GRAPPLING was supposed to be Jenny Huang’s strong suit but someone forgot to tell that Mei Yamaguchi who once battled Angela Lee for the inaugural ONE Championship World Atomweight championship.
Yamaguchi fought fire with fire and beat Huang at her own grappling game to wheel back into the championship conversation with a decisive victory last Friday in Yangon, Myanmar.
The Yamaguchi-Huang battle was only one of many bouts which electrified the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium during the ONE: Light of a Nation card at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium.
Yamaguchi beat Huang by submission through rear naked choke early in the second round.
Yamaguchi thus bounced back from a two-fight losing skein which found her dropping both her matches last year. She was calculating and patient as she relied on her grappling game which produced a second-round submission victory.
Yamaguchi’s (16-10-1) was in no rush against Huang (5-2). She took control of the game early on but didn’t rush to force a victory. She capitalized on superior position to clamp her arm around Huang’s neck and forced her opponent to tap out or be choked out.
Yamaguchi, 34, relied on her experience to beat her younger foe who had fought in far fewer bouts. Huang was impatient committing several careless mistakes which allowed Yamaguchi to lock her arm around her neck to force the tap out.
In other fights that evening Bruno Pucci defeated Jimmy Yabo by TKO (Strikes) at 2:12 minutes of round 1 in a Featherweight bout.
Yabo (5-5) was no match for Pucci (5-2). Pucci brought the Filipino down to the mat then proceeded to pound him into submission to post the one-sided TKO victory in their featherweight fight.
Pucci pushed Yabo on his back seconds after the fight began. He then mounted him and then unleashed a relentless stream of punches at Yabo who was in complete survival mode. The referee prevented any further damage by waving off the contest after two minutes into Round 2.
Bantamweight Tha Pyay Nyo defeated Htet Aung Oo by Knockout after just 16 seconds in the first round.
In easily the most exciting bout of the evening Tha Pyay Nyo (4-0) remained undefeated in MMA competition with his most impressive victory ever as he flattened the game but inexperienced Htet Aung Oo (0-1).
Nyo set up his thunderbolt right with a jab. Aung Oo countered but Nyo came over the top with a heavy right hand to the chin of Aung Oo who crumpled to the canvas. Nyo then pounced on his fallen opponent to add an extra shot before the referee stepped in to stop the bout.
In a catchweight bout (68.0kg): Kevin Chung defeated Zhong Qing Ya by TKO (Strikes) after 3:37 minutes of round 2.
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