AUNG LA N SANG, better known as the ‘Burmese Python’, survived the determined challenge of Ken Hasegawa to retain his ONE Middleweight World title during ONE: Spirit of a Warrior last weekend at Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar.
The fight went all the way to the fifth before N Sang was able to knockout Hasegawa late in the round.
Both men possessed respected grappling pedigrees but instead chose to stand toe-to-toe and trade shots from start to finish.
N Sang came out of the gates blazing, peppering Hasegawa with a torrent of heavy blows from different angles. The bout’s complexion changed in the second round when, from a southpaw stance, Hasegawa repeatedly tagged N Sang with his boxing combinations.
Drawing loud cheers from the raucous crowd, the two warriors unloaded blistering combinations that pushed each other to the limit.
The rest of the match saw both men figure in one of the most exciting bouts in ONE Championship history, and an extremely close championship encounter. In the final moments of the fifth round, Aung La N Sang managed to connect with a thunderous uppercut to shut the lights off on Hasegawa.
Meanwhile, Filipino Jeremy Miado lost by decision to Kritsada Kongsrichai of Thailand. Kongsrichai authored one of the most dominant performances of the night, wearing out Miado with slams to the mat and punishing ground-and-pound.
Miado could not utilize his advantage in the stand-up when faced with the Thai’s grappling proficiency. The 13-time Thai national wrestling champion easily cruised to a unanimous decision victory.