Fritz Biagtan left it late to win on his ONE Championship debut earlier this year. He returned to the Lumpinee Stadium ring tonight and looked like a man in a hurry as he took out Deepak Bhardwaj early in the opening round.
Biagtan is engaged to ONE Championship star Denice Zamboanga and she was in his corner. The atomweight can only have been impressed as she watched her fiancee destroy the previously undefeated Indian.
Biagtan came out aggressively in the first bout of the night at ONE Friday Fights 38 and looked to land a series of hooks. Deepak Bhardwaj was able to duck under the punches and take the Filipino down but he couldn’t keep him there.
Biagtan bounced straight back up but Dhardwaj was determined to secure the takedown. He kept his hands clasped behind his opponent’s back and forced him to remain sprawled.
Instead of simply defending the takedown attempt Biagtan looked to land some knees. Dhardwaj’s midsection was completely exposed and two hard knees to the area had him turning away and looking to quit.
There was still time for Biagtan to get in a punch that sent the Indian’s mouthguard flying into the crowd before the referee stepped in to rescue him. With the victory he moves up to 6-1 and earns a 350,000 baht bonus while Dhardwaj drops to 4-1.
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Comeback win
Mark Abelardo has roots in the Philippines but didn’t get off to anything like as strong a start as Biagtan did. In fact he looked lucky to make it out of the opening round after being knocked down with a spinning back kick by Georgy Shakhruramazanov.
The Russian appeared to be in complete control after knocking Abelardo down with the same strike in the opening exchanges of the second round and then taking his back. Shakhruramazanov was dominating but the Kiwi managed to work his way back up.
There were 30 seconds remaining in the round and Abelardo did not waste them. He was determined to engage Shakhruramazanov in a striking battle and a left hook from close quarters dropped the Russian.
Having been behind for virtually the entire fight Abelardo seized his opportunity with body hands. He attacked his prone opponent with punches withe the finish coming at the 4:43 mark.
With the win Abelardo improves to 22-10 while Shakhruramazanov drops to 13-2. The Russian, who missed weight, was beaten for just the second time in his career.
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Best of the rest
Coming soon…
ONE Friday Fights 38, Bangkok, October 27th
Otop Or Kwanmuang vs. Ilyas Musaev (Bantamweight)
Pompetch PKSaenchaigym vs. Chorfah Tor Sangtiennoi (Catchweight)
Singdomthong Nokjeanladkrabang vs. Stephen Irvine (Catchweight)
Sonrak Sit Por Jor Wor vs. Puengluang Baanramba (Flyweight)
Petchgarfield Jitmuangnon vs. Numpangna EagleMuayThai (Catchweight)
Yodsingdam Kiatkamthorn vs. Chalawan Ngorbangkapi (Strawweight)
Yodphupa Wimanair vs. Mavlud Tupiev (Bantamweight)
Katsuki Kitano vs. Khalil Kutukcu (Featherweight)
Lenny Blasi vs. Nonthakit Tor Morsi (Bantamweight)
MMA: Mark Abelardo vs. Georgy Shakhruramazanov via TKO ( at 4:42 of R1
MMA: Fritz Biagtan def. Deepak Bhardwaj via TKO (Knees and Punches) at 1:13 of R1
