With another event held at the iconic Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok Thailand, One Fight Night 15 served as another electrifying addition under the One Championship banner.
With its unique mix of Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA, and submission grappling matchups, the Singapore-based promotion managed to pull things together despite the absence of the highly anticipated matchup between kickboxing and Muay Thai phenoms Superbon and Tawanchai.
Although Superbon was injured, the event was saved by not only the interim featherweight title fight between former champion Thanh Le and rising prospect Ilya Freymanov, but also the kickboxing clash between Tawanchai and his new opponent Smokin’ Jo Nattawut.
Nevertheless, there were other events that delivered as well, most notably the submission grappling open weight bout between phenom Mikey Musumeci and legend Shinya Aoki. With that being said, let’s count down the Top 3 Finishes from One Fight Night 15!
3. Zhang Lipeng vs. Timofey Nastyukhin
Our first entry into this countdown is the MMA lightweight clash between Zhang Lipeng and Timofey Nastyukhin.
With a record of 33-12-2, Zhang was a UFC veteran who earned his spot in the UFC by winning The Ultimate Fighter: China Welterweight Tournament. To top off his accolades, he made and won his One Championship debut against former lightweight champion Eduard Folayang.
On the other hand, Nastyukhin had a record of 14-7 and was a former One Championship lightweight title challenger. Among his 14 wins are the one against Rob Lisita, which is currently the fastest knockout in One history at just 6 seconds, as well as the knockout of former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez. Such impressive resumes on both sides made this matchup a must-watch!
The fight began with Nastyukhin landing a jab in the first 5 seconds of the bout. Nastyukhin was the one pressing forward, and at 0:47, the Russian scored a takedown. Nonetheless, Zhang scrambled back on his feet at 1:13.
With both men standing and exchanging kicks, Zhang landed a massive right hand at 2:35 that hurt Nastyukhin. The Russian tried answering with punches of his own, but Zhang kept getting the better of him, as Nastyukhin was still wobbling.
At 3:13, Zhang hurt Nastyukhin with another right hand. He followed with a barrage of punches to knock down his Russian foe at 3:17, and continued his onslaught with ground and pound until the referee stopped the fight at 3:18 of round 1.
With another big statement made, Zhang earned his second Performance of the Night bonus!
2. Mikey Musumeci vs. Shinya Aoki
Next up we have the open weight submission grappling match between grappling prodigy and phenom Mikey Musumeci and legend as well as former One Championship lightweight champion Shinya Aoki.
Boasting a grappling record of 21-3 at the time, Musumeci is the current One flyweight submission grappling champion.
He was a multiple-time IBJJF world champion and holds notable wins over legend Masakazu Imanari as well as current One strawweight champion Jarred Brooks. Having fought in both grappling and MMA, Aoki was 47-11 in MMA and 12-6-1 in grappling at the time.
At 0:10, Musumeci went on his back to bait Aoki into his guard, and by 1:37, he grabbed onto Aoki’s right leg to prepare for a heel hook.
At the 3 minute mark, Musumeci secured Aoki’s ankle to submit Aoki 5 seconds later with the legend’s very own move, the Aoki-style heel hook.
Expressing gratitude to his opponent, Musumeci earned another Performance of the Night bonus.
1. Thanh Le vs. Ilya Freymanov
For our number 1 spot, we have the main event, the interim featherweight title fight between former One featherweight champion Thanh Le and rising prospect Ilya Freymanov.
With a record of 13-3 at the time, Thanh Le boasts a 100% KO rate. Freymanov, on the other hand, was coming in at 12-2. He made a statement One debut against former featherweight and lightweight champion Martin Nguyen, winning by first round KO.
At 0:32, Thanh Le landing a punching combination caused the Russian to shell up and score a takedown at 0:35. Thankfully, Thanh Le’s training with BJJ wizard Ryan Hall paid off, as Thanh Le managed to scramble his way around for a heel hook submission finish in 62 seconds.
This not only kept Thanh Le’s 100% finish rate intact, but it was also the striker’s first ever submission finish, earning Le a Performance of the Night bonus, in addition to the interim featherweight title.
