ONE: PH’s Robin Catalan KOs Cuban foe

Robin Catalan celebrates explosive win. photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Philippines’ Robin Catalan scored an explosive knockout victory over Cuban Gustavo Balart in their strawweight division match in the preliminaries of ONE: Masters of Fat Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Catalan (10-6) was locked in a physical and back-and-forth matchup but he perfectly set up a right head kick that put Balart (9-4) to sleep 4:43 into the second round of the bout.

Balart looked to have figured out Catalan’s offense earlier in the fight with his wrestling but the 29-year-old from Catalan Fighting System used his striking to reassert his place in the fight.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Tukkatatong Petpayathai secured a split decision win over Japan’s Hiroaki Suzuki in the bantamweight division (Muay Thai) in the ONE Super Series.

Petpayathai used his length to keep his distance against Suzuki, landing multiple body kicks to his opponent’s right side.

This constant offense distinguished Petpayathai to the eyes of the two judges.

Kim Jae Woong of South Korea had an explosive debut in the promotion, earning a technical knockout win over Brazil’s Rafael Nunes in the featherweight division.

Kim (10-4) tagged Nunes (11-3) with a left hook to the body and that led to an offensive onslaught prompting the referee to stop the match 38 seconds into the third round.

The win was Kim’s third straight and sixth in seven matches.

South Korea’s Kim Kyu Sung put Japan’s Akihiro Fujisawa to sleep with a cracking right uppercut 1:08 into the first round.

The taller Kim (10-3) used his jab to keep his distance against Fujisawa (5-3-1), who used mainly leg kicks to cut down his opponent, but found an opportunity for a knockout when the Japanese charged in.

Kim’s win was his third in four bouts, bouncing back victory after he lost to the Philippines’ Geje Eustaquio in May.

Debuting Roshan Mainam’s submission win over Khon Sichan in the flyweight division started the card.

Mainam (4-2) submitted Sichan (3-5) with an arm bar 3:22 into the first round in what was his debut fight in the promotion.