Middleweight champion Aung La Nsang was handed an unconventional assignment at ONE: Hero’s Dream in Yangon on Friday. He was up against Alain Ngalani, an opponent who normally tips the scales at around 230 pounds, although neither man was required to actually weigh in.
It was the promotion’s first ever open weight contest and things got off to a bad start for La Nsang. After using an overhand right to set up a takedown, he found himself underneath Ngalani and was repeatedly frustrated in his attempts to establish butterfly guard or sweep the Cameroonian.
The hometown hero eventually used the cage to work his way up and immediately attempted to sink in a standing guillotine choke. It looked tight, but when La Nsang pulled guard and dropped to the floor in an attempt to complete it Ngalani immediately popped his head out.
La Nsang immediately transitioned to an armbar, but Ngalani escaped again. The two men eventually worked their way back to standing and the Burmese attempted another guillotine choke on an opponent who seemed to be rapidly approaching the point of exhaustion.
This time the choke was deep and, when La Nsang pulled guard and dragged his opponent to the floor, Ngalani tapped immediately. The win takes the middleweight champion to 21-10-0-1, while his opponent drops to 3-4-0-1 after losing this non-title fight.
Afterward, La Nsang had a message of peace for the sold out crowd at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium, telling them that, “I love you guys and if Alain and I can be friends afterwards, every tribe in Myanmar can be friends and we can work together.”
It is possible La Nsang might have been referring to the ongoing crisis affecting the Muslim minority Rohyinga people in Rakhine State. The Burmese army’s actions there were recently described by a top official from the United Nations as a “cruel military operation” and a “textbook case of ethnic cleansing.”
In the co-main event, Burmese fighters Phoe Thaw (5-0) and Sa Min Oo went to war for three rounds. The fight featured numerous near knockouts and was too close to call with one of the judges voting in favor of the former and the other two opting for the latter, who improves to 5-0, while his opponent drops to 2-2.
There were also stoppage wins for Pongsiri Mitsatit (9-0) and Haobin Ma (8-1). The Thai strawweight forced Jeremy Miado (6-2) to tap to strikes in the second stanza, while the Chinese flyweight submitted Eugene Toquero (8-6) with an armbar late in the opening round.
ONE: Hero’s Dream Results
- Open Weight Super-Bout: Aung La N Sang defeats Alain Ngalani by Submission (Guillotine) at 4:31 minutes of round 1
- Featherweight bout: Phoe Thaw defeats Saw Ba Oo by Split Decision (SD) after 3 rounds
- Flyweight bout: Ma Hao Bin defeats Eugene Toquero by Submission (Armbar) at 4:51 minutes of round 1
- Flyweight bout: Ye Thway Ne defeats Saw Thar Nge by Knockout (KO) at 3:50 minutes of round 1
- Strawweight bout: Pongsiri Mitsatit defeats Jeremy Miado by TKO (Verbal Submission) at 4:23 minutes of round 2
- Bantamweight bout: Saw Darwait defeats Sit Mhan by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 0:41 minutes of round 1
- Bantamweight bout: Chen Lei defeats Burn Soriano by TKO (Strikes) at 1:06 minutes of round 2
- Women’s strawweight bout: Miao Jie defeats Amira Hafizovic by Submission (Armbar) at 0:45 minutes of round 1
- Lightweight bout: Zhang Ze Hao defeats Bala Shetty by TKO (Strikes) at 2:01 minutes of round 1
- Women’s atomweight bout: Jomary Torres defeats Nita Dea by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 3 rounds
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