Masunyane Scores Stunning 37-Second Head Kick KO Of Catalan

Bokang “Little Giant” Masunyane certainly brought the “bang” to ONE: BIG BANG. 

Masunyane, who proclaimed himself “The New African King” leading to the bout, backed up his talk with a 37-second head kick knockout of #3-ranked strawweight contender Rene “The Challenger” Catalan at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, 4 December.

Catalan started the match aggressively, throwing a stiff leg kick followed by a left hook, while Masunyane responded with a head kick that missed the target. 

“The Challenger” then switched gears and shot for a takedown, which the South African phenom easily stuffed. As Catalan continued to pursue a takedown, “Little Giant” tagged him with a knee to the body, prompting the Filipino to move back. 

But as Catalan tried to move out of harm’s way, Masunyane popped him with a perfectly placed head kick, which saw his shin land flat on the Filipino’s jaw. “The Challenger” crumpled to the canvas, and the referee immediately waved off the match.

Masunyane’s 37-second win was the second-fastest victory in strawweight history, just behind Adrian “Papua Badboy” Mattheis’ 22-second KO of Rustam Hutajulu back in 2016. 

By beating Catalan, the undefeated South African pushed his record to 8-0 and made his case to enter the strawweight division’s top-five rankings.

In fact, Masunyane is already putting reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio in his crosshairs.

“I’m the best in my division. I’d like to challenge the champion,” Masunyane said. “If the champion is not ready, I can fight the number one or number two [contender]. Give me a title shot.”

Read more: ONE: BIG BANG – Full Results And Highlights For Grigorian Vs. Kondratev