Luis Santos Registers The Fastest Victory In ONE Welterweight History
Former ONE Welterweight World Title challenger Luis “Sapo” Santos made a triumphant return to ONE Championship on Friday, 26 October, and he made a little bit of history, too.
He knocked out Japan’s Daichi Abe at ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS in emphatic fashion, and smashed the record for the fastest victory in the welterweight division in the process.
The Brazilian needed just 33 seconds to send Abe crumbling to the canvas with a series of accurate liver kicks in Yangon, Myanmar. He beat the previous record by 14 seconds.
From the opening bell in this mixed martial arts contest, it was clear fans were going to see vintage “Sapo,” as the southpaw unleashed his power without any feeling-out process.
A hard left kick to the body sent the first shockwave through the former Pancrase Welterweight Champion.
Sensing Abe’s reaction, Santos quickly focused his attention on delivering more of the same strikes. After a couple of feints to keep his rival guessing, the Brazilian found his target with two more kicks to the liver, the latter of which reverberated through the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium.
The Tokyo native went down after a briefly delayed reaction, which is typical of a crushing shin to the mid-section, and referee Olivier Coste stepped in quickly to call off the contest after 33 seconds of round one.
Santos’ experience allowed him to capitalize on a slight show of weakness from Abe, and with the knockout, he now has an unbelievable 65 victories in his professional mixed martial arts career, 37 of which have come by way of knockout.
In addition to holding the fastest win and knockout in the promotion’s welterweight division, the Brazilian also owns the third-fastest and sixth-fastest victories in the weight class.
