Kirill Grishenko Wins Epic Battle Of Undefeated Heavyweights
Undefeated heavyweights Kirill Grishenko and Dustin Joynson threw hard leather for three rounds in an epic mixed martial arts battle that went right down to the wire.
After 15 fiercely contested minutes, it was Grishenko who walked away with a unanimous decision win at ONE: NEXTGEN in Singapore on Friday, 29 October, and inserted himself into the ONE Heavyweight World Title mix.
The first engagement of the contest came when the Belarusian moved forward and took hold of his foe with an upper-body clinch. The Greco-Roman wrestling standout pushed Joynson to the Circle Wall and didn’t give his man an inch for the rest of the opening stanza.
He punished the Canadian with punches and elbows from side control, and even when Joynson managed to recover half guard, the Belarusian continued to control the action on the mat.
The British Columbia native tried to tie Grishenko up and look for ways to escape, but his opponent was a step ahead in every exchange – even coming close to a rear-naked choke finish late in the round.
At the start of round two, Joynson came forward and tried to apply himself with strikes. But the first significant shot of the frame came from Grishenko, who countered a sloppy low kick with a thudding right hand that snapped his rival’s head back.
Buoyed by his success, the Minsk native opened up the taps on Joynson, landing two spinning backfists and then a spinning back elbow when he pushed the Canadian into the Circle Wall.
Grishenko broke off and punished his foe with a heavy barrage of punches, but Joynson’s toughness kept him in the contest, and the Belarusian began to slow down after his bursts of aggression.
Joynson’s corner urged him to go for broke in the final stanza. He listened and came out firing hard punches, pushing Grishenko back with hooks and uppercuts.
However, the wrestler wasn’t ready to give in and scored with a hard straight right as the Canadian poured on the pressure. Grishenko tried to keep his man at bay with his jab, but the fresher Joynson maintained the pressure.
Despite the swing in momentum, the Belarusian managed to push his foe to the Circle Wall again and scored with another crunching spinning back elbow just before the final bell.
Joynson’s third-round resurgence wasn’t enough to overcome Grishenko’s early dominance.
The undefeated Belarusian earned the unanimous decision victory, pushing his record to 5-0 and marking him out as a rising star in ONE’s growing heavyweight ranks.
Read more: ONE: NEXTGEN – Live Results And Highlights For Every Fight
