Photo from ONE Championship
Eric Kelly failed to hoist the country’s flag as he fell to Rafael Nunes in the undercard of ONE: Global Superheroes Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Desperate to snap his skid, the Baguio-native tried to bring the fight to the ground but almost found himself in trouble late in the opening round against his Brazilian foe.
Things didn’t get better from there as Nunes caught Kelly’s right foot, sending him to the ground before locking in the D’arce choke at the 1:31 mark of the second round to gain the submission victory.
Kelly dropped to 12-5 as he suffered his fourth straight defeat, while Nunes rose to 11-1.
Photo from ONE Championship
In the night’s other matches, Sam-A Gaiyanghadao (364-46-9) will also go down in history as the victor in the first ever Muay Thai bout in ONE Championship, stopping Joseph Lasiri (31-5) in the second round.
The 25-year veteran athlete out of Evolve MMA punished his Italian foe with his thunderous high kicks which reverberated throughout the 20,000-seater arena, before closing out the match with a killer right straight which floored Lasiri with 2:30 to spare in the second round.
Chinese flyweight Ma Hao Bin (9-1) settled for a unanimous decision victory over Sotir Kichukov (13-7).
The winner of ONE Changsha Bantamweight Tournament was the clear aggressor in the match but did not have enough power in his strikes to knock his Bulgarian foe out, allowing the fight to go the distance.
Hayato Suzuki (18-1-2) also inched his way to a title shot as he submitted Yago Bryan (3-4).
The Japanese contender squeezed the air out of his Brazilian foe as he locked in the rear naked choke to take the victory at the 4:03 mark of round one.
Emilio Urrutia (11-4) displayed his impeccable striking as he knocked out Bruno Pucci (5-3).
The American featherweight connected with his barrage of punches, bloodying his Brazilian foe in the process before flooring him with a right hook at the 3:33 mark of the opening round.