Torres knocks out Osenio, Kelly scores stunner in ONE prelims

Photo from ONE Championship

Jomary Torres continued her sensational ascent to the top of the women’s atomweight division as she knocked out April Osenio in the preliminary matches in ONE: Global Superheroes Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The 21-year-old Zamboangueña wiggled her way out of the Team Lakay bet’s armbar on her right arm, lifted Osenio and slammed her to the mat.

Torres punctuated her emphatic win by pummeling Osenio with strikes to take the knockout victory 40 seconds into the match, the fastest victory in the women’s division of ONE Championship.

Triumphant in the clash between the Filipinas, the undefeated Torres (4-0) now looks on to bigger things, saying she’s willing to take on all comers in her continuing journey in the promotion.

“I’m thankful to God that He gave me this win and I also am grateful for my coaches who put their trust on me,” she said in Filipino. “I’ll just accept whatever ONE gives.”

Osenio, meanwhile, remains in search of her first win since returning to the cage as she fell to a 2-4 record.

Photo from ONE Championship

Also, Edward Kelly hardly broke a sweat as he scored a three-hit combo knockout of Meas Meul.

The Team Lakay featherweight fired a pair of solid punches and immediately nailed the high knee to the Cambodian’s jaw, stunning the challenger and prompting the referee to call for the bell at the 21-second mark of the first round.

It was an emotional victory for Kelly, who finally achieved success in front of his home crowd.

“Last time, I trained really well and I ended up with a loss. I was really disappointed,” he recounted. “But now, this is what happened. I’m so happy, not just for myself, but for my team and I hope my teammates will also get the win.”

Kelly bounced back from his loss to Emilio Urrutia back in August to rise to 10-4, while Meul suffered his first defeat and dropped to 8-1.

In the other preliminary fights, Rajinder Singh Meena (9-7) made quick work of Zhang Ze Hao (2-1), making his Chinese foe tap out to his guillotine at the 42-second mark of the opening round.

Indonesian strawweight Adrian Matehis (4-3) submitted Eddey Kallai (0-3) with a rear-naked choke at the 4:15 mark of the first round to keep his Malaysian foe winless in the promotion.