ONE: Revolution Results & Recap

ONE: Revolution Results & Recap

ONE Championship’s Revolution card is in the books. The stacked event aired live on September 24th (Singapore time), from the promotion’s home arena, the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The main event ended in controversy, not uncommon in ONE events, as South Korea’s Ok Rae Yoon (16-3) took a disputed decision win over ONE Lightweight Champion Christian Lee (15-4) in a thrilling, back-and-forth contest.

Ok survived a hard third round knockdown, as well as an early rear-naked choke submission attempt to finish the stronger against a tiring Lee, despite a last-minute flurry from the champion.

Under ONE Championship judging criteria, fights are scored over their entirety and not under the 10-point must system that Western audience are accustomed to. With that in mind, the 23-year-old now-former champion could make a strong case for having won the decision, as he appeared to have more success and pose more threats to finish the fight.

And make the case he did.

Post-fight, Lee called for a review of the decision, a move that is not uncommon in ONE Championship.

“I have a lot of respect for Ok Rae Yoon. He’s a warrior. He’s a very tough fighter,” Lee said. “But I won that fight. … Let’s bring it to the board. I want an instant rematch. That was bullsh*t. I won that fight. I know my skills. I believe in my skills. I think it deserves an instant rematch. Let’s bring it to the board. Make the decision to overturn it, or do whatever it takes to get a rematch.”

A rematch is the most likely scenario, and few fans would argue against it. For now though, it is a moot-point, as Ok Rae Yoon is the new ONE Lightweight Champion. Ok adds the scalp Christian Lee to his burgeoning resume, which already boasts wins over former ONE Featherweight Champion Marat Gafarov and former UFC Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez.

In the co-main event, Thai star Capitan Petchyindee Academy (145-40-2) was successful in the first defence of the ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing Title he captured with a vicious knockout of Russia’s Alaverdi Ramazanov in January. The 28-year-old took a unanimous decision over multiple time WBC Muay Thai World Champion Mehdi Zatout (77-40-1).

Zatout survived an early knockdown and gave Capitan plenty to think about in three close rounds, however the 38-year-old Frenchman appeared to tire in the championship rounds, as the champion took control and pulled away on the scorecards.

In the first world title bout on the card, ONE Strawweight Champion Joshua Pacio (20-3) defended his title, and rubber stamped his April 2019 win over challenger Yosuke Saruta (21-10-3) with an emphatic first round TKO. ‘The Passion’ is now 2-1 in the trilogy over the 34-year-old Japanese veteran.

South Korean contender Kim Jae Woong (12-4) also pulled an upset, stopping former two-weight champion Martin Nguyen (13-5) with a devastating flurry in the opening frame. ‘The Fighting God’ was in control from the outset, as his Sanford MMA trained Australian counterpart struggled to find his range. Kim was able to close the show at the 3:15 mark, dropping ‘The Situ-Asian’ with a right hand and following up with punches, however they were simply elementary as the referee waved the fight away.

Nguyen was looking to rebound from his featherweight title loss to Thanh Le back in October 2020, and will now have to climb the mountain again following his loss to number five ranked Kim.

Kim, for his part, motioned for a title shot after the fight and he certainly made a compelling case to at least be in the title conversation. Champion Le’s next title defence however, is already set as he takes on undefeated grappling superstar Gary Tonon in December.

Elsewhere on the card, Christian Lee’s younger sister Victoria (3-0) maintained the perfect start to her profession career, taking out previously undefeated Brazilian Victoria Souza (5-1). ‘The Prodigy’ made a typically shaky start, appearing a little over eager in the stand-up realm, before taking the fight to the floor where her grappling and unassuming strength was too much for Souza.

In the opening bout of the evening, long time Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson training partner James Yang (1-0) made good on his professional debut, dominating experienced Filipino Roel Rosauro (5-4) from the outset en-route to a second round TKO.

ONE: Revolution Main Card:

ONE Lightweight MMA World Title:

Ok Rae Yoon (South Korea) defeated Christian Lee (Singapore/United States) (C) by unanimous decision

ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Title:

Capitan Petchyindee Academy (Thailand) (C) defeated Mehdi Zatout (Algeria) by unanimous decision

ONE Strawweight MMA World Title:

Joshua Pacio (Philippines) (C) defeated Yosuke Saruta (Japan) by TKO (punches) Round 1 (3:38)

Featherweight MMA:

Kim Jae Woong (South Korea) defeated Martin Nguyen (Australia) by knockout (punches) Round 1 (3:15)

Heavyweight MMA:

Anatoly Malykhin (Russia) defeated Amir Aliakbari (Iran) by knockout (punch) Round 1 (2:57)

Women’s atomweight MMA:

Victoria Lee (Singapore/United States) defeated Victoria Souza (Brazil) by TKO (ground and pound) Round 2 (3:58)

Lead Card:

Strawweight MMA:

Lito Adiwang (Philippines) defeated Hexigetu Hexi (China) by unanimous decision

Flyweight Muay Thai:

Taiki Naito (Japan) defeated Petchdam Petchyindee Academy (Thailand) by split decision

Heavyweight MMA:

Marcus Almeida (Brazil) defeated Anderson Silva (Brazil) by submission (north-south choke) Round 1 (2:55)

Bantamweight kickboxing:

Petchtanong Petchfergus (Thailand) defeated Zhang Chenglong (China) by unanimous decision

Featherweight MMA:

James Yang (United States) defeated Roel Rosauro (Philippines) by TKO (ground and pound) Round 2 (2:00)