April 17, 2024

The Top 6 Highlights Of ONE: WARRIOR’S DREAM

ONE Championship thrilled the fans in Jakarta, Indonesia with another night of unforgettable martial arts action.

The promotion crowned a new World Champion at ONE: WARRIOR’S DREAM inside the Stadium Istora on Saturday, 17 November. In addition to that, 10 of the 14 scheduled bouts ended via stoppage.

Here are the top five highlights from the organization’s latest blockbuster.

Zebaztian Kadestam’s Last Gasp Triumph

The ONE Welterweight World Title was hanging in the balance after more than 24 minutes of nip-tuck action from Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam and Tyler McGuire.

It appeared as though the contest was heading to the judges’ scorecards, but like a true champion, Kadestam dug deep when it mattered the most and kept the decision out of the officials’ hands.

As his American opponent circled away, the Swede leaped forward and struck with a looping right hand. It clipped McGuire on the chin and took his legs out from underneath him.

Once he fell, “The Bandit” rushed in to throw the finishing blows, and referee Olivier Coste jumped in to halt the bout with just 28 seconds left on the clock.

It was a dramatic ending to arguably the best welterweight match of 2018.

Nieky Holzken’s World-Class Debut

The kickboxing world was abuzz with anticipation for the promotional debut of Nieky “The Natural” Holzken in Jakarta.

One of the sport’s great athletes had a tough test ahead of him as he took on Cosmo “Good Boy” Alexandre in a rematch, but he lived up to the hype with an incredible knockout.

The Dutchman knocked his opponent down twice in the first round, and he put him down for good in the second.

An overhand right put the Brazilian on roller skates, and then a monstrous uppercut flew through his defenses and connected cleanly on the chin to instantly end the match. What’s more, it happened with only one second remaining in round two.

Holzken wants to win a ONE World Title, and based on this bout, it will take someone special to stop him.

Anthony Engelen’s Second Win In 8 Days

Anthony “The Archangel” Engelen cannot be stopped right now.

The Dutch-Indonesian returned to the world’s largest martial arts organization last Friday, 9 November with a first-round head kick knockout of Meas Meul.

Then, this week, he got the call to face Jimmy “The Silencer” Yabo in his hometown. He stepped up to the plate on just a few days’ notice and snatched his second stoppage in quick succession.

This time, he ended things with a rear-naked choke to climb to 8-4 as a professional and remind the world he is a factor in the featherweight division.

Brown Pinas’ Knockout Of The Year Contender

The prelims of ONE: WARRIOR’S DREAM delivered a late entry for the “Best Knockout Of 2018,” as the Netherlands’ Brown Pinas spun and won.

He finished his ONE Super Series Muay Thai bantamweight contest against Yohann Fairtex Drai with an incredible spinning back elbow from out of nowhere.

The Frenchman started the second round strong, pushing forward with kicks and elbows. But as he stepped forward with a jab, Pinas fired back with a spinning back elbow, which smashed into Drai’s forehead and dropped him to his knees.

Although he had the opportunity to answer the referee’s 10-count, the damage was enough to end the bout with a single blow.

A Pair Of Extremely Quick Submissions

The quickest finishes of the night came courtesy of two elite grapplers who put their jiu-jitsu skills to work inside a minute.

In the second bout of the evening, Bruno Pucci returned to the winner’s circle with a rapid-fire guillotine of “White Dragon” Xie Chao.

Evolve’s “Puccibull” only needed 56 seconds to put his Chinese opponent to sleep.

Not long after that, Tatsumitsu “The Sweeper” Wada needed even less time to take care of Eugene Toquero.

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