you’re going to compare, you have to compare in all the aspects, and one big aspect is Aung La in Myanmar is untouchable, unbeatable. What would happen if Jones stepped into Aung La’s backyard and did it there? There’s so many factors, and that’s what makes it a fantastic match.”

Zhang Weili vs. Xiong Jing Nan

Schiavello: “From a population viewpoint, clarifying they’re [autotag]Zhang Weili[/autotag] and [autotag]Xiong Jing Nan[/autotag] – imagine the eyes on that, just from China alone.

“You put Xiong Jing Nan against Zhang. Who’s the better? Who’s the real superpower between those two? Two ferocious athletes who have completely different styles. That would be magnificent. That would be a great fantasy double-header right there.”

Next up: A huge fight for the biggest title in ONE Championship

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Brandon Vera to defend ONE heavyweight title against Arjan Bhullar at ONE Infinity 2

Brandon “The Truth” Vera tops the bill in Manila as he puts his heavyweight title on the line at ONE Infinity 2.

ONE Championship’s second “Infinity Series” event has a heavyweight main event, with two familiar names to UFC fans set to go head to head for championship gold.

Reigning ONE heavyweight champion [autotag]Brandon Vera[/autotag] will put his title on the line against Canada’s [autotag]Arjan Bhullar[/autotag] in the main event of ONE Infinity 2 at the Mall of Asia, Manila, Philippines on Friday, May 29. The event will be streamed live on B/R Live following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Vera (16-8) is undefeated as a heavyweight in ONE Championship, with all four of his victories coming via first-round knockout. He captured the ONE heavyweight title in his second fight for the promotion, against Paul Cheng at “ONE Championship 35: Spirit of Champions” in November 2015, and has since defended it with first-round finishes of Japanese judoka Hideki Sekine and Italian former Cage Warriors heavyweight champion Mauro Cerilli.

Now he is set to face former Olympic wrestler and UFC fighter Bhullar (10-1), who claimed a unanimous decision win over Cerilli on his promotional debut at “ONE Championship 100: Century – Part 2” in October 2019. The 33-year-old heads into the title fight riding a three-fight win streak, with UFC wins over Marcelo Golm and Juan Adams joining his victory over Cerilli on his recent slate.

The co-main event in Manila sees a second title up for grabs, as [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] puts the ONE lightweight belt on the line against undefeated Moldovan [autotag]Iuri Lapicus[/autotag].

Lee (13-3) had unsuccessfully challenged for the ONE featherweight title in 2018 when he moved up a weight class to take on Japanese icon – and Lee’s occasional training partner – Shinya Aoki for the lightweight belt at “ONE Championship 96: Enter the Dragon” in May 2019.

Lee stunned Aoki with a blistering performance to claim the title via second-round TKO then, five months later, captured the ONE lightweight grand prix title with a dominant decision victory over Turkey’s [autotag]Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev[/autotag] at “ONE Championship 100: Century – Part 1.”

Now “The Warrior” takes on a new challenge in the form of Moldova’s Lapicus (14-0), who surged into title contention with back-to-back submission finishes of Shannon Wiratchai and former featherweight champion Marat Gafurov. His win over the latter particularly caught the eye as he finished the former featherweight champion with his own signature move, the rear-naked choke, in just 67 seconds at “ONE Championship 108: Warrior’s Code.”

Also set to star in Manila is former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, who returns to action against grand prix finalist Arslanaliev in a lightweight matchup.

Alvarez (30-7) endured a nightmare start to his ONE Championship career when he was knocked out inside a round by Russian power-puncher Timofey Nastyukhin in the quarterfinals of the lightweight grand prix tournament. But “The Underground King” showed his fighting spirit in his next outing, as he bounced back with a come-from-behind win over former lightweight champion Eduard Folayang at “ONE Championship 99: Dawn of Heroes” in Manila in August 2019.

Alvarez returns to the scene of that victory, The Mall of Asia Arena, for his next test as he takes on dangerous finisher Arslanaliev (8-2), whose blistering run of finishes in ONE Championship came to an end against Lee in the lightweight grand prix final. Prior to that loss, “Dagi’s” only defeat came via disqualification. All eight of Arslanaliev’s wins have come inside the distance, with seven of them coming inside the first round.

ONE Infinity 2 confirmed fights:

  • Brandon Vera vs. Arjan Bhullar – for heavyweight title
  • Christian Lee vs. Iuri Lapicus – for lightweight title
  • Eddie Alvarez vs. Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev

Video: ONE Championship’s Top 10 Knockouts of the Year: Part 1 – ‘Dagi’ Arslanaliev flattens Amir Khan

Recap the best knockout finishes from Asian MMA promotion ONE Championship in their end-of-year countdown.

It’s been a spectacular year for Singapore-based promotion ONE Championship. With big-name signings and a packed schedule of events encompassing MMA, kickboxing and Muay Thai, 2019 has been the biggest year in ONE Championship history.

The promotion has served up more than its fair share of spectacular finishes over the course of the year, as the stars of Asian MMA have delivered a plethora of eye-catching knockouts to wow the fans across the region.

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In Part 1 of ONE’s official countdown of their Top 10 Knockouts of the Year, we recap the finishes that occupy spots 10 to 7 on their list, as [autotag]Thanh Le[/autotag], [autotag]Yuya Wakamatsu[/autotag], [autotag]Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev[/autotag] and [autotag]Niu Kang Kang[/autotag] registered highlight-reel finishes in their respective bouts.

The No. 8 KO from Arslanaliev was perhaps one of the most significant of the year, as the Turk proved that he belonged with ONE’s lightweight elite by handing Singaporean knockout artist Amir Khan his first knockout defeat at “ONE: Enter The Dragon” in May.

The victory propelled Arslanaliev into the final of the ONE lightweight grand prix tournament, where he eventually lost out to reigning ONE lightweight champion Christian Lee for the grand prix title. But despite his loss in the final, it cemented “Dagi” as one of the most dangerous fighters in ONE’s lightweight class.

Recap the first four entries in ONE’s Top 10 countdown via the video player above, or on YouTube here.

ONE Championship’s Knockouts of the Year 2019 – 7-10:

  1. Niu Kang Kang (vs. Sunoto)
  2. Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (vs. Amir Khan)
  3. Yuya Wakamatsu (vs. Geje Eustaquio)
  4. Thanh Le (vs. Yusup Saadulaev)