ONE: Banario escapes Pang via split decision

Honorio Banario. Photo from ONE Championship

Honorio Banario proved to be slicker than his Australian foe as he emerged victorious Friday at ONE: Heroes of Honor at Mall of Asia Arena.

Banario (13-6) nipped Adrian Pang (22-12-2) via split decision to stay unbeaten in the lightweight division.

The Igorot contender was methodical in his attack, trying his earnest to keep himself composed as the Australian lightweight tried to bait him with taunts.

Banario connected with a front kick as he was the aggressor to end the first round before once again picking his spots in the succeeding rounds. The approach seemingly frustrated Pang, who tried his best to catch the elusive Banario.

Gracious in victory, Banario gave props to Pang for a hard-fought duel.

“This man is the greatest fighter I’ve ever faced. He’s 40 years old and he’s still strong. This guy gave no excuses,” he said.

It was the Team Lakay bet’s fifth straight victory since moving up the weight class, putting him in prime position for a future title shot against ONE Lightweight Champion Martin Nguyen.

Marat Gafurov (16-1) also made quick work of Emilio Urrutia (11-5) as the Russian featherweight submitted his American foe with an arm triangle choke at the 2:34 mark of the opening round.

Dae Hwan Kim (13-3-1) did just enough to best Masakazu Imanari (36-18-2) in a highly entertaining bantamweight clash to win via unanimous decision.

It was a clash of styles, with Dae wanting to keep the fight on their feet while Imanari imploring his Korean opponent to meet him on the ground.

Dae flooredImanari twice in the first two rounds and held his own against the Japanese contender, going on a full mount to take the win.

Akihiro Fujisawa (3-0-1) topped Kaji Ebin (2-1) with a technical knockout victory at the 1:48 mark of the first round.

The Filipino bet seemingly dislocated his shoulder after the Japanese bantamweight took him down and put him on a side control, leading to a verbal tap out in the opening round.