ONE on TNT II results: Champ Christian Lee stuns Timofey Nastyukhin with first-round TKO

While challenger Timofey Nastyukhin promised a first-round finish, it was Christian Lee who delivered that result at ONE on TNT II.

While challenger [autotag]Timofey Nastyukhin[/autotag] (14-5) promised a first-round finish, it was [autotag]Christian Lee[/autotag] (15-3) who delivered that result at ONE on TNT II.

The 22-year-old Lee retained his lightweight title with the impressive victory, which took place at Singapore Indoor Stadium and aired Wednesday on TNT.

Lee was cautious in the face of the aggressive Nastyukhin early staying on the outside and moving well. But as the challenger leaped forward to strike, Lee clipped him with a clean counter left that sent Nastyukhin to the canvas.

Lee pulled back on a takedown that was coming after the clean left and instead started to rattle off right hands. Some 15 shots followed, and as Nastyukhin tried to tripod and stand, they continued to land clean, opening up a cut near the challenger’s right eye. Lee didn’t show any signs of slowing down, and the referee called off the fight just 73 seconds after it began.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better story, really,” Lee said before dedicating the fight to his pregnant wife. “This was the most important fight of my life.”

For his part, Nastyukhin protested the result, but it was difficult to paint his attempted recovery as intelligent defense in the face of relentless punches. The result served as Lee’s second successful title defense.

“Speed and accuracy beats power, and that’s what happened tonight,” Lee said.

ONE on TNT II’s MMA results included:

MAIN CARD

  • Christian Lee def. Timofey Nastyukhin via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:13 – to defend lightweight title

PRELIMINARY CARD

  • [autotag]Yoshiki Nakahara[/autotag] def. [autotag]Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg[/autotag] via disqualification (illegal kick) – Round 2, 4:53
  • [autotag]Wang Shuo[/autotag] def. [autotag]Kim Kyu Sung[/autotag] via knockout (elbow, punches) – Round 3, 1:51
  • [autotag]Shuya Kamikubo[/autotag] def. [autotag]Mitchell Chamale[/autotag] via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:13

ONE Championship 106: Stamp Fairtex extends perfect start to MMA career with first-round finish

Thailand’s two-sport martial arts champion Stamp Fairtex continued a winning start to her MMA career.

Thailand’s two-sport martial arts champion [autotag]Stamp Fairtex[/autotag] continued a winning start to her MMA career with a first-round finish of Indian wushu champion [autotag]Puja Tomar[/autotag] at “ONE Championship 106: A New Tomorrow.”

Twenty-two-year-old Fairtex already holds ONE Championship’s atomweight muay Thai and kickboxing titles, but she now aims to make history as the organization’s first three-sport champion by capturing the MMA strap.

Her unbeaten start to life in MMA continued Friday at Bangkok’s Impact Arena, defeating Tomar via ground-and-pound TKO in front of an appreciative crowd in Thailand.

After a cagey start, Fairtex (4-0) backed Tomar (4-4) into the corner and connected with a pair of powerful roundhouse kicks to the body before the Indian changed levels and took the Thai to the mat.

Fairtex reversed position and returned to her feet but was quickly brought back to the canvas once again by another takedown. This time, however, she went on the offensive as she took Tomar’s back and attempted to lock up a rear-naked choke. Tomar rolled to her front, and Fairtex pulled her arms free, then proceeded to unload a succession of ground strikes to her helpless Indian opponent until referee Olivier Coste stepped in to end the contest at the 4:27 mark of Round 1.

After registering her fourth MMA victory, Fairtex told the crowd that she plans on working her way up until she’s ready to challenge for the atomweight title currently held by Angela Lee.

“I want to keep fighting MMA and improving my skills,” she said. “And soon, I’ll be coming for the belt!”

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Magomedaliev and Zoltsetseg claim impressive finishes

The preliminary card saw a pair of first-round finishes as Russian welterweight [autotag]Raimond Magomedaliev[/autotag] and Mongolian featherweight [autotag]Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg[/autotag] registered impressive stoppages of their respective opponents.

