By:  | August 5, 2023 10:56 am

Oumar Kane handed Marcus Almeida the first defeat of his entire career at ONE Fight Night 13. The heavyweight fight had been in the works for years and the Brazilian clearly felt that ‘Reug Reug’ was ducking him.

But as he sat down on his stool at the end of the first round Almeida must have realized he had totally misjudged the situation. ‘Buchecha’ barely survived the first five minutes of the fight.

With seconds remaining in the round Kane clubbed him with two hard hooks. Almeida desperately looked for a takedown and was saved by the bell.

Unchartered territory

Having won all four of his previous fights by first round submission or ground and pound the Brazilian was in completely unchartered territory. After such intense action both men looked exhausted in the second round but Almeida was able to secure a takedown, albeit only after eating a solid uppercut.

Almeida tried for am armbar but Kane slipped out and rocked him with a jab. The pace had dropped by this stage but the damage done by Kane had him clearly ahead going into the third and final round.

The Brazilian was able to take Kane down in the final round but couldn’t keep him there. He pulled guard in another attempt to get into his comfort zone, but ‘Reug Reug’ got a warning for landing shots to the back of the head and the referee stood them up.

A wild brawl ensued with both men throwing haymakers to the delight of the fans at Lumpinee. ‘Buchecha’ briefly forgot about his BJJ black belt and decided to plant his feet and brawl with Kane.

Performance bonus

The Brazilian eventually seemed to come to his senses and shoot for a takedown with Kane receiving a yellow card for grabbing his shorts. In a close fight that could have been decisive but the Senegalese star had done so much damage that the outcome was not in doubt.

All three judges scored it for Kane who improves to 6-1 and finds himself in pole position for a shot at reigning heavyweight champion Anatoly Malykhin. Almeida drops to 4-1 after tasting defeat for the first time as a mixed martial artist.

After the fight Kane was awarded a $50,000 USD performance bonus. This was his third ONE Championship win in succession and ‘Reug’ Reug’ is really starting to live up to the hype.