ONE: Aoki waylays Wiratchai, Gracie triumphant in return fight

Shinya Aoki pummels Shannon Wiratchai. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

It was a performance of utter destruction from Japanese legend Shinya Aoki, who subjected Thai superstar Shannon Wiratchai to a show of force in their lightweight bout in ONE: Reign of Kings Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Aoki (41-8) wasted no time in establishing his dominance and got into full mount position in the first minute of their fight where he proceeded to pummel Wiratchai (9-3) with crushing blows.

Seeing a bloodied Wiratchai unable to defend himself, referee Olivier Coste stopped the fight 2:16 into the first round sending Aoki into a frenzied celebration with the crowd sitting at the lower box area of MOA Arena.

Renzo Gracie vs Yuki Kondo. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Brazilian legend Renzo Gracie, meanwhile, was triumphant in his return to fighting after an 11-year hiatus.

The 51-year-old Gracie (14-7) wrapped Japanese icon Yuki Kondo (60-35) in a rear naked choke at the start of the second and earned the submission victory 1:40 into the round of their welterweight fight.

American lightweight Garry Tonon scored his second straight win in as many fights after submitting India’s Rahul Raju with a rear naked choke 3:27 into the third round.

Armen Petrosyan vs Chris Ngimbi. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

In one of the three Super Series bouts, Chris Ngimbi edged out Armen Petrosyan via split decision in their kickboxing fight at the 72.5-kilogram catch weight.

Ngimbi, a two-time Muay Thai World champion, managed to keep the aggressive Petrosyan at bay and connected with more solid strikes that earned him two of three judges’ nods.

Panicos Yusuf of Cyprus took a unanimous decision win over China’s Han Zi Hao in the Super Series for Muay Thai.

Yusuf fed off Han’s aggression in the fight and was largely scoring on counters in their bantamweight fight.

In the preliminaries, Thailand’s Chamuaktong Fightermuaythai dominated Dutch fighter Brown Pinas with pinpoint strikes and got out of the cage with a unanimous decision win under his belt.

China’s Xie Bin (5-2) kicked off the card with a quick submission victory over Cambodia’s Sor Sey (4-3) in the featherweight division.

Xie locked a deep guillotine choke that forced Sey to tap out 1:55 into the fight.