Niko Soe Ruins Wrestling Champion Eko Roni Saputra’s Debut

After nearly two and a half years away from ONE Championship, Niko Soe made a thunderous return on Friday, 12 April.

The Singaporean displayed a masterful counter-striking attack to spoil Eko Roni Saputra’s mixed martial arts debut at ONE: ROOTS OF HONOR.

In front of a capacity crowd at the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, Soe defeated the multiple-time Indonesian national wrestling champion via TKO in the first round of their flyweight match-up.

While it was his mixed martial arts debut, Saputra looked comfortable in the opening round. He immediately set the tone with a series of huge overhand rights, and then swooped inside to hit a massive takedown.

Despite the Indonesian’s best efforts to keep the action on the canvas, Soe was able to weather the storm and work his way back up to his feet.

Once the flyweights were standing, Saputra got a little wild with his striking combinations. The 27-year-old Evolve representative plowed forward and threw a series of powerful punches.

Soe, who trains out of Impact MMA, returned fire with some very accurate counterstrikes, including a heavy elbow that blasted the Indonesian grappler across the forehead.

Following that devastating elbow strike, the referee called for an injury timeout and brought in a doctor to inspect a cut on Saputra’s head.

Unfortunately, the damage was too severe, and in the interest of athlete safety, the doctor would not let the Indonesian continue with the flyweight bout.

The referee officially stopped the contest at the 3:03 mark of round one, and awarded Soe with the TKO victory.

It was a tremendous win for the 26-year-old, as he defeated a highly touted athlete with a storied career in the Indonesian wrestling scene.

This victory moved the Singaporean’s professional record to 4-1 and now, he finds himself on a three-bout win streak.