Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 22, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 22, 2022 (edited) Alright. I know we usually just whack all this stuff in the ONE thread but sod it. This card in Singapore on Saturday is a bit better than that, I think. It marks the 10 year anniversary of the promotion and they’ve gone all out. ONE X: PART ONESitthichai Sitsongpeenong vs Chingiz Allazov - Kickboxing Featherweight Grand Prix Final Reinier De Ridder vs Andre Galvao - Submission Grappling Nieky Holzken vs Sinsamut Klinmee - Muay Thai Jeremy Miado vs Lito Adiwang Stephen Loman vs Shoko Sato Amir Khan vs Ryogo Takahashi Paul Elliot vs Kang Ji Won Mei Yamaguchi vs Danielle Kelly - Submission Grappling Ryuto Sawada vs Senzo Ikeda ONE X: PART TWONong-O Gaiyanghadao©️ vs Felipe Lobo - ONE Muay Thai Bantamweight Title Capitan Petchyindee©️ vs Hiroki Akimoto - ONE Kickboxing Bantamweight Title Seo Hee Ham vs Denice Zamboanga Itsuki Hirata vs Jihin Radzuan Kim Jae Woong vs Tang Kai ONE X: GRAND FINALEAngela Lee©️ vs Stamp Fairtex - ONE Atomweight Title Rodtang Jitmuangon vs Demetrious Johnson - Special Rules Bout Adriano Moraes©️ vs Yuya Wakamatsu - ONE Flyweight Title Shinya Aoki vs Yoshihiro Akiyama - Japanese MMA Legends Fight Eduard Folayang vs John Wayne Parr - Wushu vs Muay Thai Legends Fight Superbon Banchamek©️ vs Marat Grigorian - ONE Kickboxing Featherweight Title Not a clue if that’s the correct bout order but I think that’s everything. I’m not gonna preview everything because I can’t be arsed and, frankly, there’s a fair chunk of that lot I’ve never heard of. There’s too much there really, and as far as I can tell it’s all going down on the same day! So yeah, this is definitely one to just cherry pick certain fights. Obviously, the ‘Grand Finale’ part is the real meat and potatoes of this lot. I’ll probably watch most of that. The first two parts I’ll skim through to the bits I’m arsed about. As a whole though, I really like this. Angela Lee vs Stamp Fairtex headlines the big Grand Finale card. Not gonna pretend I’m massively familiar with these two but I’ve seen just enough of both to be looking forward to this one. Lee has basically been the poster girl of ONE for a few years now. She kicked off her MMA career making her pro debut under the ONE banner at just 19 years old and found instant success. She went 9-0 with 7 finishes at the start of her career. Including one via twister! Love that sweep into the mount as well! She won ONE’s Atomweight belt in just her 6th fight and in 2019 she challenged Xiong Jing Nan up at Strawweight in an attempt to win a second division’s gold. Didn’t pan out. Xiong Jing Nan won by TKO in the 5th round of a tremendous fight. Seriously, if you never saw it give it a watch if you get time. One of my favourite women’s fights. Lee had her in trouble in the grappling but Xiong gutted it out and came through with the late finish. Lee then lost a decision in her next fight and it was looking like she might fizzle out but she bounced back in style, submitting Xiong in the fifth round of their rematch in October 2019. Lee hasn’t fought since though. She got pregnant and gave birth last year so this’ll be her return. She’s now 10-2 and still only 25 years old. She could have a good run in her yet. But after 2+ years away plus the toll having a baby puts on the body, who knows how she’ll look here. “I do feel there is a lot more pressure on my shoulders and a lot more expectations after going through a lot in the past two years of not fighting, getting pregnant, giving birth and recovering. I am the champion of this division and I have been since 2016. I know what it takes to capture the belt and I have defended it multiple times so this is no different.” - Angela Lee She’s back defending her Atomweight strap and they’re not exactly easing her back in gently. Stamp Fairtex is 24 years old out of Thailand. Currently 8-1 in MMA with 5 finishes. She’s a way more experienced fighter than her age and MMA record would lead you to believe though. Anyone familiar with the name ‘Fairtex’ will know, Muay Thai is her bread and butter. Her birth name is Nanthawan Panthong but she joined the Fairtex gym years ago and adopted the name as is fairly common in Muay Thai. She’s had 85 Thai fights, which in general is a lot for a 24 year old but in Muay Thai it’s not uncommon for fighters to have had way more than that by their early 20s. A lot of them are Tong Po-ing the fuck out of each other as soon as they’re out of nappies. Stamp started her training at just 5 years old! She’s now ONE’s first ever two sport title holder - having held both the Muay Thai and Kickboxing belts in the Atomweight division. “This is the best opportunity for me to prove myself to fans around the world. It is an honour for me to compete with Angela and I want this to be an amazing fight.” - Stamp Fairtex So yeah. I’m into this. Obviously, Lee should have the