On Friday, 3 November, rising Chinese bantamweight star Chen Lei made good on his pre-bout prediction at ONE: HERO’S DREAM in Yangon, Myanmar.
The athlete known as “Rock Man” told ONE Championship commentator Michael Schiavello that he would secure his third-straight win in the ONE cage via ground-and-pound.
Chen did just that, stopping the Philippines’ Burn “Hitman” Soriano via second-round TKO at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium.
A thrilling opening round saw the action go back and forth, as Chen dominated the grappling exchanges on the mat, scoring big with some heavy-handed ground strikes.
However, Soriano showed dangerous strikes of his own in the stand-up, and after being on the wrong end of Chen’s ground game for much of the round, came incredibly close to finishing the Chinese athlete with a tight armbar as the stanza came to a close.
That proved to be Soriano’s last-gasp effort, however, as the exertions of the opening frame left him exhausted for the second round.
With the Filipino looking unsteady on his feet, Chen saw his opportunity and took full advantage, taking Soriano to the mat and working his ground-and-pound on his fatigued opponent.
With Soriano barely able to fend off Chen’s strikes, “Rock Man” effortlessly transitioned to mount and unleashed a match-ending flurry of elbows that prompted referee Yuji Shimada to step in and call a stop to the contest.
The end came at the 1:06 mark of the second round, and extends Chen’s professional record to 7-0 as he continues to grow his fanbase in ONE.
