The main event at ONE: THRONE OF TIGERS was an absolute war, but the hometown hero, Ev “E.T.” Ting, narrowly pulled away with a razor-thin split decision victory over “The Prince Of Persia” Kamal Shalorus.

It was a back-and-forth stand-up war, where Ting was able to successfully throw the Iranian Wrestling Champion off his game with a fundamentally-sound approach.

“I knew I needed to fake a lot to put him off the takedown, but Kamal is tough. I hit him with a lot of shots, but he kept moving forward,” Ting told commentator Mitch Chilson in front of a sold-out crowd at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur.

The first round was a stand-up battle, and that foreshadowed what was to come.

Ting, a product of Auckland MMA, was methodical with his strikes. He kept switching between the southpaw and orthodox stances, cleverly mixing between punching combinations and powerful leg kicks, which bruised the lead leg of Shalorus.

However, “The Prince Of Persia” threw heavy punches with bad intentions, connecting with a number of hard jab-cross combos, as well as looping left hooks. There were a few instances where the Malaysian hero went for the takedown, but the master grappler shrugged him off and opted to keep the match on the feet.

More of this followed in the second stanza, with Ting’s unpredictable striking style taking precedence. “E.T.” spiced up his attack, kicking the body, the head, and further mincing up his opponent’s left leg. He even landed a flying knee, but Shalorus shook it off.

The Iranian, however, experimented less. Instead, he stuck to his strategy of throwing heavily, and throwing often. At a few points, he stopped the Malaysian’s attack with a stiff punch, causing him to re-think his game plan.

By the time the third round began, everything had heated up. Shalorus led with aggressive punching and some of the meanest leg kicks in the fight. That only infuriated Ting, who turned it up a few notches and retaliated with some kicks of his own. The Iranian finally went for a takedown, his first and only of the contest. He eventually clinched “E.T.” against the cage and took his back, but it led to nowhere as Ting broke free.

Fatigue began to set in and, despite the hard one-twos from Shalorus, Ting remained more active. He also briefly stunned the Iranian Wrestling Champion with less than a minute remaining, and got the better of the exchanges at the very end.

Though it was close, Ting pulled away with the victory. Now, he has his eyes set on the ONE Lightweight World Champion.

“Eduard Folayang, you already know I am coming to your house and taking your belt,” he stated.

Whether or not the officials at ONE Championship grant him the upcoming title shot against Folayang at the organization’s April show in Manila remains to be seen. 

Nonetheless, Ting stated his case, picking up the win over a former number one contender. The 27-year-old improves his record to 13-3. He currently rides a four-fight win streak, and has won seven of his last eight fights. Shalorus takes the defeat hard, falling to 9-5-2 and stares at a two-fight skid.

In one of the most eagerly anticipated bouts at ONE: THRONE OF TIGERS, Agilan “Alligator” Thani was looking for a decisive win in front of his hometown fans in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

He delivered just that by dispatching AKA Thailand fighter Jeff “The Machine” Huang with a second-round rear-naked choke after dominating throughout the bout.

The opening stanza had a tentative start. It looked like Huang would try to dictate the distance by flicking out jabs and kicks to employ his reach advantage. However, Thani closed the distance by literally jumping inside his opponent’s range, and from there it was all dominance from the local favorite.

‘The Alligator’ lived up to his moniker with a smothering clinch and ground attack that was always one step ahead of his foe’s. To Huang’s credit, he was always trying to escape and create space. But every time he tried, Thani used this to advance his position and attack, enjoying significant periods in the mount and on the back of the Chinese Taipei veteran.

With the stage set from round one, Thani again wasted no time in closing the distance in the second stanza, diverting Huang’s striking aggression and pressing him to the fence before dragging him to the mat once more.

This time, Huang’s durability wasn’t enough to keep him in the fight. Thani pre-empted his every move, and allowed ‘The Machine’ to try an escape before shutting it off by taking back control.

With two hooks in and punches loosening up the defenses of his opponent, Thani sunk in a rear-naked choke and applied the squeeze to get the finish at 2:26 of the second round.

Adding another victory to his resume, Thani remains undefeated at 7-0, and looks better with every outing. His sights are set on the welterweight title, as he pleaded to the ONE CHAMPIONSHIP matchmakers, saying: “Give me a chance. I will fight anybody. You call me, and I will do it.”

After another excellent performance with huge support in his native Malaysia, his case for title contention has taken a huge boost. 

Huang drops to 6-3 following the loss, his first under the ONE CHAMPIONSHIP banner.

Malaysian MMA star Ann Osman got back on the winning track on Friday in Kuala Lumpur at ONE: THRONE OF TIGERS, registering a dominant first-round TKO of Vy Srey Khouch. 

The strawweight brought the crowd to its feet with a takedown off a Vy Srey kick, and immediately rained punches down from side mount.

Vy Srey punched back, but was not able to mount any type of escape from the position as Osman battered her with punches, elbows, and knees. 

With 30 seconds left in the round, Osman transitioned to the full mount, posted with her right hand on her opponent, and thundered punishment onto the Cambodian’s face until the referee finally stopped the contest.

The end came at 4:58 of the first round. 

“I knew she was going to throw a kick and I was going to throw her to the ground and that’s what I did,” said Osman in her post-fight interview in the cage.

Osman’s record improves to 5-3 with the victory. Vy Srey suffers her first professional MMA defeat, and her young career mark dips to 2-1.

In a battle of undefeated featherweights, Movlid “Killer” Khaibulaev kept his flawless record intact on Friday Night, 10 February, as he outclassed Herbert “The Blaze” Burns in his ONE Championship debut.

