ONE Championship 55 results: Angela Lee, Ben Askren submit way to easy title defences
20-year-old sensation Angela Lee added another impressive victory to her resume today when she submitted Istela Nunes to defend her women’s atomweight title in the “ONE Championship 55: Dynasty of Heroes” headliner.
Lee (8-0) threw a number of submission attempts in Nunes’ direction during the online pay-per-view bout at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. It wasn’t until the second round that she found the anaconda choke to force Nunes (5-1) to tap out to give “Unstoppable” her second consecutive title defense.
“The Anaconda is one of my favorite moves,” Lee said in her post-fight interview. “I was really, really happy to finish with that submission.”
The fight started with a feeling out process on the feet. Eventually Lee closed the distance, though, and used a throw from the head-lock position to put Nunes on the mat. Lee’s grappling expertise immediately went to work, because she put Nunes in position to finish the fight with the rare twister submission. Nunes showed her toughness in defending, though, and survived until the second round.
The champion picked up where she left off in the second frame. She grounded Nunes on the canvas once again, but this time Lee wasn’t going to let the stoppage elude her. She locked in the anaconda choke and squeezed until Nunes was left with no option but to submit at the 2:18 mark of Round 2.
With the win Lee pushed her winning streak to open her career to eight, including seven stoppages. Nunes, meanwhile, suffered her first defeat as a professional.
Askren manhandles Thani to defend title
More than 13 months after he last competed, ONE Championship welterweight titleholder Ben Askren (16-0) finally returned to action against Agilan Thani (7-1). He picked up right where he left off, earning a first-round submission win to stay unbeaten and defend his belt for the third time.
Askren did what he does best in the championship contest. He charged toward Thani at the opening bell and immediately put the challenger on his back foot. Askren pursued the takedown until he planted Thani on his back less than a minute into the opening round, and from there, the outcome was inevitable.
Although Thani escaped the crucifix position on the ground and actually got back up to his feet, it was all for nought, because Askren once again grounded him and locked in an arm-triangle choke. The 21-year-old challenger fought valiantly to survive the submission, but ultimately it was too tight and he tapped out at the 2:20 mark of Round 1.
“I don’t like trying to fight my friends, so I tried to make him an enemy for a little while,” Askren said of Thani during his post-fight interview. “This is not the last time we’re going to see him in here and if he continues, he’ll be great one day.”
After the career-long layoff, Askren is eager to have an active year and is targeting a return to action on Aug. 18. He clearly has major goals in mind, because Askren used the platform of his victory over Thani to call out ONE Championship middleweight titleholder Vitaly Bigdash to a late-summer showdown.
“We got this guy, Vitaly Bigdash. He agreed to fight me, then he decided it was a bad idea and he didn’t want to do that anymore,” Askren said. “Bigdash, he ran around like a chicken. So here’s the deal: Bigdash, I need a dance partner on Aug 18.”
Kadestam knocks out Santos with brutal grounded knees
While the UFC is consistently running into issues involving the legality of grounded knees to the head, Zebaztian Kadestam (9-5) took full advantage of ONE Championship’s open ruleset when he violently knocked out Luis Santos(63-10-1) with grounded knee strikes.
After being neutralized and smothered by Santos in the clinch and on the ground for more than two rounds, Kadestam desperately needed a stoppage in order to save himself from a defeat against the former welterweight title challenger.
That’s when Kadestam pulled off the unthinkable. In the third round the Swiss fighter got top position on Santos and established the crucifix position. After throwing a few short punches and elbows, Kadestam changed pace and rattled off a series of knees which landed clean to Santos’ head.
Santos went completely unconscious from the blows, forcing the referee to halt the action at the 2:18 mark of Round 3 to complete Kadestam’s shocking and violent comeback win.
Tonon taps Aoki, hints at MMA move
The first grappling super-match in ONE Championship history saw standouts Garry Tonon and Shinya Aoki work for positions and submissions for nearly eight minutes before someone was finally caught in a fight-ending hold.
It was Tonon who got his hand raised, because after fending off Aoki’s positional control in the rare grappling environment of a cage, he eventually found his into position to secure one of his patented heel hooks.
Tonon is famous in the jiu-jitsu world for his leg submissions, and once Aoki was caught in the maneuver, he had no choice but to tap out to the heel hook at the 7:47 mark of the scheduled 15-minute match.
After his victory the idea of a rematch under MMA rules was proposed. Tonon said jumping into a fight against a former ONE Championship lightweight titleholder like Aoki would not be the best move, but confirmed MMA is very much in his future: “Definitely where this train is headed next.”
Complete ONE Championship 55 results include:
- Champ Angela Lee def Istela Nunes via submission (Anaconda choke) – Round 2, 2:18 – to defend atomweight title
- Champ Ben Askren def. Agilan Thani via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:20 – to defend welterweight title
- Zebaztian Kadestam def. Luis Santos via knockout (knees to the head on the ground) – Round 3, 2:18
- Garry Tonon vs. Shinya Aoki via submission (heel hook) – Round 1, 7:47 – grappling super-match
- Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke def. Adrian Matheis via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:26
- Geje Eustaquio def. Anatpong Bunrad via split decision
- Amir Khan def. Rajinder Singh Meena via submission (punches) – Round 1, 1:29
Preliminary card (Unaired)
- Tiffany Teo def. Rebecca Heintzman-Rozewski via unanimous decision
- Rika Ishige def. Nita Dea via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:39
- Lei Chen def. Jeremy Meciaz via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:56
For more on ONE Championship 55, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
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