This past week, ONE Fighting Championship held their first ever show in Manilla, Philippines. Titled ‘Pride of Nation’, the show was the 5th installment of the Singapore-based promotion. Despite its overall success, the event did spark criticism from MMA fans worldwide as the lightning rod for controversy stood high on the edge of the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
In the second fight of the night, American fighter Mitch Chilson (3-1-0[1]) was scheduled to face up-and-comer Shannon Wiratchai (2-0-0[1]). The former dominated proceedings in the first stanza, when he secured a takedown and executed some heavy Ground-and-Pound. In the second round, however, controversy was instilled in the atmosphere of the Smart Araneta Coliseum when referee Moritaka Oshiro stopped the fight after Wiratchai had landed a kick to his downed opponent.
A similar incident occurred later on in the night, when former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski (17-9-0[1]) faced Tim Sylvia (31-7-0[1]). Arlovski landed a set of kicks to Sylvia when the latter was stunned by one of his opponent’s punches. Arlovski thought he had won. However, referee Yuji Shimada had stopped the fight because the kicks delivered by the Belarusian had been deemed ‘illegal’. An ‘Open Attack’, it seemed, was not signaled by the official. Nonetheless, the fight was rightfully awarded a No-Contest decision by the judges, after Sylvia was unable to compete.
The promotion has always allowed soccer kicks to the head, but it was at the referee’s discretion. The referee would have to signal verbally for an ‘open attack’, which would give fighters the opportunity to use their kicks to a downed opponent.
Now that the promotion has adopted the old PRDE rules where kicks are allowed at all times to a downed opponent, there is now, certainly, less confusion and bewilderment with regards to the usage of soccer kicks in ONE Fighting Championship.
As announced by the promotion on its official Facebook page, the Wiratchai-Chilson bout has officially been ruled a No-Contest as well:
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Follow @ThineshJohnMMA on Twitter and Keep up with the latest MMA news on Twitter and Facebook
