Viktoria Lipianska Piles On The Pressure To Win ONE Muay Thai Debut
Viktoria Lipianska was pushed all the way for three rounds against Amber “AK 47” Kitchen, but the Slovakian emerged victorious in a 58.5-kilogram catch weight Muay Thai battle at ONE: IMMORTAL TRIUMPH.
It was a fascinating and close encounter in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Friday, 6 September, but Lipianska’s forward pressure and potent boxing earned her a split decision.
Viktoria Lipianska kicks off her ONE Super Series career with a hard-fought split decision win over Amber Kitchen!📺: Check local listings for global broadcast details📱: Watch on the ONE Super App 👉 http://bit.ly/ONESuperApp🏷: Shop Official Merchandise 👉 http://bit.ly/ONECShop
Posted by ONE Championship on Friday, September 6, 2019
The match began at a furious pace inside the Phu Tho Indoor Stadium as both competitors looked to implement their game plans in the early running.
Kitchen doubled and tripled up with her round kicks and tried to keep her rival at bay with side kicks, while the T.F.C. Bratislava representative took aim with her powerful boxing.
A picture-perfect question mark kick landed clean for the Brit, and she followed it with a flurry of punches, but Lipianska was not deterred and stayed on the front foot to land hard straight rights to the body and head.
“AK 47” again opened up with a barrage of kicks in round two, but the 22-year-old from Bratislava returned the favor with her own thudding shots to the lead thigh.
Lipianska commandeered the ring and constantly put Kitchen on the back foot against the ropes. This opened up more opportunities to score with her hands – particularly her straight right and left hook.
The WMF Muay Thai World Champion was clearly more confident after a strong second stanza, and immediately went on the offensive when the final frame began.
Kitchen employed her push kicks to try to drive her opponent back, but Lipianska charged through the strikes to put leather on the 20-year-old.
The English athlete went down soon after the action restarted, but the referee judged her fall to have been the result of a trip. Still, the momentum was Lipianska’s, and though Kitchen came back well in the latter stages of round three with high kicks and a crunching right hand, it was not enough.
The bout went to the judges’ cards, and two scored it in favor of Lipianska to give her the split decision and improve her record to 24-14.