Magomedaliev (6-1) made his presence felt early on against debuting American [autotag]Joey Pierotti[/autotag] (12-2), utilizing a succession of punishing elbows and knees from the clinch to assert his dominance in the early exchanges. The Dagestani fighter’s barrage of strikes forced the bout to be paused as medics inspected the damage sustained by Pierotti in that early salvo.

The bout eventually resumed, with Magomedaliev connecting with a huge head kick with the first strike after the restart. Pierotti initiated the clinch, and was punished with a series of knees as the Russian dominated once again. When Pierotti looked to take the fight to the ground, Magomedaliev locked up a D’Arce choke and forced the quick tap at the 3:50 mark in the opening round.

Earlier on the card, Mongolian powerhouse Zoltsetseg (6-2) completed his work in quick-fire fashion with a 55-second finish of in-form Chinese wrestler [autotag]Ma Jia Wen[/autotag] (6-3).

Zoltsetseg went to work immediately from the opening bell and closed the distance on the heavy-handed Chinese wrestler before letting fly with powerful strikes. Zoltsetseg briefly staggered Ma with a solid shot in the opening seconds then, after working another opening, he connected with a fastball right hook that connected flush to the Chinese fighter’s temple and sent him to the canvas.

In addition, the non-broadcast early prelims featured a unanimous decision win for Roel Rosauro (5-3), who edged out Indonesia’s Yohan Mulia Legowo (8-9), and a submission finish from in-form Japanese judoka Ayaka Miura (10-2), who finished Maira Mazar (6-3) via second-round Americana.

Full MMA results from “ONE Championship 106: A New Tomorrow” include:

MAIN CARD

PRELIMINARY CARD

  • Raimond Magomedaliev def. Joey Pierotti via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 1, 3:50
  • Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg def. Ma Jia Wen via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:55
  • [autotag]Ayaka Miura[/autotag] def. [autotag]Maira Mazar[/autotag] via submission (Americana) – Round 2, 3:01
  • [autotag]Roel Rosauro[/autotag] def. [autotag]Yohan Mulia Legowo[/autotag] via unanimous decision

Chinese fighter gets KO’d, heel hooks referee Olivier Coste at ONE Championship 106

Referee Olivier Coste had to be on his game to avoid injury after being heel-hooked by a rocked fighter at ONE Championship 106 in Bangkok.

One of the most dangerous places to find yourself in the sporting world is in the center of an MMA cage or ring when the fists are flying. But MMA referees across the world put themselves in harm’s way to ensure they maintain the safety of the fighters during bouts. Sometimes they get caught with a stray punch here and there and, on rare occasions, they even get caught in a submission.

That’s exactly what happened to ONE Championship referee Olivier Coste during the preliminary card bout at “ONE Championship 106: A New Tomorrow” in Bangkok as he took charge of the featherweight bout between China’s [autotag]Ma Jia Wen[/autotag] and Mongolia’s [autotag]Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg[/autotag].

When Zoltsetseg connected with a huge right hook that sent Ma to the canvas, Coste moved in swiftly to check on the decked Chinese athlete, before waving off the contest after just 55 seconds. The bout may have been stopped, but Coste found himself in harm’s way as a discombobulated Ma instinctively went for a leg and attempted to lock up a heel hook on the official.

https://twitter.com/ONEChampionship/status/1215612251207544832

Thankfully, Coste was able to extricate himself from the hold as medics and officials entered the cage to tend to the still-rocked Ma and help Coste back to his feet. And the official appeared to be in good spirits as he returned to the center of the ring for the reading of the final verdict. The usually stoic Frenchman grinned broadly, presumably at the unintentional comedy of the fight’s conclusion. There was even a grin from a recovered, but perhaps slightly embarrassed, Ma, who gave Coste a quick hug before the trio left the ring.

And there appeared to be no lasting damage done as Coste returned to the ring to officiate the following bout, which didn’t offer the same submission threat to the official.

After all, it was a kickboxing match…

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