Bibiano Fernandes scored his third stoppage win in succession in the main event of ONE: ‘Dynasty of Champions’. The Brazilian’s bantamweight title was on the line but Kevin Belingon was not able to pose him any problems in a fight which lasted less than a round.
Fernandes threw a low kick straightaway and Belingon caught it and countered with a right hand. The punch missed but the Filipino found himself standing straight in front of the champion who sank in a body lock and swept him to the ground.
Fernandes has been fairly dismissive of his opponent’s Jiu Jitsu skills and to his credit Belingon did defend intelligently for several minutes, blocking all of the Brazilian’s attempts to move from side control into mount.
Unfortunately for the Filipino he was up against a decorated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and with just over a minute remaining in the round Fernandes moved into north-south position and locked in a Kimura bringing the tap at the 4:04 mark.
It was his 11th win in a row and the fourth successful defence of his ONE bantamweight title. The victory takes Fernandes to 19-3 while Belingon drops to 13-5 after being submitted for the third time in his career.
A future challenger for Fernandes emerged at the Helong Stadium in Changsha as Muin Gafurov handed Toni Tauru a second successive loss. The Tajik teenager improved to 10-0 although he had to survive a first round scare when the former Cage Warriors bantamweight champion dropped him with a right hand in the first round.
The fight was back and forth with Gafurov spending plenty of time on the bottom but attacking constantly with submission attempts. In the third round the 19 year old seized control of the fight and unlaunched a barrage of ground and pound which eventually caused the referee to step in and stop the fight.
It was a contender for ‘Fight of the Night’ but that will be no consolation for Tauru who sees his record drop to 10-3-1. Gafurov moves up to 10-0 ad could be in line for an immediate title shot, although it remains to be seen whether he will drop back down to bantamweight as this was a featherweight contest.
In the flyweight division the title picture became slightly clearer after Asuka Mikami (12-3-2) ground out a one sided decision win over Roy Doliguez (6-3). The Japanese fighter was able to take the Filipino down and keep him down for virtually the entire 15 minutes.
