Adrian Pang lost a split points decision to Roger Huerta at One Championship: Defending Honor on Friday night while in the main event Eduard Folayang dethroned Shinya Aoki to take home the lightweight title belt.
The event took place in front of an impressive crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore and was broadcast live via the promotion’s website.
Pang landed the better of the boxing exchanges early in his fight as both started cautiously, Huerta preferring to attack with heavy leg kicks. The Phuket based American did secure a takedown but Pang quickly regained guard and was able to wriggled back to his feet.
Pang upped the tempo in the second round as he went on the front foot landing the straight right in particular. However a takedown from Huerta half-way through the round would likely prove a pivotal moment in how the fight would ultimately be scored.
From the top position, Huerta went to work with short strikes from inside the guard. Pang attempted to strike off his back but Huerta landed punches and hammer-fists which started to mark up his opponent’s face. Late in the round, Pang was able to use the cage to get back to his feet in the final seconds of the round.
Pang looked strong in the last round as Huerta circled preferring to land singular shots before moving out of Pang’s range. The Aussie was much more aware of Huerta’s takedown attempts in this round, successfully stuffing them as he encouraged Huerta to brawl. “Hunter” would have to do just that as went on the front foot stalking his opponent around the cage in the final stanza.
One judge scored the fight to Pang while the other two scored it to Huerta to give him the split points decision. Pang drops his record to 22-10-2, while Huerta moves to 23-9-1.
There was a massive upset in the main event as Shinya Aoki was stopped by Filipino fighter Eduard Folayang.
After surviving the ground game of Aoki in the first round, Folayang began to come into the fight and rocked Aoki with a knee on the ground in the opening seconds of round three. Folayang immediately pounced where he landed a series of punches and with Aoki not making any attempt to escape, the referee had no choice but to halt the contest.
A huge underdog, Folayang moves to 17-5 and walks away with the One Championship lightweight title. Aoki drops his first fight since a loss to Eddie Alvarez back in 2012 to drop to 39-7.
In the semi-main event, Marat Gafurov proved himself as one of the top fighters outside of the UFC as he moved to 15-0 to reclaim his featherweight belt. Gafurov locked up a rear-naked choke submission on tough Mongolian veteran Jadamba Narantungalag that put him to sleep in the first round.
Results:
- Eduard Folayang def. Shinya Aoki (c) via TKO (Knees & Punches), Rd 3, 0:41 – One Championship lightweight title
- Marat Gafurov (c) def. Jadamba Narantungalag via Submission (Rear-Naked Choked), Rd 1, 4:50 – One Championship featherweight title
- Amir Khan def. Vaughn Donayre via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 3, 2:22
- Michelle Nicolini def. Mona Samir via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:44
- Roger Huerta def. Adrian Pang via Decision (Split)
- Kotetsu Nastyukhin def. Timofey Nastyukhin via TKO (Injury), Rd 1, 5:00
- Tiffany Teo def. Walaa Abbas via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2,
- Ahmed Mutjaba def. Benedict Ang via Decision (Unanimous)
- Nico Soe def. Muhamad Haidar via Submission (Armbar), Rd 1, 1:17
