Fernandes retains ONE bantamweight belt in quick stoppage of Leone

Photo from ONE CHAMPIONSHIP

MACAU—Bibiano Fernandes further cemented his legacy as the greatest champion in ONE Championship after stopping Andrew Leone to retain his World bantamweight title in Kings & Conquerors Saturday at Cotai Arena here.

The Brazilian needed just 1:47 to defend his belt for a record seventh consecutive time, submitting Leone via rear-naked choke.

“I want to thank my opponent Andrew, thank you to my boss Chatri [Sityodtong],” said Fernandes (21-3-0). “I trained hard for this fight, I had the best guys in the planet training with me and I knew I would push the fight.”

The most dominant champion in ONE Championship history, Bibiano Fernandes! #ONEFightNight pic.twitter.com/rzvNo5BqW0

— Bong Lozada (@BLozadaINQ) August 5, 2017

Fernandes, who now resides in Canada, not only dedicated his fight to Brazil but also to the Philippines.

“I wanted to fight not just for Brazil but also for the guys in the Philippines,” said Fernandes in the post-fight press conference. “My dedication is with Brazil but I also dedicated this fight for the Filipinos.”

The Filipinos, meanwhile, went 1-of-3 tonight as Jomary Torres came away with the title over Rika Ishige while Joshua Pacio and Eric Kelly succumbed to their foes via submission.

In the co-main event, Adriano Moraes exacted revenge on Kazakh Kairat Akhmetov to get hold of the ONE Undisputed World flyweight title in their unification bout via unanimous decision.

PHOTO FROM ONE CHAMPIONSHIP

Moraes (16-2) came into the fight holding the Interim title he won in his fight against Tilek Batyrov back in August of 2016 with Akhmetov (20-1), who beat the Brazilian in 2015 November, wearing the World championship belt.

“I’m not surprised with the victory,” said Moraes. “Thank you for the opportunity to fight for the title and I want to thank my coach, my family, and my friends. I am very grateful.”

Moraes had full control of Akhmetov for much of the fifth round securing the dominant position in the ground before the Kazakh made a surprise reversal with half a minute remaining.

The two, however, both made it to their feet and Mikinho secured the bout with an emphatic takedown to ensure the victory.

Russian featherweight contender Timofey Nastyukhin found success in his return fight after suffering a gruesome injury in 2016 with a unanimous decision over Japanese Koji Ando.

Nastyukhin (11-3) broke his leg in his fight against Kotetsu Boku and was left out of action for nearly a year.

Thai Shannon Wiratchai (8-1) had the quickest victory of the night when he stopped Rajinder Singh Meena (8-7) in just 29 seconds in their lightweight bout.

Wiratchai, who was supposed to fight Rob Lisita, struck Meena square in the head with his knee forcing referee Olivier Coste to stop the fight.

Chen Lei of China improved to 3-0 after submitting Malaysian fighter Saiful Merican with an arm bar 3:58 into the third round of their fight.

Brazilian Leandro Issa pounded away on Toni Tauru to earn a TKO victory 1:36 into the second round of their match to improve to 14-6.

Undefeated Russian Magomed Idrisov improved to 8-0 after escaping with a unanimous decision win over Herbert Burns (6-2) after punishing with strikes in the third round.

Marcin Prachnio of Poland upped his win streak to eight and improved to 13-2 in what became as the second-fastest fight of the card after knocking out Gilberto Galvao (29-6) in just 1:23.

Leandro Ataides (10-3) opened up the card with a calculated unanimous decision win over Michael Pasternak (12-3).