More heartbreak for Catalan, Aoki triumphant in ONE FC

SINGAPORE — It was an exciting night of MMA action as only one sport could bring. The energy was electric and coursed throughout a jam-packed arena for One FC: Total Domination which took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Friday, October 18.

Much was on the line, and the fighters did not disappoint.

In the end, blood, sweat and tears were shed and history was made.

Lim defeats Osman by Unanimous Decision

In what was a hell of a difficult match to score, according to the cageside judges Sherilyn Lim did just enough to outlast her counterpart Ann Osman to win the showdown of the females.

At the sound of the first bell, Osman came out with one thing on her mind and that was to take the fight to the ground. She succeeded in the early goings, and was able to rough up Lim for quite a while.

But by the second round, Lim was able to find her mark in the clinch landing vicious knees to the midsection which took an awful lot out of the awesome Osman.

Lim, in her element, was beaming with confidence.

“If I had panicked, I would have lost it definitely. I kept calm the whole time,” said Lim, in the post-fight interview.

Against her hard-charging opponent, Lim was able to maintain composure in a tough battle of attrition.

“You just gotta go out there and do your best. Believe in yourself. Believe in your coaches, your training, all the things that you prepared for,” Lim added.

Conditioning played a key role in her victory. As a visibly gassed Osman sat on the stool in between rounds gasping for breath, Lim remained a picture of ease and serenity. She appeared to have everything under control.

Still, Osman left it all out in the cage. In the dying seconds of the third and final round, both fighters swung for the fences to the delight of the capacity crowd.

“Losing sucks but I did my best and I did my country proud,” said Osman, who despite the loss remained unbroken.

“The judges made their decision. There is nothing I can do to change that. All I know is that I gave everything that I’ve got,” she added.

A rematch between the two female warriors would be wisely revisited as they provided satisfactory action in a testosterone-dominated sport.

“Certainly,” Osman responded when asked about a second go-around with Lim.

Catalan leaves cage in a stretcher

Rene “The Challenger” Catalan returned to the One FC cage seeking redemption, what he got instead was more heartbreak.

Catalan started out strong against his much bigger opponent Khim Dima. The Filipino warrior was apparently faster and stronger than his tall and lanky counterpart, to the amazement of the live audience.

Dima, a striker himself with a background in Boxing, looked perplexed at how tough the little man from the Philippines was. After just one round, it was clear who was dominating the exchanges. Catalan even scored with a monster takedown, slamming his much larger foe to the mat with a suplex.

Yet in a scene all too familiar for the decorated Wushu specialist, things went south in the second round. Although seemingly ahead in the fight, Catalan got caught napping on defense and was staggered by a Dima flash left hook.

A visibly shaken Catalan shot in for the single-leg takedown but was left draped over Dima’s lower half like a man begging for mercy. Dima would have none of it and proceeded to rain down sick elbows on the side of Catalan’s skull.

The referee warned Dima of striking on the back of the head and on the neck, as some of the strikes came terribly close to being illegal. But by then Catalan was completely out of it and the referee went on to wave off the fight and award the victory to Dima by technical knockout.

As announcer Anthony Suntay declared the winner, a damaged Catalan lay motionless on the floor and needed immediate medical assistance, being carried out of the cage in a stretcher.

(UPDATE: A post by ONE FC in its official Facebook page says the win by Khim Dima has been reversed because of several significant illegal strikes to the back of Catalan’s neck. The fight is now officially ruled a No Contest.)

Aoki decisions Stevens, Fernandes now undisputed champ

In Shinya Aoki’s Featherweight debut, he took an overmatched but game Cody Stevens to school en-route to a Unanimous Decision win.

It required every ounce of Stevens’ willpower to survive the pure technical prowess of Aoki as the American was able to hear the final bell with his limbs all intact.

Still, Aoki dazzled with a technical display of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu mastery, working every minute over the course of three rounds to appear in dominant position each and every time. Ninety-percent of the match was spent on the ground with Stevens trying to avoid Aoki’s submissions.

Every time the fight would be put back up on the feet, Aoki would take Stevens down effortlessly without so much as a sliver of resistance.

Once on the ground, Stevens more than held his own and avoided being submitted but was badly outclassed by his more technically sound opponent.

In fact, among the only significant blows Stevens landed was a well-placed knee to the groin (granting a 5-minute timeout for Aoki to recuperate) and some elbows to Aoki’s spine which drew a warning from referee Kenichi Serizawa.

Both strikes were illegal – and that’s pretty much how Stevens’ night went.

It wasn’t a pretty performance by the Japanese superstar, but he got the job done. Aoki appeared weaker than usual, competing for the first time south of his natural fighting weight but vowed to return with a much better performance.

In the main event, One FC defending Bantamweight titlist Soo Chul Kim of Korea cried a river of tears as the judges’ decision was read against him, making challenger Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes the new undisputed champion.

Kim brought his A-game to the cage and performed as expected, with a hyper-aggressive in-your-face style that did not let up. Fernandez had trouble keeping Kim at bay, but had his way with the Korean on the ground with his superior BJJ.

Known for his work ethic and relentless, suffocating attack, Kim went right at Fernandes with a series of combinations aimed at wearing out the Brazilian native.

But as fate would have it, Fernandes was much too strong for the game Soo Chul Kim and at times, seemed to just physically mow down the defending champion.

Fernandes took Kim down at will and smothered his opponent on the ground with brutal elbows and hammer fists. Kim was tough as nails however and made it to the end, forcing Fernandes to once again have to live with a Unanimous Decision victory.

During the post fight interview with Jason Chambers, Soo Chul Kim shed tears uncontrollably at the center of the cage, disagreeing with the judges’ verdict. – Rappler.com