KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (UPDATED) – Malaysian-Kiwi prodigy Ev Ting continues to be a serious threat to Filipino fighters as he outclassed Pinoy homegrown talent Eric Kelly in the main event of ONE Championship’s “Clash of Heroes” card on Friday, January 29 at the 10,000-capacity Stadium Negara here.
Kelly, a 33-year-old veteran who is highly touted as the greatest product the Philippine mixed martial arts scene has produced, became the latest victim of Ting after he was compelled to wave the white flag at the 1:58 mark of the third round with a deep guillotine choke.
Ev Ting forced Eric Kelly to tap in the third round with a guillotine choke. #ONEFightNight
Ting made his intentions clear early on in the bout, bashing Kelly with hard punches before tearing his opponent’s guard with a head kick that gave the Pinoy combatant a swollen left eye.
Kelly sneakily countered a takedown to briefly halt the relentless attack and quickly latched on his signature rear-naked choke, but Ting succeeded in escaping.
Ting proved that his grappling pedigree could match Kelly’s submission expertise as he closed the distance and lifted the Filipino for a big slam.
A tough first round for Eric Kelly. #ONEFightNight
“E.T.” maintained a strong top control before he placed himself on Kelly’s back for his own version of a rear-naked choke, but Kelly found his way out.
Ting continued to stalk Kelly in the second round and was able to ride on Kelly’s back for another rear-naked choke.
Kelly responded by swiftly putting Ting down with judo hip toss, but the latter reversed the position and grabbed his head for a guillotine choke before he switched to lock an armbar submission.
In the dying seconds of round two, Kelly miraculously had a clear rear view for a strangle that Ting arduously defended by stalling his counterpart’s arms.
As Kelly anxiously came out in the third frame looking for a takedown and grabbing his foe’s legs, he left himself vulnerable to Ting’s hammerfists.
Along the cage’s fence, Ting twirled and fastened the fight-ending submission to force the renowned Filipino stalwart to tap for the first time in his 14-fight career.
Kelly downgrades his professional record to 12-2 and becomes the sixth Filipino fighter to lose at the hands of Ting.
“The fight was harder than I expected. I didn’t know he could take so much hits. I respect Kelly as a fighter and it was a great fight,” Ting said of Kelly in the post-fight interview.
On the other hand, Ting improves to an 11-3 prizefighting slate and seeks for a rematch with ONE featherweight champion Marat Gafurov after his remarkable triumph over Kelly.
“Marat Gafurov, I’m coming for you,” Ting blatantly stated. – Rappler.com
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