Held at the home ground, the first bout that featured a Malaysian fighter was the fight between Nik ‘The Bloodhound’ Harris and Indonesia’s Zuli Silawanto.
Nik’s never-give-up attitude landed him a win against his opponent via a verbal tap out at 0.00 minutes of round 3.
In a clash between Khmer boxing champion Tok Sophon and top-ranked Muay Thai expert Saiful Merican, it was Malaysia’s Saiful who came out on top.
The first round was action-packed as the hometown favourite Saiful dropped the Cambodian with a powerful right hook, but Tok Sophon began to assert himself with several takedowns.
The crowd went crazy as they were cheering Saiful’s name all way.
The action in the second round continued in a similar pattern, with Sophon getting takedowns but Merican winning the standup exchange.
Saiful, however, controlled the third round, landing several significant strikes as well as dominating on the ground.
All three judges awarded Saiful Merican the decision victory.
The fight between two MMA legends, AJ ‘Pyro’ Lias Mansor and Melvin ‘Overkill’ Yeoh, ended with the former defeating the latter by the judges’ unanimous decision.
AJ Lias Mansor (left) vs Melvin Yeoh (right) - Photo by Nasrul Shazli Samil
The fight was fairly even at the beginning, with AJ landing a takedown to end the round after the pair exchanged blows in the opening minutes.
AJ began to utilise his wrestling moves more often in the second round, although Yeoh had a guillotine choke in the closing seconds of the round.
The Sabahan AJ, however, was successful with his takedowns again in the third, even landing several knees from side control.
AJ was crowned the Malaysian National Featherweight Champion after winning the fight.
The eagerly-anticipated bout between Egypt’s Alaa Mazloum and top Malaysian Lightweight, Peter Davis lived up to expectations with a bout that had the crowd excited to the end.
Mazloum had Davis in trouble on several occasions in the first round, but Davis showed resilience and demonstrated improved grappling skills by taking the Egyptian down repeatedly.
Davis, not wanting to repeat the same mistake he had with Ariel Sexton and Eddie Ng, took over control when he wrapped his hand around Mazloum’s neck and he opportunistically jumped on the back of the Egyptian and sank in a rear-naked choke that forced his opponent to tap out.
In a clash between top young Malaysian Flyweights, it was the 20 year-old Gianni Subba who emerged as the winner.
Subba took Chen down with a perfectly timed single-leg takedown, and dropped a series of vicious punches.
Referee Oliver Coste stepped in to intervene and call an end to the fight slightly over three minutes into the first round.
ONE FC’s Warrior Spirit was held last night at Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil and presented by Tune Talk.
The event captivated the packed crowd in attendance as fans were treated to a night of exhilarating pumping action, culminating in a clash between great MMA fighters.
