Jae Woong Kim bounced back from the first defeat of his ONE Championship career in style. The Korean stopped seasoned veteran Tetsuya Yamada in the second round at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

There were three MMA fights on the card at ONE: Big Bang II, which was broadcast on Friday. Featherweights Yamada and Kim were both looking to bounce back from defeats, but it was the Korean who seized the initiative.

He came out looking to land the right hand as Yamada tried to circle out and score with low kicks. The Japanese southpaw tried to secure a body lock as Kim narrowly missed with a spinning back fist on the break.

Yamada wanted to get the fight down, but it was Kim who ended up in top position. He postured up and threw down punches and hammer fists, opening a cut above the Japanese fighter’s right eye.

The Tiger Muay Thai representative eventually escaped and got back to his feet only to try and lock in a standing guillotine. Yamada got the fight to the floor and tried to transition to an armbar, but Kim escaped and the referee paused the action to allow the doctor to inspect the cut.

Yamada jumped guard at the start of the second and ended up on his back with Kim kicking his legs. The referee allowed him to get back up, but the Korean executed a trip and landed in top position where he threw down punches from inside his opponent’s guard.

Kim got back to his feet and the referee allowed Yamada to return to a standing position, briefly pausing the action to allow him to adjust his cup. The Korean immediately produced a text book trip and unleashed a barrage of ground and pound to finish the fight.

The end came at the 4:39 mark and the Korean was immediately overcome with emotion. He improves to 11-4, while Yamada drops to 26-8-2.

Earlier in the night, Tyler McGuire (12-2) comprehensively outwrestled Agilan Thani (10-5) to earn a unanimous decision win in a battle between former welterweight contenders. Meanwhile, Chen Rui (9-1) needed just 1:56 to knock out Ali Motamed (7-5) in their bantamweight battle.

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ONE: Big Bang II results

• Muay Thai: Jonathan Haggerty def. Taiki Naito via Decision (Unanimous)  
• Kickboxing: Nieky Holzken def. Elliot Compton via KO (Liver Shot) at 1:36 of R1 
• Kim Jae Woong def. Tetsuya Yamada via TKO (Punches) at 4:39 of R2 
• Kickboxing: Rade Opacic def. Errol Zimmerman via TKO (Spinning Heel Kick) at 1:35 of R2
• Tyler McGuire def. Agilan Thani via Decision (Unanimous)
• Chen Rui def. Ali Motamed via TKO (Punches) at 1:56 of R1

Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/jae-woong-kim-stops-tetsuya-yamada-at-one-big-bang-ii

All the pre-fight activities are in the books for UFC 256 following Friday’s official weigh-in and fighter faceoff.

Everyone made weight for Saturday’s card, which takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+. That includes headliners Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and Brandon Moreno (18-5-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC), who meet for the flyweight belt.

At the conclusion of weigh-ins, the athletes from all 10 bouts on the card came face-to-face for a final staredown. There was a mix of high intensity and friendliness across the board.

Check out the faceoff highlights in the video above, and a photo gallery from all of Friday’s happenings below.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/ufc-256-official-weigh-in-highlights-faceoffs-and-photo-gallery

The final Bellator event of 2020 went down on Thursday with Bellator 254, which took place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and aired on CBS Sports Network following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Juliana Velasquez (11-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) forced a changing of the guard in the promotion’s final bout of the year. The Brazilian unseated inaugural Bellator flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (11-1 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) from her spot atop the division with a unanimous decision victory.

It wasn’t the most eventful of nights, but Velasquez managed to halt Macfarlane’s defense streak at four, meaning no champ in company history has still ever reached five consecutive defenses.

For more on the numbers, check below for all the post-event facts to come out of Bellator 254.

Event stats

Betting favorites went 3-0 on the main card.

Betting favorites improved to 13-2 in Bellator main events this year.

Total fight time for the three-bout main card was 48:37.

Juliana Velasquez def. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

Juliana Velasquez and Scott Coker

Velasquez became the second Bellator flyweight champion.

Velasquez’s six-fight Bellator winning streak in flyweight competition is the longest active streak in the division.

