Alex Silva has beaten two undefeated Japanese fighters in quick succession to establish himself as the number one strawweight on the planet. He decisioned Yoshitaka Naito in Bangkok on Saturday to take home the ONE Championship title.
ONE: Warriors of the World took place at the Impact Arena and was headlined by a strawweight title bout between champion Naito and challenger Silva. The Brazilian made a very strong start and landed a series of solid low kicks in the opening round.
Naito seemed to be biding his time as Silva continued to connect with low kicks in the second stanza. The Brazilian was warned for an illegal soccer kick attempt at the start of round three and Silva started to switch stance, landing more low kicks and dropping the champion with a short right hand.
In the fourth, Naito started to look for takedowns and secured a single leg takedown, but wasn’t able to capitalize with any strikes or submission attempts. It was a similar story in the fifth with the Japanese fighter working to get the fight to the ground, but not doing any damage in the process.
At this stage, it was clear Naito would need a favor from the judges, but he didn’t get it. All three saw the fight in favor of Silva, who improved to 7-1 and wins the ONE Championship strawweight title, while his opponent drops to 12-1 after tasting defeat for the first time.
In the co-main event, lightweight Shannon Wiratchai (8-2) dropped a decision to Rasul Yakhyaev (11-6-0-1). It was also a bad night for his compatriot, Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke (8-3), who was submitted in the opening round by Riku Shibuya (14-4-0-2) in their strawweight contest.
ONE: Warriors of the World Official Results
- ONE Strawweight World Championship bout: Alex Silva defeats Yoshitaka Naito by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 5 rounds
- Lightweight bout: Rasul Yakhyaev defeats Shannon Wiratchai by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 3 rounds
- Featherweight bout: Christian Lee defeats Kotetsu Boku by Knockout (KO) at 3:24 minutes of round 1
- Strawweight bout: Riku Shibuya defeats Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 2:36 minutes of round 1
- Women’s atomweight bout: Rika Ishige defeats Rome Trinidad by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:05 minutes of round 2
- Women’s catchweight bout (57.3kg): Xiong Jingnan defeats April Osenio by TKO (Strikes) at 3:44 minutes of round 1
- Featherweight bout: Sagetdao Petpayathai defeats Jimmy Yabo by Knockout (KO) at 2:44 minutes of round 1
- Flyweight bout: Yodsanan Sityodtong defeats Dodi Mardian by Knockout (KO) at 1:32 minutes of round 1
- Strawweight bout: Kritsada Kongsrichai defeats Rabin Catalan by TKO (Strikes) at 3:01 minutes of round 1
- Bantamweight bout: Tang De Pan defeats Asraful Islam by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 3 rounds
(Follow @JamesGoyder on Twitter | Photos courtesy of ONE Championship)
