Lowen Tynanes Wins Grand Prix Quarter-Final With First-Round TKO
Almost three years on the shelf did not slow down Lowen Tynanes one bit as he kicked off the ONE World Lightweight Grand Prix in style.
On Friday, 25 January, the undefeated American dominated former ONE Featherweight World Champion Honorio “The Rock” Banario at ONE: HERO’S ASCENT to punch his ticket to the tournament semi-finals.
A lingering back injury has kept Tynanes sidelined since April 2016, but he made up for lost time inside the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
The 28-year old contender wasted no time bringing the action into his world by planting Banario on the ground with his first takedown – just 90 seconds into the opening round.
Tynanes, a former state champion wrestler from Hawaii, held suffocating control from top position while he rained down short punches and elbows. In the midst of each shot landing, he was systematically breaking down Banario’s defense so he could advance to a better position.
The American slipped into side control, and then he trapped one of Banario’s arms in the crucifix position before he unleashed a series of rapid-fire elbows at the Team Lakay veteran.
Just when it looked like the referee Yuji Shimada might stop the contest, Banario exploded out of the position and nearly made it back to his feet.
Unfortunately for him, Tynanes maintained control and dragged “The Rock” back down to the ground. Almost immediately, he re-established that same crucifix position.
With the arm trapped again, Tynanes was relentless with his ground and pound, which then forced Banario to make an ill-fated escape attempt. This time, the American pounced on the opening to take his rival’s back, lock his hooks in, and flatten out the veteran competitor from the Philippines.
Tynanes dropped down a series of punches like hammers, and Shimada finally saw enough to stop the bout at the 4:46 mark of the opening round.
The victory improved the American’s record to 10-0, but more importantly, it put him into the next round of the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix.
He will face the winner of the upcoming match between Eddie Alvarez and Timofey Nastyukhin, which will take place on 31 March at ONE: A NEW ERA in Tokyo, Japan.
“I’m very excited, guys, but this is just the beginning. I’m so happy to be back,” Tynanes said following his win.
“I saw the bracket. Honestly, you guys are going to lose your poster boy. I’m going to take out whoever’s next.”