Velasquez’s six victories in Bellator flyweight competition are tied with Denise Kielholtz for second most in divisional history behind Macfarlane (10).

Macfarlane’s 11-fight winning streak was snapped for the first defeat of her career.

Magomed Magomedov def. Matheus Mattos

Matheus Mattos (12-2-1 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) suffered the first decision loss of his career.

Linton Vassell def. Ronny Markes

Linton Vassell (20-8 MMA, 9-5 BMMA) improved to 2-1 since he moved up to heavyweight in March 2019.

Vassell has earned 16 of his 20 career victories by stoppage. That includes six of his nine Bellator wins.

Vassell has earned both of his Bellator heavyweight victories by knockout.

Ronny Markes (19-8 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) fell to 1-3 in his past four fights dating back to June 2018.

Markes has suffered seven of his eight loses by stoppage.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/bellator-254-post-event-facts-juliana-velasquez-prevents-championship-history

In the night’s co-main event, Italian newcomer Leonardo Damiani scored a big win on his Cage Warriors debut as he outworked Wales’ Aaron Khalid over three rounds in their welterweight matchup.

Damiani (9-2-1) made no secret of his tactics as he came wading in early looking to score with huge overhand punches, and after one shot clipped Khalid (10-6-1), the Welshman went to the canvas. However, the Italian, knowing Khalid’s grappling credentials, opted instead to let his opponent get back to his feet. Khalid then turned to his wrestling to nullify Damiani’s threat, but was unable to overly trouble the Italian with his grappling.

Round 2 saw more of the same, with Damiani attempting to connect with haymakers and troubling Khalid with his strikes, while Khalid attempted once again to use his grappling to keep the bout in his favor. With the Italian’s pace starting to drop after a series of scrambles on the mat, Khalid turned to some strikes of his own as he connected with three thumping body kicks, then a spinning back elbow, before taking his man to the mat. Khalid then finished the round in top position raining down strikes on his opponent as the round came to a close.

Khalid wasted no time in shooting for a takedown at the start of Round 3 as he looked to push the pace on Damiani. With both men looking fatigued, Damiani finally opted to engage with the Khalid on the mat as the pair scrambled their way across the canvas, this time with the Welshman playing defense. Then, after Khalid briefly threatened with a heel hook attempt, Damiani returned to the dominant position before finally stepping back up so the final 20 seconds could play out in the stand-up.

After a grueling three-round battle, the judges were called into action, and it was the debutant who got the nod, with a split-decision verdict falling his way, with scores of 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/cage-warriors-118-results

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Juliana Velasquez dedicated the biggest win of her career to her late brother.

The Brazilian fighter is the new Bellator women’s flyweight champion having dethroned Ilima-Lei Macfarlane in the main event of Thursday’s Bellator 254. Velasquez (11-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) outpointed Macfarlane (11-1 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) in a unanimous decision.

Velasquez tried to describe the feeling of not only wining a Bellator title, but also being able to dedicate the win to a lost loved one.

“Ever since I got into the organization, I dedicated all of my fights to my brother,” Velasquez told reporters at the Bellator 254 post-fight press conference. “I have a tattoo of my brother on my left arm because it’s the most powerful arm and I have a tattoo of an angel wing on my arm because I know that he’s always with me. To be able to dedicate this win to him and know that he was here with me it was indescribable feeling.”

Velasquez felt she has a meeting with destiny at Bellator 254. She knows Macfarlane was a game opponent, but she felt the title was coming back to Brazil.

“I feel great, I think that’s what I was missing in my career,” Velasquez said. “I know that just the victories are not solely important, defeats are important too. I’m at a very good phase right now and I felt the belt was for me tonight and it was waiting for me. Tonight I showed that.”

Velasquez remains unbeaten in her MMA career. The new champion would like a chance at chance at extending her record in one Bellator’s signature grand prix tournaments.

“Yeah, I would love to have a tournament and I think it would be great to have that sort of tournament format and change things up.” Velasquez said. “We would definitely get to look at different fighter depending on how the fights go in the tournament, so yeah I would definitely be interested and exited if Bellator chose to do a tournament at women’s 125 pounds.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/bellator-254-juliana-velasques-dedicates-title-win-late-brother