ONE Championship events in Singapore have always been spectacular, and Enter the Dragon was no exception. The card was filled with some of the biggest names in mixed martial arts as well as kickboxing,Ā and most of the fights ended up in a knockout or submission.Ā The crowd wasĀ entertained.Ā
20-year-oldĀ Christian Lee was the biggest winner of the eventful evening, knocking out submission legend Shinya Aoki and winning the ONE Championship lightweight title.
Even though Lee was full-mounted and caught in an arm-barĀ in round one, we knew that the young Singaporean would survive the onslaught and win the bout eventually.
Why? Because Lee is on the right page of the programme book.Ā Or rather, he was in the blue corner.Ā
Right is rightĀ
Perhaps it is a mere coincidence. Out ofĀ eight bouts on the main card, seven were won by fighters in the blue corner.Ā Highly rated fighters lost, and underdogs won.Ā If anything, this reiterates the unpredictable nature of combat sports.Ā Ā Ā
The eveningās main cardĀ started with the fight between former ONEĀ StrawweightĀ World ChampionĀ DedjamrongĀ SorĀ AmnuaysirichokeĀ and Chinaās Miao Li Tao.Ā
Dedjamrong, a battle-hardenedĀ MuayĀ Thai World champion, got dominated on the ground before getting knocked out via a left hook in the first round.Ā Miao, who was fighting for only the second time in a ONE arena,Ā was in the blue corner.Ā
The following bout was a little more predictable. Besides,Ā GejeĀ EustaquioĀ is a former ONE Flyweight World Champion who is still in his prime. He was up against ONE debutant KimĀ KyuĀ Sung.Ā
EustaquioāsĀ championship pedigree and experience came to the fore as heĀ outstruckĀ the young Korean andĀ managed to hold off a late rally en-route to a unanimous decision victory.Ā EustaquioĀ was in the blue corner.Ā
Next, we have local favourite Amir KhanĀ fighting against TurkeyāsĀ SaygidĀ GuseynĀ Arslanaliev. Khan is always a good bet for victoryĀ especially with the crowd behind him.Ā
ArslanalievĀ didnāt care whether he was in Singapore, or anywhere for that matter. He overwhelmed Khan andĀ eventuallyĀ knocked himĀ out in the first round.Ā ArslanalievĀ was in the blue corner.Ā
Sage Northcutt is one of the three marquee signings by ONE Championship along with Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson. He is also regarded by many as one of the most promising young fighters in MMA. Unfortunately for Super Sage,Ā he went the way of Alvarez.
CosmoĀ Alexandre threw a right overhand 25 seconds into the fight, and left Northcutt face-planted. AlexandreĀ was in the blue corner.Ā
YodsanklaiĀ FairtexĀ is aĀ legend who has over 200Ā victories in kickboxing and MuayĀ Thai.Ā HisĀ last loss was in 2011. HisĀ opponent,Ā SamyĀ Sana, lost just three months ago against JoĀ Nattawut. Sana used his height and reach advantage to pulverise YodsanklaiĀ and won via unanimous decision.Ā Sana was in the blue corner.Ā
At this juncture, we started to notice the rather strange sequence of fighters in the blue corner winning their respective matches.Ā In this bout, the āGreatestĀ KickboxerĀ of all Timeā, GiorgioĀ Petrosyan,Ā got beat byĀ PetchmorakotĀ PetchyindeeĀ Academy and lost by split decision.Ā The one time we thought definitely that the fighter in the blueĀ corner would win, lost.Ā
We have to admit that we werenāt familiar withĀ NiekyĀ HolzkenĀ coming into theĀ event, but the folks from ONE Championship have sold a solid story around the Dutchman.
On paper, heās more experienced and is ranked slightly higher than compatriotĀ RegianĀ EerselĀ in Combat Pressā welterweight rankings (HolzkenĀ is sixth andĀ EerselĀ is seventh).Ā
HolzkenĀ started well, butĀ itĀ seemed like he gassed out in the latterĀ rounds.Ā Eersel, in the blue corner, won by unanimous decision.Ā Ā
And finally, thereās Shinya Aoki versus Christian Lee. While Lee has the puncherās chance, you canāt really punch while fighting off submission attempts on the ground.
Surely, Aoki would win it for the red corner, but we all knew what happened. All credit to Lee for overcoming adversity in the match and being on the front foot whenever he can. Lee’s game plan to continuously unload strikes on Aoki worked, and he of course, was in the blue corner.
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