ONE In The Media

He may have had his dreams dashed but like a true fighter, Agilan Thani isn’t planning on staying down, writes Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal

Myanmar Mixed Martial Arts (MMMA) champion Aung La N Sang will get another crack at the world middleweight title held by Russian Vitaly Bigdash – this time in front of his home crowd – on June 30 at the Thuwana Indoor Stadium in Yangon. It will be the second time the two will be meeting, the first being a closely contested affair last January which Aung La N Sang lost on points.

The meteoric rise of Angela Lee continued last Friday when she defeated Istela Nunes in her second title defence at ONE: Dynasty of Heroes. Lee dominated the fight from start to finish and showed great IQ by first negating the Brazilian’s stand up game and and then taking her down to the mat before finishing her with a slick anaconda choke. The win took Lee’s record to 8-0 as she continues to prove to the world that her ‘Unstoppable’ nickname is every bit warranted. And the young star insists she is not afraid of anyone, not even UFC queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

KUALA LUMPUR: Agilan Thani has reiterated that his defeat in the ONE Welterweight World Champ­ion­­ship fight was purely his own fault. “I worked so hard for the fight but I have no one to blame and I have nothing to blame, it is all my fault,” he said during a special recognition ceremony by MIC at party headquarters yesterday.

Although Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio already knew that he was on the verge of having his hand raised in triumph, the Filipino fighter was expecting a different result on the judges’ scorecards. Eustaquio, who edged out Thai rival Anatpong “Mak” Bunrad on the undercard of ONE: DYNASTY OF HEROES in Singapore on Friday, May 26 via split verdict, thought that he did enough to get a unanimous decision from the three officials at cageside.

It seems there is nothing stopping Angela Lee. ONE Championship’s undefeated atomweight champion, the youngest title holder in mixed martial arts history and now the face of the sport in Asia is enjoying the sort of inexorable rise that means she is quickly becoming impossible to ignore in the world of MMA.

SINGAPORE: She looked in the pink of health in recent Instagram pictures as she posed with a cake during ONE Championship’s post-event celebration dinner.
However, Atomweight champion Angela Lee was suffering in the lead-up to her title fight, as revealed by ONE Championship chief executive and chairman Chatri Sidyodtong in his Facebook post in the aftermath of Friday’s (May 26) ONE: Dynasty of Heroes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Angela Lee broke down. Overcome with emotion, she ran to her family and friends and bawled her eyes out. She had just submitted challenger Istela Nunes to defend her ONE Atomweight world championship for the second time, and she did it in front of a partisan Singaporean crowd that was cheering for her every step of the way.

SINGAPORE – While the identity of mixed martial arts (MMA) star Angela Lee’s third challenger remains unknown, the prospect of a blockbuster cross-promotion showdown between her and a fighter from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has not been ruled out.

Retaining her title has put fresh focus on the bull’s eye on Angela Lee’s back as the mixed martial arts star looks set for her third title challenge in six months. The 20-year-old One Championship atomweight world champion defeated Brazil’s Istela Nunes via a second-round submission last Friday and is expected to return to the cage later this year.

ONE Championship’s return home to Singapore on Friday, May 26 shaped up to be one of the organization’s most exciting cards for this year as fireworks erupted inside the 12,000-capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Mixed martial arts stars Angela Lee and Ben Askren were not the only winners to emerge from One Championship’s Dynasty of Heroes event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. One Championship, the homegrown MMA promoter, will also have reason to celebrate after pulling out all the stops to stage a stellar event that breathed life into a wet Friday evening.