Astonishing Stoppages Give ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD Perfect Start

A legendary night in Manila, Philippines, started out right. On Friday, 10 November, ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD was kicked off by four spectacular stoppage victories, all of which sent the crowd at the Mall Of Asia Arena into a frenzy.

Here is a recap of all the amazing action from the preliminary portion of ONE: LEGENDS OF THE WORLD.

Gina Iniong Stops Priscilla Lumbangaol With Blistering Ground Attack

The Philippines’ Gina “Conviction” Iniong is emerging as a legitimate contender for the ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship. In the final bout of the preliminary card, Team Lakay’s woman warrior used a calculated and fundamentally sound game plan to defeat Indonesia’s Priscilla “Thathie” Lumbangaol.

Most of the atomweight affair played out in the clinch, as Iniong pressed the Indonesia national sanda champion against the cage fence and delivered short knees to the legs. Gaol retaliated with sharp knees to the body, but went for a ride as the Filipina tripped her to the ground. It was short-lived, however, as the bout returned to the feet, and then the clinch position.

Aside from a couple of stiff crosses, the clinch battle was resumed in the second round, but Iniong brought her Indonesian foe to the canvas yet again. This time, the match stayed and ended there.

The Filipina wound up in side control, trapped her opponent’s arm with a crucifix mount, and kept punching a defenseless Lumbangaol until referee Olivier Coste was forced to stop the bout at the 2:12 mark of round two.

It was Iniong’s second victory in ONE, which follows her calculated victory over Natalie Gonzales Hills this past April. “Conviction” now rocks a 6-2 professional record to go with her perfect 14-0 wushu tally.

Joshua Pacio Scores Sensational Spinning Back Fist KO

It was an all-Filipino strawweight battle between two highly-regarded former world title challengers, but Joshua “The Passion” Pacio pulled away with a show-stealing leg kick and spinning back fist knockout combination.

The 21-year-old Team Lakay standout opened up the first round with a plethora of heavy kicks to fellow countryman Roy “The Dominator” Doliguez, but soon brought the match to the ground.

Although Pacio fell into the full mount, Doliguez powerfully swept him. “The Passion” remained active in the bottom position by securing a guillotine choke, but his opponent’s desperate attempts to break free led to an accidental eye poke, which earned “The Dominator” a yellow card.

Following a brief timeout, the match was restarted from the same position. “The Passion” used the threat of a kimura to sweep his opponent, landed back into full mount, and spent the last 30 seconds of the stanza dropping punches and elbows in dominant fashion.

The Team Lakay warrior’s ground assault may not have given him the immediate victory, but the end was most certainly near.

Just 38 seconds into the second frame, Pacio completely fooled his rival. He connected with a low kick to the knee, and then immediately knocked out “The Dominator” with one of Team Lakay’s trademark spinning back fists.

“The Passion” bounces back from his August loss to world title contender Hayato Suzuki with a favorable showing, and advances his record to 10-2. 

Xie Chao Extends First-Round Winning Streak

Two months following a successful promotional debut, Xie Chao earned another first-round stoppage victory.

The Harbin, China-based martial artist felt comfortable exchanging strikes with Malaysia’s Kelvin “Ice Man” Ong in the opening seconds of their featherweight clash, but saw an opportunity to grab the clinch and tore into his opponent with a fierce knee.

That was the beginning of the end, as the knee strike sent Ong reeling backwards. Xie swarmed, brought him to the ground, and trapped the Malaysian in side control. From there, the Chinese warrior softened him up with some more knee strikes, all while working for a kimura.

Referee Kemp Cheng called for a break in the action and brought the doctor into the cage to examine a cut above Ong’s eye. The doctor ultimately decided the warrior could not continue, understandably placing an emphasis on athlete safety.

Xie got the victory at the 1:48 mark of round one due to TKO by doctor’s stoppage, and pushes his record to 4-1. 

Peng Xue Wen Knocks Phat Soda Out With Incredible Suplex

Peng Xue Wen made a thunderous promotional debut that no one will soon forget.

The Chinese Youth Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion heavily utilized his grappling against Cambodia’s Phat Soda, as he brought him down nearly 20 seconds into the opening stanza and strategically advanced his positioning to the full mount.

Soda, a kun khmer specialist, maintained his cool and reversed the position with a bridging sweep, yet was unable to take much advantage of a dominant position.

That would quickly prove to be his undoing. Peng used his world-class grappling to escape, and after a brief scramble on the feet, the Chinese strawweight got behind his foe, grabbed him by the waist, and delivered a massive belly-to-back suplex that knocked out Soda instantly.

Peng got a perfect debut in ONE Championship, as well as his first highlight reel moment, at the 2:17 mark of the opening stanza. He moves his record to 3-1.