The most recent ONE Championship show marked the first instance of a major MMA organization taking significant steps to combat the spread of the coronavirus, as the promotion placed “ONE Championship 109: King of the Jungle” behind closed doors on Friday, Feb. 28.
The event played out to a virtually empty arena at Singapore Indoor Stadium, as the fighters battled it out inside the ONE Championship circle while the fans stayed in their homes, and Asia began the routine we all now recognize as “self-isolation” and “social distancing.”
The night’s main event featured a rematch for the ONE atomweight women’s kickboxing title, as America’s [autotag]Janet Todd[/autotag] avenged her prior loss to Thailand’s [autotag]Stamp Fairtex[/autotag] to capture her first ONE title after another highly-competitive battle.
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It was a disappointing night for Singapore’s own [autotag]Amir Khan[/autotag] (12-7), who was submitted by rising Japanese prospect [autotag]Kimihiro Eto[/autotag] (17-5), while Asian MMA legend [autotag]Yoshihiro Akiyama[/autotag] (15-7) defied his 44 years to knock out [autotag]Sherif Mohamed[/autotag] (9-6) in the first round of their welterweight bout.
There was also an impressive win for Florida’s [autotag]Troy Worthen[/autotag] (7-0), who extended his unbeaten record with a dominant victory over New Zealand’s [autotag]Mark Abelardo[/autotag] (19-7).
ONE’s cameras were on hand to capture the emotion of the fighters after their respective bouts as they headed back to the locker room on one of the more unusual nights of their fighting careers. Check out their reactions, featuring tears of joy and defeat, via the video above.
And if you’ve got some extra time to kill, be sure to stick around at the end of the behind-the-scenes video, as ONE have included the full fight from Todd’s title bout with Fairtex.