Shamil Gasanov Bounce Back From First Loss to Kickoff Important Year for ONE Championship

The scene for mixed martial arts isn’t as crowded now as it was at the beginning of 2023. With the Professional Fighters League buying Bellator, there is an opportunity for ONE Championship to establish itself as the No. 3 brand worldwide. ONE having events primarily based out of Asia provides them with a unique timeslot.

For ONE’s first event of the year, held at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, it had an opportunity to grab some of the American audience interested in watching fights on a Friday night into Saturday morning. Most of the fights on the night went the distance, including a bounce-back performance from Shamil Gasanov in the main event.

Gasanov was propelled into the main event after injuries forced his fight to be moved. Initially, the main event was supposed to be a flyweight kickboxing world championship fight between Superlek Kiatmuu9 and Elias Mahmoudi. However, ONE was forced to change things up when Mahmoudi had to pull out with a rib injury, according to online boxing news.

Gasanov Gets Back in Win Column

The wait to get back to fighting ended up being a long six months for Gasanov. The Russian fighter took his first-ever loss in MMA back in July when he was forced to tap out to a kneebar from Garry Tonon. Taking on a strong Korean opponent in Oh Ho Taek allowed him to impress once again.

Gasanov controlled the fight with his wrestling. While Gasanov could not secure a submission, it was an important victory for his career. He wanted to cement himself as a featherweight title challenger and was able to do so effectively.

Gasanov now has a 2-1 record in ONE and is 14-1 overall in his career, according to the best online MMA site.

Muay Thai Gets Time to Shine

ONE Championship isn’t married to MMA. In order to entertain fans, ONE is willing to put on special rules fights or even other disciplines to get exciting fighters on the card. Suablack Tor Pran49 fought Istvan Stefan Korodi in a co-main event contested at a bantamweight weight class in Muay Thai. 

While Suablack would win the fight, it wasn’t an easy decision for the Thai fighter. Korodi ended up knocking Suablack in the second round. However, Suablack could land heavy strikes with elbows and punches to pick up two knockdowns of his own. Suablack would get his hand raised with a decision.

There were several Muay Thai fights on the card, and there were supposed to be a couple of kickboxing fights available as well. Having a variety of events during each event has led to the promotion attempting to promote themselves as the “Olympics of martial arts.” It’s hard to know how much people enjoy the format, but it is an interesting experiment.

Kwon Won II Continues Winning Ways

There is always a good chance sparks will fly when Won II competes in ONE Championship events. He delivered again with another wild performance on Saturday. He picked up a $50,000 bonus during a fight with Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg.

He scored a second-round TKO by utilizing elbow strikes to bring a stop to the bout. People waiting to watch one of Won II’s fights will be best served to settle in quickly. Won II has seen his previous nine fights end by stoppage. The last seven were all via knockout.

While Won II isn’t on the right side of all of those KOs, his 13-4 record suggests he wins much more often than he loses.

Sitsongpeenon Grabs Another Victory

Rungrawee Sitsonpeenong has established himself as one of the top Muay Thai fighters in the world. Few are more experienced. Sitsongpeenon has a 156-447-2 record. He’s continued to fight for more success in ONE and added to his spectacular resume on Saturday.

Sitsonpeenong picked up a $50,000 bonus for battering Shakir Al-Tekreeti. What made Sitsonpeenong so effective was how he utilized his body kicks. In the second round, Sitsonpeenong could force a stoppage to the fight by landing an elbow against the ropes before following up with a knee that forced the referee to waive off the fight.

Belakh Studied the Right Way

Bantamweight Artem Belakh had already studied Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu before their fight was announced. Belakh looked like he knew what he was doing. That spelled doom for Baatarkhuu.

Late in the second round, Belakh found the opening he was looking for. He was able to land a stiff knee and follow up with punches to score a TKO victory. It was the second career knockout victory for Belakh.

He is 9-2 in his career; seven of those victories have come by submission.

Christmas is Canceled

Liam Nolan can at least tell his family that at least he won his fight. After missing all of 2023 due to injuries, illness, and other factors, Nolan returned to ONE with a decision win over Ali Aliev.

It was Nolan’s first fight since beating Eddie Abasolo in November 2022. Nolan was so dedicated to training for his fight against Aliev that he canceled his plans for Christmas. Spending the extra time training had an impact on Nolan.

Nolan, a 26-year-old British fighter, has a Muay Thai record of 22-7-1. Nolan previously held the WBC Muay Thai World Middleweight title.

Only Heavyweight Bout Ends With Fireworks

Kang Ji-won left a memorable impression during his heavyweight MMA fight with Mikhail Jamal Abdul-Latif. He was able to utilize heavy strikes to force a stoppage in the second round. Ji-won utilized a heavy knee to stun Abdul-Latif before finishing things off with punches.

Here’s a look at some other fights from the event not mentioned above:

• Light heavyweight kickboxing: Beybulat Isaev win by decision over Yuri Farcas
• Bantamweight: Ibragim Dauev win by decision over Mark Abelardo

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