Jenelyn Olsim proved that she meant business the moment she decided to drop down to the atomweight division.
The fifth-ranked strawweight had a debut to remember in her new weightclass, scoring a unanimous decision win over gritty Bi “Killer Bee” Nguyen at ONE: BATTLEGROUND III on Friday, August 27, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Showing her continuous growth as a mixed martial arts fighter, the Team Lakay star engaged Nguyen wherever the match went, whether on the feet or on the ground.
The Vietnamese-American star started out by actively shooting for takedowns, which Olsim either shrugged off easily or scrambled away from.
So confident was Olsim on the ground that she attempted a rare gogoplata submission on Nguyen, but luckily for the latter it didn’t come to fruition.
While the submission didn’t happen, Olsim’s biggest moment came in the second round when she sent Nguyen on her backside with a straight right hand that caught the Xtreme Couture on the button.
That gave Olsim some much-needed confidence with her striking, something she used for most of the third round while keeping Nguyen honest by sticking a jab in her face and landing occasional uppercuts and straight rights.
Thinking she needed to do something drastic, Nguyen went for one takedown after another and was finally rewarded at the end of the round when she landed a beautiful hip toss and took full mount.
From there, Nguyen went all out with solid ground and pound, but that was not enough to finish off Olsim and convince the three judges that she deserved the win.
All three judges scored the match for the Filipina, who now joins the stacked ONE atomweight division ruled by longtime ONE World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee.