Japan’s Ryogo Takahashi and South Korea’s Kwon Won Il were among the big winners at ONE: ‘Inside The Matrix’ Part IV which took place behind closed doors at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Kwon from South Korea enhanced his reputation with an explosive first-round stoppage win over BJJ specialist Bruno Pucci of Brazil. The baby faced Won absorbed an early attacking onslaught from Pucci before turning up the heat and hurting the ONE veteran with a body shot.
Curitiba native Pucci was backed up against the cage, and as he grimaced in pain, Won, threw successive overhand rights to floor the Brazilian and referee Yuij Shimada called a stop to the action for a TKO win for the Korean.
The emotional Won fought back tears as he scored his fourth win in the ONE cage. With the win the Korean bantamweight improves to 9-3 while Pucci drops to 7-5.
Vicious stoppage
Krazy Bee fighter Takahashi improved to 14-4-0 with a vicious second round stoppage triumph against the previously unbeaten Choi Jeong Yun from South Korea.
Takahashi returning to the winning column, having had an eight-fight winning-streak ended by Thanh Le in January, but made a statement in Singapore.
The Japanese fighter landed a heavy right hook in the second stanza which wobbled Choi and the former added further pressure, unloading at will as he knocked down Cho with a combination and the referee stepped in for the stoppage.
Speaking after the fight the Japanese featherweight said he was expecting to win,
“I was preparing for a KO win the whole time, it just happened to be in the second round. In terms of MMA careers, mine is twice as long as his, so the result doesn’t surprise me, I’ll be working hard now towards my next fight.”
Best of the rest
Evolve MMA fighter Maíra Mazar from Brazil bested the overmatched Jung Yoon Choi to open the evening. The Brazilian nudged her record to 7-3-0 with a decisive third-round stoppage after a barrage of punches on the ground.
The Gym Lab’s Choi had no answer to the ground and pound from her Brazilian foe who claimed her first career win in ONE at her second attempt. The Korean had not fought since 2017 and looked out of her depth, dropping to 2-1 after a first career defeat.
ONE: ‘Inside the Matrix’ Part IV, November 20th
Aslanbek Zikreev def. Wang Junguang via (Split)
Joseph Lasiri def. Rocky Ogden via Decision (Split)
Kwon Won Il def. Bruno Pucci via TKO (Punches) at 2:00 of R1
Ryogo Takahashi def. Yoon Chang Min via KO (Punch) at 2:52 of R2
Maira Mazar def. Choi Jeong Yun via TKO (Punches) at 4:26 of R3
