ONE Championship middleweight titleholder Aung La N Sang took a major risk by fighting dangerous heavyweight striker Alain Ngalani in an open-weight bout today at ONE Championship 63.
It was clear Ngalani’s (3-4) strength was an X-factor, but it couldn’t prevent hometown hero Sang (21-10) from locking in guillotine choke to win the main event at the 4:51 mark of Round 1.
The event took place at Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar, and streamed via online pay-per-view in North America.
The fight had a tentative start, with both fighters standing at a safe distance from each other. Eventually Ngalani crowded his opponent and got in top position. Sang attempted to reverse Ngalani, but the strength difference was a problem. He eventually worked his way back to the feet, only to drop down for an unsuccessful guillotine attempt.
Sang got back up a second time, though, and committed to the guillotine again. He had it tight, and Ngalani was forced to tap out, sending the crowd of Sang supporters into frenzy (via Twitter):
Thaw guts out split decision
The co-main-event featured a blood-and-guts clash between Phoe Thaw (5-0) and Saw Ba Oo (2-2). In the end, Thaw won the competitive featherweight fight by split decision.
All three rounds of the bout were back and forth. Thaw had some advantageous positions on the feet and ground, but was also put in some compromising spots by his opponent.
By the end of the bout both men were utterly exhausted, moving around the cage with hands by their sides. The judges had to decide the winner, and Thaw took the split call.
Complete ONE Championship 63 results included:
- Aung La N Sang vs. Alain Ngalani via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:51
- Phoe Thaw def. Saw Ba Oo via split decision
- Eugene Toquero def. Ma Hao Bin via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:51
- Saw Min Min def. Ye Thway Ne via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:50
- Pongsiri Mitsatit def. Jeremy Miado via submission (strikes) – Round 2, 4:23
- Saw Darwait def. Sit Mhan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 0:41
- Chen Lei def. Burn Soriano via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:06
- Jie Miao def. Amira Hafizovic by submission (armbar) – Round 1, 0:45
- Zehao Zhang def. Bala Shetty by knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:01
- Jomary Torres def. Nita Dea by unanimous decision
For more on ONE Championship 63, check out the MMA Events section of the site.