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| Bibiano Fernandes connected on an elbow strike to Kevin Belingon during their now controversial encounter. One Championship |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANDALUYONG—Kevin Belingon and Eduard Folayang had to let go of their respective One Championship belts after bowing in contrasting fashions to their respective foes at One: A New Era at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Sunday night.
Folayang lost to Shinya Aoki by submission as the latter reclaimed the One lightweight belt, while Belingon fell to Bibiano Fernandes for the One bantamweight title by a controversial disqualification.
Aoki got a quick takedown against Folayang and successfully performed an arm triangle choke that put him to sleep right at the midway point of Round 1.
On the other hand, Belingon, while trying to get out of Fernandes' takedown, landed illegal elbow strikes to the back of the head in the third round of their match.
With Fernandes unable to continue, Referee Olivier Coste showed Belingon a red card, disqualifying him from the match.
Meanwhile, Kazakh Kairat Akhmetov got his road to redemption going by beating Fil-Australian Reece McLaren in their One Flyweight Grand Prix clash.
Akhmetov's ground game was just too much for McLaren as the former scored the unanimous decision win.
The lone Filipino victory came from Danny Kingad, who defeated Japan's Senzo Ikeda in another One Flyweight Grand Prix bout.
Meanwhile, Russia's Timofey Nastyhukin pulled off a huge upset after knocking out former two-time champ Eddie Alvarez in their One Lightweight Grand Prix clash.
Nastyhukin struck Alvarez with a left straight that made the latter wobbly, setting up another barrage of strikes that forced the referee to call it a fight with only 55 seconds left in Round 1.
In the other title fight in the card, China's Xiong Jingnan stays as the One women's strawweight champ after a late knockout against erstwhile unbeaten Angela Lee.
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