Powerful Performance From Miao Li Tao Earns Victory Against Pongsiri Mitsatit
Strawweight powerhouse Miao Li Tao put his dominant wrestling and grappling game on show at the Mall Of Asia Arena to take a landslide decision victory against Pongsiri “The Smiling Assassin” Mitsatit.
The rising Chinese star captured the victory in a 57-kilogram catch weight contest at ONE: DAWN OF HEROES on Friday, 2 August in Manila, Philippines.
Both men started out looking to strike, but Miao was clearly just looking for an opportunity to take the action to the canvas. He did just that with a powerful double-leg takedown inside the first 30 seconds.
Once the action hit the ground, the Shaolin martial artist went to work and controlled the grappling exchanges with his smothering top game as he worked for a submission.
It was a pattern that ran throughout the contest as Miao swiftly took Mitsatit down in each of the three five-minute rounds, and then kept command of the contest on the mat.
Miao worked from almost every dominant position in the book across 15 minutes as he achieved mount, back control, and even a crucifix as he tried to break the Thai’s stubborn resistance from the bottom.
Despite the Chinese athlete’s complete dominance on the ground, Mitsatit simply would not give in, but he could not recover position to start his own offense.
The Chinese star continued his grappling superiority in the second stanza as he took the Thai to the mat, held him down, and peppered him with strikes while he hunted for a submission once again.
He came close to getting the tap in the closing seconds of the round when he locked up a tight rear-naked choke, but the Tiger Muay Thai representative showed true grit as he refused to concede defeat and made it to the bell to take the contest into the third and final round.
After the final restart, Mitsatit survived another rear-naked choke as Miao piled on the pressure in search of a late stoppage, but the Thai’s steadfast refusal to quit under duress forced the bout all the way to the judges’ scorecards.
The result was a formality, as Miao was awarded the victory to claim the 12th win of his career.
The My MMA Academy product is now 3-0 in The Home Of Martial Arts, and his claim to compete for the ONE Strawweight World Title is getting stronger.
