Chatri Sityodtong today issued a lengthy statement on the controversy surrounding Bibiano Fernandes‘ DQ win over Kevin Belingon at ONE: ‘A New Era’.
The Brazilian has come in for a lot of criticism on social media for accusing Belingon of deliberately elbowing him in the back of head. In his statement Chatri makes it clear that he does not believe there was any malicious intent.
He also points out that Fernandes landed a few unintentional elbows to the back of the head earlier in the fight. Chatri also underlines that, under ONE Championship rules, if a fighter is unable to continue due to an illegal strike they are automatically awarded a DQ win.
So the result stands. Fernandes become the ONE Championship bantamweight title holder for the second time while Team Lakay is now without a champion in the promotion following Eduard Folayang’s loss to Shinya Aoki in the main event.
A fourth fight is definitely in the works. It remains to be seen how long it will be until Fernandes is able to fight again, apparently he was suffering from concussion like symptoms in the aftermath of ONE: ‘A New Era’.
But Belingon and Fernandes will face off again and, given all the acrimony surrounding the outcome of the third fight, it promises to be something of a grudge match.