overall MMA advantage and especially if she can turn it into more of a grappling match. But Stamp’s putting the work in herself. She’s always gonna be a Thai striker at heart but she’s not just a one trick pony. She won a gold medal in a BJJ competition in 2019 and 2 of her 8 MMA wins have came by submission. She’d be wise not to fuck around too much on the ground in this one but at least she’s not clueless if it hits the mat. And on the feet, she’s going to enjoy a massive edge in the striking. Lee’s layoff is a huge x-factor here as well. Fairtex has fought 8 times in MMA and twice in Muay Thai since Lee last stepped foot in the cage. Rodtang Jitmuangon vs Demetrious Johnson is ***WAND’S ONE TO WATCH*** by far here. There’s a bunch of fights I’m looking forward to on this card and I’m not usually a big fan of the weird hybrid rules fights but something about this one fascinates me. Of course, everyone reading this will be well familiar with Demetrious Johnson and his history in MMA. One of the very best ever, in my opinion. People can moan about him not drawing PPVs all they want (although I don’t know why spectators give a bollocks), he’s one of the most all-around skilled fighters we’ve ever seen in the sport. Sadly, he’s someone I think won’t be fully appreciated until he’s long retired and we can really look back on what he accomplished. The UFC’s Flyweight division today is one of the most fun and exciting to watch, so many good fighters have popped up at 125lbs over the last few years and I really think it’s mostly because DJ started it off and set the bar so high that it raised everyone’s level. They were all forced to up their game. It’s criminal really that the UFC saw fit to just trade him off for Ben Askren in 2019. I know we have the benefit of hindsight now and we didn’t know back then that Askren was about to completely nosedive in form. It’s not that they brought Askren in that I was disappointed about, I think everyone got it and was excited about finally seeing him in the UFC. But the fact that they were totally fine with just letting one of the best fighters they’ve ever had walk away was a crying shame. There was unfinished business for Mighty Mouse in the UFC as well. Him and Cejudo were 1-1 and we never did get that trilogy decider. And how fun would him against the current crop of Figgy, Moreno etc be? We’ll never know now. And DJ might finally be slowing down anyway. He went 3-0 initially after crossing over to ONE but, honestly, never looked amazing or anything. He looked good, don’t get me wrong. But I think many expected him to just breeze through the competition in ONE and it wasn’t really that way. Then… He got knocked out by Adriano Moraes in his last fight in April, losing the ONE Flyweight belt in the process. A shocking result. Who knows how he’ll rebound from it? Still seems surreal seeing him get knocked out after watching him clown the likes of Dodson, Cejudo (first fight), Horiguchi etc for years on end but it happens to the best of them if they hang around long enough. And it mightn’t even be a case of him declining. Maybe Moraes is just a beast. That’s the thing with these ONE guys, they’re not very well known but we’ve seen a few times now, cases of them giving big names rough nights and even losses. For DJ to return from that kind of defeat and jump into this mixed rules madness, as his attempt at a rebound, is ballsy as fuck. Rodtang is 11 years younger than Johnson at just 24 years old. But he’s had a whopping 319 Muay Thai bouts. He’s gone 267-42-10 overall and is widely considered one of the best Thai fighters currently active in the world. He’s the ONE Flyweight Muay Thai champ and he’s basically just a little terror. Fast as fuck, explosive, fires off combos like he’s a character in Street Fighter, granite tough and seems to have a bit of a screw loose. Absolute madman. Really intrigued to see how this plays out. I can’t even picture it in my head. That’s how it shakes out in terms of rules. The fact it’s kicking off with a Muay Thai rules round is worrying if you’re a DJ fan. Especially with him coming off his first knockout loss as well. If he can get through that storm and isn’t too banged up then you’d have to fancy him to get it done in the second round under MMA rules. I just can’t see Rodtang having an answer for DJ’s takedowns and definitely not his submission game once he gets him on the mat. It’s a wrap then. But it’s getting through that mayhem in the opening round that’s gonna be the challenge. Adriano Moraes vs Yuya Wakamatsu. Can’t say I’m that clued up on these two. I think I might’ve only seen both of their fights against Mighty Mouse actually. But just a quick look up on this has me kind of interested. Moraes is the reigning champ, 19-3 with 13 inside the distance and he’s coming off the biggest win of his career by far, knocking out Demetrious Johnson to win the gold last April. Wakamatsu seems up for the challenge. “I