The Moscow, Russia, native earned a dominant unanimous decision victory at ONE: THRONE OF TIGERS, which took place in the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Despite a tightly-contested first round, Khaibulaev dominated this match. The opening stanza started in thrilling fashion, as the Russian caught Burns’ leg and dropped him with a stiff right cross. “The Blaze” got back up, but the two grappled against the cage with Khaibulaev, a former Dagestan Wrestling Champion, securing the takedown.

Burns, a No-Gi BJJ World Champion, attempted a few submissions including a leg lock and a gogoplata, but “Killer” was able to avoid the attempts and jumped into his opponent’s guard. The Brazilian successfully neutralized his opponent’s movement and tried working in a few more holds, but inactivity caused a stand-up in the action. Khaibulaev got the better of the striking exchanges, and landed another strong right before the round concluded.

From there, it was all “Killer”. Burns threw a few jab-cross combinations, but Khaibulaev had the better and more diversified striking. He connected with crosses, kicks, and powerful hooks. The Moscow, Russia, native even landed a spinning back fist, and then immediately took his rival down with relative ease. But soon, he stood back up, preferring to keep the match on the feet.

Khaibulaev continued to pick apart the Brazilian, who tried falling into guard on a couple of occasions. But the Russian featherweight allowed Burns to get up, where he kept outclassing him in the striking department.

Burns came out more aggressively in the third round, even landing a sharp cross of his own, but Killer controlled the action the entire time. Khaibulaev shook off the Brazilian’s early takedown attempt, threw him to the ground, and softened his nemesis with a variety of knees and elbows to the ribs and the side of the head. He even slid into a high full mount.

Although the No-Gi BJJ World Champion postured up, escaped, and grabbed a leg for a possible heel hook, the Russian maintained his composure. In fact, he slipped away and regained side control. He continued to control his opponent, landed more strikes, and remained dominant until the final bell rang.

With the win, Khaibulaev, who trains alongside ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat Gafurov, pushes his spotless record to 11-0. Burns, meanwhile, experiences his lone blemish and drops to 6-1.

Two of Asia’s most promising young talents went head-to-head Friday night, as Malaysia’s Keanu Subba took on Pakistani grappler Ahmed “The Wolverine” Mujtaba in an exciting clash of two featherweight hopefuls.

The pair threw down on the main card of ONE: THRONE OF TIGERS on 10 February at a packed Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur.

Although Subba and Mujtaba entered the bout on equal footing, it was the Malaysian fighter who showcased a much more solid and complete skill set, impressing with takedowns and great defensive technique.

Mujtaba, feared for his tremendous grappling prowess, experienced difficulty in dealing with Subba’s strength, as the Malaysian transitioned from position to position seemingly with ease. Both fighters started out aggressively, but it was Subba who was able to showcase much better control as Mujtaba appeared out of his element.

Barely three minutes into the first round, Subba was able to latch on to a deep guillotine choke that forced Mujtaba to tap out. The end came officially at 2:56 of the first round, with Subba winning by highlight-reel submission.

With the victory, Subba improved his record to 5-2 while Mujtaba dropped to 6-1. The young Malaysian has now won two in a row, and will look for bigger opportunities in his next bout.

“I want to dedicate this fight to my good friend and training partner Casey Suire, this one is for you brother,” Subba said in the post-fight interview.

ONE Championship bantamweight Casey Suire, who trained alongside Subba in Bali, had perished in a freak motorcycle accident earlier in the week.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Alex Silva scored his fourth-straight submission victory on Friday in Kuala Lumpur at ONE: THRONE OF TIGERS. The Brazilian strawweight battled game Filipino Roy Doliguez for two and a half rounds before securing a fight-ending armbar submission.

The end came at 2:36 of the third and final round, prompting Silva to pop up to his feet and gesture that he wants a shot at ONE: Championship gold next.

In the first round, Silva stormed in and scored a single-leg-takedown against the fence. Doliguez briefly reversed positions before being returned to his own back.

Doliguez held onto his full guard as Silva stood inside it and rained blows. The Filipino held tough and maintained an active full guard whenever he could break Silva’s posture, and used his own strikes off his back as well. With under 30 seconds left in the round, Silva passed the guard and secured the mount, but was soon reversed and ended the round on his back.

A minute and a half into the second round, Silva scored another takedown after Doliguez missed with a big uppercut punch attempt, and took the side mount. From there, Silva repeatedly worked to the I-Position looking for a choke, but Doliguez defended well and composed his guard.

Doliguez scored with his own strikes while using his guard and attempted his own submission before scrambling up to his feet. Silva doggedly pressed for inside position once more, however, pushing Doliguez to the cage and landing another takedown with just over a minute in the round left. Once on top, Silva peppered Doligez with strikes until the bell.

Doliguez started the third and final round hard, landing an overhand punch to the head and successfully defended a takedown attempt. Undeterred, Silva immediately shot in again and scored a takedown once Doliguez had run out of sprawling room against the fence.

Silva patiently changed lanes inside of Doliguez’ half guard, slicing through and taking the full mount with about three minutes left on the clock. Doliguez got to work on an escape attempt, trying to swing his legs from underneath Silva to topple him and come out the back door.

Doliguez left his arms extended as he did, however, and Silva snatched one, went face-down, then rolled to his back and secured the fight-ending armbar. The loss is Doliguez’ third-straight and dips his record to 6-4. Silva’s win moves him to 5-1 overall.