ONE: Edward Kelly absorbs technical decision loss to Chinese foe

China’s Xie Bin pummeling Filipino fighter Edward Kelly during ONE: Dawn of Heroes at Mall of Asia Arena. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—China’s Xie Bin scored a technical decision win over Team Lakay’s Edward Kelly in the preliminaries of ONE: Dawn of Heroes Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

A mandatory five-minute stoppage was called midway through the second round after Kelly was hit at the back of the head, but the Baguio native couldn’t return to the fight and the bout was decided through the judges’ scorecards.

Both fighters electrified the first round with Xie (8-2) taking control of the match in the ground and Kelly (12-7) landing thunderous shots when he transitioned into the dominant position in the latter part of the frame.

Edward Kelly dropping the HAMMER! 🤜 💥 #WeAreONE #DawnOfHeroes #Manila #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/QJ0P7aptnm

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) August 2, 2019

Kelly, however, failed to sustain his momentum into the second round and found himself on the defensive with Xie employing an impressive ground and pound.

Meanwhile, Miao Li Tao put on a masterful performance to get his third straight win at the expense of Pongsiri Mitsatit in their catchweight bout at 57 kilograms.

Miao (3-1) dictated every aspect of the game and never let up in his offense, be it on the ground or standing up, preventing Mitsatit (10-3) from establishing his game plan.

Mitsatit was the lighter of the two, fighting mostly at strawweight while Miao is at flyweight.

Ayaka Miura captured her fifth straight win after submitting Samara Santos with an Americana choke 39 seconds into the second round of their women’s strawweight bout.

Santos (11-7) had the dominant position for much of the first round but couldn’t get a strong enough hold to lock Miura (9-2) for a submission.

Miura immediately went into the offensive with a swift takedown to start the second before locking in her submission hold.

Sunoto vs Muhammad Aiman in the ONE: Dawn of Heroes preliminaries. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Muhammad Aiman kicked off the fight card with an impressive unanimous decision win over Sunoto in the bantamweight division.

Aiman (5-3) kept the tempo going throughout the bout and he managed to put Sunoto in a Guillotine choke late in the third round before connecting with several punches when Sunoto (11-6) got out of the hold.