Ok Rae-yoon stuns Christian Lee to win lightweight title at ONE: Revolution
SINGAPORE — South Korea's Ok Rae-yoon stunned reigning ONE Championship lightweight world champion Christian Lee, beating Canandian-American via unanimous decision at the ONE: Revolution mixed martial arts (MMA) event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday (24 September).
With a 500-strong ticketed audience, Revolution marked the first event by Singapore-based ONE Championship to have spectators since its Fists of Fury in February.
Ok, who was the No. 3-ranked contender, weathered an early storm from Lee - who fights under the Singapore-based Evolve MMA - and got stronger as the bout wore on.
In the third round, Ok sent Lee reeling across the Circle, but Lee responded by dropping the Korean with a counter right hand and locked him in a rear-naked choke at the end of the round.
The Korean survived that submission attempt and prevailed after five rounds, ending Lee's 28-month reign atop the lightweight division.
Other defending champions retained titles
In the co-main event, reigning ONE bantamweight kickboxing champion Capitan Petchyindee Academy narrowly defeated challenger Mehdi Zatout to capture an unanimous victory after five rounds.
The 28-year-old Thai was sharp and aggressive, but his Algerian opponent was more than willing to engage, as they each other with explosive kicks and punches all throughout the fight. However, Capitan hurt Zatout at various junctures, which earned him enough credit on the scorecards to retain his title.
In the third title fight of the night, reigning ONE strawweight world champion Joshua Pacio overwhelmed top rival Yosuke Saruta with a barrage of punches to register a first-round knockout. The Filipino hurt his Japanese opponent with a left hand, and swarmed him to swiftly complete the finish.
Victoria Lee maintains undefeated start
While Christian Lee was defeated in the main event, his younger sister Victoria maintained her unbeaten start to her career by earning a technical knockout win over Brazil's Victoria Souza.
The two atomweights traded strikes to open the first round, but Victoria unleashed a barrage of elbows from top position to force the stoppage in the second round, earning the 17-year-old her third career victory.
Meanwhile, South Korean Kim Jae Woong scored the biggest win of his career, stopping former two-division world champion Martin Nguyen in the first round with a concussive right hand. With the victory, Kim earned a crack at ONE featherweight world champion Thanh Le.
Russia's Anatoly Malykhin also earned a title shot to challenge ONE heavyweight champion Arjan Bullar, after a knockout victory over Iran's Amir Aliakbari, sending his rival to the mat with a thunderous shot to the jaw.
In the lead card bouts, Lito Adiwang defeated Hexigetu via unanimous decision, Taiki Naito earned a split-decision victory over Petchdam Petchyindee Academy, Marcus Almeida scored a first-round submission over Anderson Silva, Petchtanong Petchfergus beat Zhang Chenglong via unanimous decision, and James Yang defeated Roel Rosauro via technical knockout in the second round.
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