After a 6 month hiatus, MMASucka.com’s very own ‘Asian Fighter Watch’ series is back. Eric Kelly and Mark Striegl were fighters that were featured previously and now, ONE Fighting Championship’s Lowen Tynanes (5-0) is the latest combatant to fit the bill.
UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, made strides in the Mixed Martial scene at an early age, becoming the youngest title-holder since the promotion’s inception. This may very well be, in fact, reminiscent of Lowen Tynanes’ accomplishments in just 5 professional MMA bouts.
The 22-year-old is a native of Hawaii, but has been applying his trade in the Pan-Asian fight scene. He was first dragged into the limelight when he stopped the much fancied, Filipino icon Eduard Folayang (12-4) via Doctor’s stoppage in the 1st frame at URCC 22 – Dekada. Tynanes was relatively an unknown fighter leading up to the fight but once the upset was scored, the wind certainly changed its course, helping the American-born fighter on his road to MMA stardom.
With an unscathed Amateur and Professional record, Tynanes was next tasked to face striking extraordinaire, Vuyisile Colossa (5-4) at ONE FC 7: Return of Warriors. And mind you, Colossa gave Tynanes a stern test which was passed with flying colors by the latter fighter. After shrugging off a couple of submission attempts, Colossa, a South African Kickboxing champion, dominated proceedings when the fight was fought on stand-up. That however, changed when Tynanes landed a takedown, before sinking in a Rear-Naked Choke that forced a tap from his opponent. Tynanes, hence, became the first fighter to ever finish Colossa in MMA.
2 months later, the 23-year-old added the King of the Cage Junior 170-lbs title to his mantle after defeating Kris Armbrister via Arm-Triangle choke. But he soon returned to the ONE FC banner again, this time facing veteran Felipe Enomoto (6-6, 1 NC) at the promotion’s 9th installment, titled ‘Rise to Power’. Tynanes showed his resurgence and aggression by immediately going for a takedown, before brutalizing his opponent with punches and elbows from a mounted crucifix position. That display on the canvas was slick, and bore testament to an 80% finish rate that Tynanes possessed.
Lowen Tynanes is indeed the next Mixed Martial Arts star of Asia and only time will tell if the sky is the limit for the 23-year-old. Perhaps the comparison with Jon Jones was a bit drastic to say the least but hey, with an incredible start to a professional MMA career, who wouldn’t say so?
The American will be in action next against Joe Condon (9-5) on July 5th, at King of the Cage’s first visit to the Philippines.
*Photo(s) Credit: ONE Fighting Championship, Lowen Tynanes
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