Iniong wins debut in ONE undercard

Gina Iniong fired her strikes against Natalie Gonzales Hills. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Gina Iniong impressed in her debut in the undercard of ONE: Kings of Destiny, dominating Fil-Aussie Natalie Gonzales Hills in their atomweight bout to win via unanimous decision Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Setting the atmosphere in ONE’s tenth show in Manila, the Igorot fighter out of Team Lakay showed what she’s capable of, coming out off the gates firing as she knocked her foe down in the first round before controlling the match in the ensuing rounds.

Iniong delivered in her first match in ONE Championship and improved to 5-2, while kept the Cavite-born Gonzales Hills (1-5) still searching for a win in the promotion.

Michelle Nicolini also made quick work of Irina Mazepa as the Brazilian jiu jitsu world champion submitted the Russian fighter with an armbar at the 2:11 mark of the first round.

Michelle Nicolini made quick work of Irina Mazepa. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

“I’m very happy for this fight. I was very nervous but everything I worked hard for led to this moment,” she said.

The Evolve MMA fighter was in control from the start, locking in the armbar on her foe’s left arm. Mazepa tried to reverse the hold, but that only led to Nicolini (4-1) to finish the match with a killer armbar that made the 33-year-old Mazepa (2-1) tap out.

After the match, Nicolini urged the promotion to create a women’s strawweight title, saying, “Let’s get that belt!”

Robin Catalan takes Jeremy Miado to the ground. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

Filipino strawweight Robin Catalan finally scored his first victory in ONE Championship after topping Jeremy Miado via split decision in the curtain raiser.

Motivated to finally make his mark in the promotion, the Ilonggo Catalan (6-2) was aggressive from the get-go and eked out the hard-earned victory before surviving a guillotine choke in the third round to deal the 24-year-old Miado (6-1) his first loss in his young MMA career.