Luis Santos Claims ONE: Titles & Titans Win Despite Late Flurry from Igor Svirid

The main event at ONE: Titles & Titans took a while to get going, but it exploded into life in the final round with some devastating ground and pound from Luis Santos helping to secure a unanimous decision win over Igor Svirid.

The action in the opening two rounds was so sporadic that referee Yuji Shimada issued three yellow cards. Svirid, who was constantly circling away and refusing to engage, got two, while his Brazilian opponent was issued one.

If Svirid’s tactics were part of a deliberate strategy to disrupt his opponent’s rhythm they almost worked. After chasing the former middleweight champion all around the cage for the first round and a half, Santos seemed to lose confidence and began backtracking himself.

The crowd at the Jakarta Convention Centre urged the two welterweights to “fight” and in the final round they got their wish. Svirid started to show some real aggression and charged forward, throwing punches, but it left him wide open for a takedown from the Brazilian.

Finding himself in Svirid’s guard for the first time, Santos went to work and landed four hard elbows in a row before easily slipping out of a Kimura attempt. The BJJ black belt continued to punish his opponent with elbows, before standing and throwing down a hard punch.

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Now in side control, Santos continued to land elbows, although he was frustrated in his attempts to move into mount. By this stage, Svirid’s face was covered in blood and he gave up his back in a desperate attempt to try and improve his situation.

Santos looked close to locking in a rear-naked choke, but the blood probably made it more difficult and Svirid eventually escaped and worked his way up. At this stage, referee Shimada paused the fight so that the doctor could inspect the damage done to the Kazakhstani’s face.

The bout was allowed to continue and Santos shot for another takedown, but Svirid easily stuffed it and pushed the Brazilian down to the ground. With the seconds ticking down, the former champion found himself in his opponent’s guard and began to rain down hammerfists.

It was by far the best moment of the fight for Svirid, but he didn’t do nearly as much damage as Santos had down earlier in the round. The decision was a formality with all three judges voting in favor of the Brazilian, who improves to 63-9-1-1, while his opponent drops to 10-3.

The other big fight of the night ended in a much more decisive fashion. Middleweight contenders Jake Butler and Marcin Pachnio both had the opportunity to underline their title credentials and it was the Polish Karate fighter who made the most of his.

Butler was looking to get the fight to the ground right from the start. They spent a lot of time clinching with Prachnio landing several solid looking knees to the midsection as he defended the takedown attempts.

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The former NCAA Division I wrestler succeeded in taking his opponent down, but he wasn’t able to keep him there, as Prachnio swiftly sprung back up. Undeterred, Butler tried for another takedown, but the Polish fighter sprawled and then landed a brutal knee to the head.

There was time for a follow-up knee and a few punches, as Butler’s body went limp and the referee dived in to save him. Prachnio now has three ONE Championship wins in a row and is 12-2 overall, while the American drops to 7-2.

There was also a big win for featherweight Edward Kelly (8-3). He fought on the back foot against Vincent Latoel (16-18-2), but landed counters throughout the opening round before knocking the Dutchman out with a perfectly timed right hand in the second.

ONE: Titles & Titans Results

• Luis Santos beat Igor Svirid by Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of round three
• Edward Kelly beat Vincent Latoel by KO (Punch) at 0:57 of round two
• Marcin Prachnio beat Jake Butler by TKO (Knees) at 2:30 of round one
• Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev beat Jietebusibai Haolan by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 0:26 of round one
• Anthony Engelen beat Sami Amin by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 0:52 of round two
• Casey Suire beat Xie Bin by Decision (Split) at 5:00 of round three
• Su Noto beat Yohan Mulia Legowo by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 4:14 of round one
• Bernard Soriano beat Mario Satya Wirawan by KO (Spinning Back Fist) at 0:15 of round one