There were flashy Knockouts, and a slick submission. ONE FC 6: Rise of Kings had it all. The event took place this past Saturday, in front of a packed crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. ‘Rise of Kings’ was the 6th installment of the Singapore-based promotion. The fight card looked weak on paper, but as they say, sometimes it’s the weaker cards that impress the most. And indeed it did.
MMASucka.com takes a look back at some of the best knockouts and finishes that went down at the event:
Gianni Subba vs. Bruce Loh
Gianni Subba was relatively an unknown fighter heading into this bout. At just 19-years of age, the young Malaysian starlet was prepared to step up, and enter enemy territory against Bruce Loh, one of Singapore’s most polished Mixed Martial Artists. Subba was actually making his professional MMA debut, but after that performance, you’d think he’s been in the game for a while now.
Bruce Loh walked to the ONE FC cage with a whole nation behind him. And being the only Singaporean on the fight card, there was certainly some added pressure on the 37-year-old. Nonetheless, the fight began with some excellent exchanges from both fighters. Loh made the first mistake of the fight, though, and was made to pay hard for it. The Singaporean decided to close the distance and rushed in for the kill. Subba, however, saw it coming. He landed with a sublime counter left-hook, before knocking Loh out cold with a vicious soccer kick.
Subba may have entered the cage as an unknown, but he certainly sent a statement to all future potential 125-lbs challengers. Talk about making an impression.
Melvin Manhoef vs. Ryo Kawamura
Melvin Manhoef opened his MMA career with a record 24-6-1 before hitting a rough patch in Zuffa-owned Strikeforce. However, the Dutchman had established himself as one of the most feared strikers in all of Mixed Martial Arts. Ryo Kawamura, in the meantime, had a Jekyll and Hyde career. The 31-year-old Japanese veteran had tasted mixed success in both Pancrase and Sengoku, and was perhaps heading into the biggest fight of his career.
Manhoef hadn’t finished an opponent in more than 3 years, but my oh my, did that change on Saturday.
The fight though, did dish out a few surprises, and was reminiscent of the bout between Gray Maynard and Clay Guida back at UFC On FX 4. Just to ring a bell, Guida was basically using a lot of ‘footwork’ to stay in range and was avoiding contact with Maynard throughout the fight.
Ryo Kawamura was fighting like Guida, with a really odd and perplexing stance which certainly annoyed his opponent, Manhoef. The Dutchman though, was waiting for the right time to pounce and eventually did by catching Kawamura with a vicious right hook that knocked him out cold. Manhoef sent the fans in the Singapore Indoor Stadium to raptures and might have established himself as a crowd favorite.
The 36-year-old proved to the world that he still had the knock-out power in both his hands.
Shinya Aoki vs. Arnaud Lepont
Grappling maestro Shinya Aoki may have fallen off heavily in the Lightweight rankings in recent times but he only needed 85s to remind everybody know that he belonged up there with the best.
The Evolve MMA native was the heavy favorite heading into the match-up with Lepont, who had spent his time with Brian Ebersole and the other guys at TMT in preparation for this fight. Lepont gained lots of media attention as well, after what went down at the weigh-ins. He mocked the Japanese Superstar by pulling out a book which read, ‘Beating Shinya Aoki for Dummies’.
The fight, however, was all one-way traffic. Aoki landed the takedown, and rest as they say, was history. After a couple of transitions, the 29-year-old secured a Triangle-Choke that put Lepont to sleep.
Pandemonium erupted in the stands, as Aoki celebrated his victory. Arnaud Lepont had clearly not read the ‘How to defend Submissions’ chapter in the book he had with him.
Well, as ONE Fighting Championship continues to progress in the future, expect more spectacular fights and finishes. With its blended rules set that brings the best practices of MMA together, and the usage of soccer kicks, ONE FC provides fans with more Mixed Martial Arts action and Highlight Reel finishes.
For full results of the ONE FC 6: Rise of Kings event, click here.
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