really respect and admire Moraes but it’s time for a new generation to take over. I’m coming for his head. I’m going to give it my all and I want him to give it his all too. I want a fierce fight.” - Yuya Wakamatsu He’s 15-4 and lost to Johnson by submission in DJ’s ONE debut in 2019. He’s rattled off 5 straight wins since then though. I’ll give it a look mostly out of curiosity on Moraes. Him beating DJ was such a shock and I wanna see more of him now to see if he can build on that monster win or if he just fizzles out. Shinya Aoki vs Yoshihiro Akiyama. Oh yes. This is a Japanese New Year’s Eve card matchup all over, isn’t it? Never expected to see this. Two of the biggest names in Japanese MMA since the demise of Pride. Aoki’s really been everywhere but the UFC. It’s mad but I think because he never went there, and the fact he still pretty much looks the same, I still think of him as the young guy in the jazzy tights pulling off gogoplatas and flipping middle fingers at his beaten opponents. But he’s 38 years old now and this’ll be his 58th MMA fight! He’s 47-9-0-1 with 34 finishes. 30 by submission. Wins over names including Kazushi Sakuraba, Eddie Alvarez, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen, Caol Uno, JZ Cavalcante, Antonio McKee, George Sotiropoulos. It goes on. Quite a record. Sexyama’s 46 years old now, 15-7-0-2 and hasn’t fought in 2 years. One of the more popular Japanese fighters over the last decade or so whereas Aoki’s a bit of a cock. Didn’t realise there’s a bit of bad blood between these two as well. “To be honest, I really respect Shinya Aoki as a fighter. But as a human, as a guy, I don’t respect him at all.” - Yoshihiro Akiyama Akiyama always looks like an absolute boss, doesn’t he? Just looking up Akiyama’s record now I forgot how many losses he’s had. I remembered his UFC run being bags of fun. The Chris Leben fight being the main standout. But I forgot that 4 fight losing skid he went on against Leben, Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort and Jake Shields. He had a rough old run. Cool little fight this. Pure heel vs babyface for me but as much as I’d like to see Akiyama spark him with his heavy hands and old man power, I’d love to see how their grappling styles match up even more. Like I said, I’m not going into detail on everything. There’s just too much there. Few bits of note though; The Eduard Folayang vs John Wayne Parr fight will be well worth a watch, I’d imagine. It’s Parr’s retirement fight after a long hard career. He’s 45 years old now. 99-34 in Kickboxing, 11-3 in Boxing. He’s been going so long that his 19 year old daughter Jasmine is now 26 fights into her Kickboxing career! Always liked Parr. Seems like a cool, laid back, likeable type. There was actually talk of him fighting Dan Hardy not too long ago. Don’t know what happened to that. Hardy’s been promising comebacks that never materialise forever now. Guess Parr didn’t wanna delay his retirement any longer. I’d love to see him go out on a win. He should do as well. Folayang is a MMA guy, 22-12 and comes in off 4 losses on the trot. I only really remember him from the fight he lost against Eddie Alvarez a few years ago. What else? BJJ black-belt Danielle Kelly makes her ONE debut in a grappling match. I’ve seen her pop up a few times in articles and on Twitter and stuff over the last couple of years. Mostly just posts about how fit she is, and she is, but she has legit skills and could be worth keeping tabs on. She’s 26 years old and has competed at a high level in BJJ as well as beating UFC veterans Carla Esparza, Roxanne Modafferi and Cynthia Calvillo in grappling competition. Apparently she’s looking to switch over to MMA eventually and this is the start of that transition as she’ll be making her MMA debut under the ONE banner at some point. This post is dragging on now but yeah. The De Ridder vs Galvao grappling match is another one that’s caught my eye. Nieky Holzken is pretty much always entertaining to watch. Seo Hee Ham I remember from her brief and unsuccessful UFC stint years ago. Must admit, I only remember her because I got a kick out of one of her nicknames being ‘Hamderlei Silva’ ? in fairness though, she hasn’t lost since her last UFC fight in 2016. She’s on a 7 fight winning streak now and won the Atomweight titles in both RIZIN and Road FC. And finally, that Superbon vs Grigorian Kickboxing bout should be a lively one. I’ve only seen limited footage of both but they both bring it. Superbon’s had 146 fights, Grigorian’s had 78. They’ve been busy. This is a rematch of a fight in 2018 as well. Grigorian won by brutal KO in just 29 seconds. Will it be repeat or revenge? Few nice short little hype pieces off ONE’s YouTube channel… Angela Lee vs Stamp Fairtex; Rodtang vs Mighty Mouse; Adriano Moraes vs Yuya Wakamatsu; Shinya Aoki vs Yoshihiro Akiyama; Edited March 26, 2022 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted March 23, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 23, 2022 I mainly remembered Eduard Folayang as the former One lightweight champ. I'm guessing he must be winding his career down now if he's doing matches like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 23, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 23, 2022 Great work wand. The card is stupid long but im pretty much interested in everything on that Finale lineup so i'll watch from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 24, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 24, 2022 For those not familiar with Rodtang; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 24, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 24, 2022 PEDs are a wonderful thing. This is what 46 years old looks like if you’re Sexyama. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 24, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 24, 2022 what a specimen ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 25, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 25, 2022 DJ needs to get on his bike during those Muay Thai rounds... Tong Po shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 25, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 25, 2022 This John Wayne Parr interview is great. Obviously centres on his retirement fight and it turns into a bit of a mini episode of ‘This Is Your Life’ at the end with all the messages from his friends, old coaches, even Dan Hardy pops up. He almost completely loses it when his daughter, son and wife come on with their well wishes. What a journey. Really hope he gets the win here. It would be such a cool way to go out, getting that 100th win. And here’s a long but brilliant Parr highlight; As this show gets closer, I think I’m genuinely as invested in this fight as I am the DJ vs Rodtang madness. Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 25, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 25, 2022 Hard to dislike John Wayne Parr. Ive only seen a handful of his fights but I consider myself a fan. Well worth checking out his appearences on Joe Rogan's podcast too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 26, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 26, 2022 (edited) This is streaming live and free on ONE’s YouTube now. Part 1 and 2 here. Currently on Part 2 I think. Apparently the Grand Finale card, which is the only one people are gonna really be interested in, is only available on ONE’s site for £25. The Grand Finale card kicks off at 12pm UK time for anyone interested or avoiding spoilers. Edited March 26, 2022 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 27, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 27, 2022 (edited) Did anyone catch any of this in the end? I only dipped in and out of Parts 1 and 2. Some dross as you’d expect on a card with this sheer amount of fights. But some real highlights as well. Part 1 was mostly skippable from what I saw of it. Nieky Holzken getting ironed out was the most notable thing on that portion of the card. Business well and truly picked up for Part 2 though. The Capitan vs Akimoto Kickboxing bout was a war, easily the best fight across all 3 of ONE’s shows yesterday for me. I don’t think I’d seen either fight before so this was quite an introduction to them for me. Here’s a taster; But you should really watch the full thing and it’s here; Fantastic fight. And to top off Part 2, Nong-O scored probably the best knockout I’ve seen in combat sports so far this year with this absolute peach of an uppercut against Felipe Lobo… From there it was the ‘Grand Finale’. I didn’t pay for it, just couldn’t really justify it because I knew I wasn’t gonna get to sit and properly watch it at that time and we had my nieces over as well. I caught some of it live through various means but couldn’t pay close attention. Caught up on most of it since and it was quite a card. Angela Lee returned in style subbing Stamp Fairtex in the second round but certainly didn’t have it all her own way. Stamp had her in all kinds of bother but Lee gutted through it and got the sub. Really fun fight. I think Stamp’s got a bright future in ONE but she just wasn’t equipped to deal with Lee’s grappling. This was cute as fuck as well… Lee’s baby giving the interviewer a piece of confetti, bless her. Mighty Mouse got the job done against Rodtang. And although I had him losing the opening Muay Thai round, DJ handled himself just fine. It wasn’t a case of him just running away and surviving either, he was landing some nice shots of his own. Once it got into the MMA round though, the writing was on the wall. Rodtang didn’t tap, he went to sleep. Naturally there’s been a ton of praise for DJ since. And as usual, pockets of people putting a negative spin on it and saying it does nothing for his legacy. In a way I kind of get it because this was a weird one with the mixed rules and