ONE Championship 68 highlights: A face-first crash with this 'KO of the Year' candidate

This past week’s ONE Championship 68 event crowned a new champion and also gave us an early “Knockout of the Year” contender.

“ONE Championship 68: Global Superheroes” took place at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Manila, Philippines, and the 10-fight card, which streamed as an online pay-per-view in North America, had no shortage of dramatic stoppages.

Although Geje Eustaquio (10-6) scored a decision victory over fellow headliner Kairat Akhmetov (21-2) to claim an interim flyweight belt, a host of stoppages came earlier in the card.

The most notable came from Edward Kelly (10-4), who needed just 21 seconds to unload a wild fight-ending combination on featherweight Meas Meu (5-1), who was sent airborne and then face-first into the canvas in a “KO of the Year” early candidate.

Also on the card, strawweight Joshua Pacio (11-2) overpowered and tapped out Ming Qiang Lan (0-1), flyweight Ma Hao Bin (9-1) dominated Sotir Kichukov (13-7) over three rounds, and Emilio Urrutia (11-4) blasted 145-pounder Bruno Pucci (5-3) with a first-round knockout.

Check out all of the highlights above.

Full ONE Championship 68 results included:

• Geje Eustaquio def. Kairat Akhmetov via unanimous decision – to claim interim flyweight title
• Joshua Pacio def. Ming Qiang Lan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:01
• Rafael Nunes def. Eric Kelly via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 2, 1:31
• Ma Hao Bin def. Sotir Kichukov via unanimous decision
• Hayato Suzuki def. Yago Bryan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:03
• Emilio Urrutia def. Bruno Pucci via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 3:33
• Edward Kelly def. Meas Meu via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 0:21
• Jomary Torres def. April Osenio via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 0:40
• Rajinder Singh Meena def. Zehao Zhang via submission (guillotine) – Round 1, 0:42
• Eddey Kalai vs. Adrian Matheis via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:15

For more on ONE Championship 68, check out the MMA Events section of the site.