Tag: Tial Thang

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.

ONE Championship 105 video: Is Tial Thang going to be Henri Hooft’s next success story?

At ONE Championship 105, Tial Thang returns to the cage to take on Woon Gyeom Kim on the preliminary card.

[autotag]Tial Thang[/autotag] is riding high after picking up a win in his pro debut.

At “One Championship: Reign of Valor” in March, Tang defeated Rin Saroth by unanimous decision. Beyond being his first pro win, the win meant a lot to Thang. Why? Because of its location.

“My debut was awesome because it was my first time going back to my country of Burma in 14 years,” Thang said in a recent interview with One Championship. “It was also my professional debut. It’s even sweeter because I got the victory. Then I (got) to see my grandmother and that was a very big thing. The fight and everything else was just great. I love everything about the last fight.”

While Thiang indicated he is happy overall with his last performance, he implied there’s still room for improvement. Thiang hopes to be able to implement a more finish-centric gameplan going forward. In turn, he’ll make coach Henri Hooft much happier.

Friday at One Championship 105, Thang will have the opportunity to implement his new strategy. Thang returns to the cage to take on Woon Gyeom Kim on the preliminary card.

“My last fight with Rin Saroth, I was a little bit too hyped,” Thang said. “I was a little bit too excited and I didn’t follow the gameplan. This time, I’m going to follow better and listen to my coaches better. I was just looking for that knockout and I didn’t listen to none of my coaches until the third round. So they were very mad at me for that.”

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Despite Kim currently holding a 1-2 record, Thang believes his opponent is game. In the limited tape he’s seen, Thang has been impressed.

“I only found a little bit of clips – three minutes of his win at ONE World Series,” Thang said. “So he must be really good to win that ONE World Series. But I’m in a better team, I feel like. I feel like I train harder and I sacrifice more. So like I said, every time I fight. Not only in wrestling. I want to pin people. I want to finish people. Sometimes I ignore my coaches looking for that knockout. I’m going to look for a finish. Start from the end. Hopefully, we get one this time.”

To hear more from Thang, check out the video above, courtesy of ONE Championship.