stuff. But he still had to get through that opening round against a striker with over 300 Thai fights under his belt. Rodtang isn’t known as a massive one punch KO machine but it was still a huge risk for Johnson, especially when you factor in that he was coming off the first knockout loss of his career himself. How many all time greats like DJ would you see take a fight like this and give his opponent the advantage of playing by their ruleset the first round? Another thing that none of us touched on was that the MMA rounds would also be 3 minutes like the Thai rounds, which kind of doesn’t favour the grappler as there’s less time to work with. It was a big risk. Going in all I was seeing was Rodtang highlights and talk of the dangerous first round. Now the after the fact pundits are playing it down as DJ just subbing a non-MMA guy. It doesn’t add to his legacy like a title would or a big win over another champ in his own sport or something. But it was still quite an accomplishment and a hell of a way to return to the win column after the Moraes KO loss last year. I think DJ’s performance answered some of the doubts on Adriano Moraes as well. There were questions after he stopped DJ about whether the win was more about Moraes or was it an indicator that Mouse was finally on the decline? But based on how sharp DJ looked in the standup against Rodtang, I’d say he’s got plenty left in the tank. And with Moraes getting the sub here against Wakamatsu and retaining his belt, no doubt ONE will be looking to set up Moraes vs Johnson 2 before the year’s out. Folayang got the win and sent John Wayne Parr into retirement on a loss sadly. This was one of the fights I didn’t get to watch properly but it looked fairly clear cut for Folayang from what I did see. As much as was made of this being it for Parr, I won’t be shocked if he takes another fight in the not too distant future, chasing that 100th win. I’d rather not see it but if he’s gonna do it then revisiting the idea of fighting Dan Hardy mightn’t be a bad shout. It’s a name people know and it’s a fight he most likely wins. In more positive news, Sexyama knocked fuck out of Aoki. Aoki was all over him early and had the back for an age as well. Akiyama did well to get through it and turn things around. Great stuff all in all. A few things dragging it down a bit but from what I saw, the fights I was interested in pretty much all delivered and some I had no expectations for massively overdelivered. ONE’s a funny old promotion for me. I’m not hugely familiar with a good chunk of the roster and I rarely get time to follow them properly. Yet near enough every time I make the effort to tune in for a card I really enjoy it. It’s a fed I know I’d have been balls deep in 10-15 years ago when I had more free time. I like the production, they’re probably the first promotion I’ve watched where they can flit from a MMA fight to a Muay Thai bout to a grappling match and I can enjoy it all without it feeling too jarring or disjointed. Other shows have done it and it’s been a mess but I don’t know what it is about ONE, it feels pretty seamless on their cards. I don’t think there’s enough about the roster overall to get me watching every card but when they go all out on their main shows they pretty much always deliver. Edited March 27, 2022 by wandshogun09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 29, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 29, 2022 Rodtang/DJ was quality. DJ had it out with him in that first round, fair play to him. Always felt it wouldn't go past the first MMA round though. Great to see Sexyama win big, what a guy ? and completely agree with your thought on One in general wand. If the UFC was still holding on one or two shows a month, id be all over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironic Indie Lad Posted March 29, 2022 Share Posted March 29, 2022 De Ridder did way better than I expected against Galvao. When this got booked I thought it was potentially a bad idea given that he is the 185 and 205lb champ. There was a risk Galvao could come in and make him look like shit given his grappling pedigree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted March 29, 2022 Paid Members Share Posted March 29, 2022 One do like a $50k fan vote for performance of the night, John Wayne Parr got the nod: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted March 29, 2022 Author Paid Members Share Posted March 29, 2022 Saw Dan Hardy on about Akiyama or Aoki as potential opponents he’s interested in. I like Dan but at this point I really wish he’d either fight or just shut the fuck up about it. He must’ve been talking about making a comeback for the better part of a decade now and it goes nowhere. It’s not even like anyone’s clamouring for it either, it’s only really him who keeps banging on about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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