IMMEDIATELY after beating veteran Kamal Shalorus in the main event of ONE: Throne of Tigers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Ev Ting challenged reigning ONE Championship World Lightweight champion Filipino Eduard Folayang.
“Eduard Folayang, I am coming to your home to take your belt. See you on April 21st,” he said inside the ONE Championship cage after thanking his fans for coming out during his post-fight interview.
Ting and Shalorus put on an absolute show to delight fans in attendance. For three rounds, Ting flaunted his tremendous striking, hammering Shalorus with lashing strikes on numerous occasions. Shalorus tried his best to take Ting to the ground, where he had the upper hand. However, he was unable to do so.
In the end, Ting continued his winning streak, doing just enough to earn a split decision victory over Shalorus, who was unable to overcome Ting’s sharp strikes.
In the co-main event of the evening, Malaysia’s very own Agilan “Alligator” Thani authored one of the most spectacular finishes of ONE: Throne of Tigers, submitting Jeff Huang of Chinese Taipei with a rear-naked choke.
Thani put on a masterful performance, overcoming Huang’s striking advantage in the early proceedings as the hometown favorite utilized his impeccable ground game. The young Malaysian prospect executed a flawless transition into a rear-naked choke that left Huang no choice but to submit in the second round.
Malaysian female MMA superstar Ann “Athena” Osman captured a satisfying victory in front of a jubilant hometown crowd by routing Cambodia’s Vy Srey Khouch. After a long feeling-out process between the two fighters from a stand-up stance, Osman shifted gears and took Srey Khouch to the ground, where her opponent was at a stylistic disadvantage.
Securing a full mount, Osman rained down heavy shots. Srey Khouch tried her best to survive the onslaught, laying back mostly on the defensive. However, Osman was simply too much for her Cambodian foe, claiming the stoppage with two seconds left in the first round.
Russia’s Movlid “Killer” Khaibulaev accomplished a major victory in his maiden assignment as a ONE Championship athlete by marking the first defeat in the professional record of Brazilian featherweight standout Herbert “The Blaze” Burns. Khaibulaev showcased his pinpoint accurate striking early on, peppering Burns with stinging right hands and spinning back-kicks in the first two rounds of the featherweight showdown.
Khaibulaev took matters on the mat in the third round, where he tagged Burns with telling blows and maneuvered his cage counterpart easily on the ground to get the unanimous nod from the three judges.
Previously-unbeaten Pakistani featherweight prospect Ahmed “The Wolverine” Mujtaba experienced the first loss of his career as he went to battle against Malaysian mixed martial artist Keanu Subba. Both fighters started out aggressively, but it was Subba who showed a more capable set of grappling skills, locking in a deep guillotine choke in the first round to the roar of his hometown crowd.
In a clash of high-caliber strawweights, Alex “Little Rock” Silva of Brazil extended his impressive winning streak to four bouts by mustering a scintillating submission conquest of Philippine boxing champion Roy Doliguez. Knowing the risk in the stand-up exchanges with Doliguez, Silva relied on his world-class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu pedigree as he spun a web of crafty grappling to dominate his Filipino foe. In the third round, Silva was finally able to fasten an armbar to force the tap.
Saiful “The Vampire” Merican of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia exhibited stellar form, proving himself a top bantamweight competitor with a stoppage victory over Filipino fighter Burn “Hitman” Soriano. Showcasing tremendous power with every strike and drawing cheers from the crowd after each landed blow, Merican’s thunderous kicks and punches proved too much for Soriano as the Filipino was unable to continue after the first round bell. Merican was awarded a technical knockout for his efforts.
Singaporean prospect Tiffany “Soul Crusher” Teo notched her second-straight victory inside the ONE Championship cage by defeating Wushu Sanda gold-medalist Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol of Indonesia via unanimous decision.
Muhammad Aiman of Malaysia kicked off a spectacular evening of world-class mixed martial arts action with a technical knockout victory over debuting Brazilian combatant Eduardo Novaes. Aiman finished the job with finesse in the first round, launching a perfectly-executed kick to the body before punctuating it with follow-up blows on the ground.
