Yahoo Sports Marat Gafurov Remains Undefeated After Quickfire Submission Win at ONE: Odyssey of Champions
ONE: Odyssey of Champions took place at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta on Sunday night (local time). The main event featured a last-minute change of personnel. With reigning featherweight champion Jadambaa Naruntungalag sidelined by visa issues, Martin Nguyen stepped up to challenge Marat Gafurov.
An interim version of the belt was on the line with Nguyen shifted from a proposed prelim fight with Bashir Ahmad to an unexpected title shot in the main event. It was a big step up for the Australian, who surprisingly elected to shoot for a single-leg takedown early in the opening round.
Nguyen succeeded in getting Gafurov down, but it was the only success he would enjoy in the fight. The Russian instantly slipped out, took his back, locked in a body triangle, and then a rear-naked choke, which bought the tap at the 31-second mark.
It was the eighth submission win of the BJJ black belt’s career and the third ONE Championship fight in a row he has finished with a rear-naked choke. His record now stands at 12-0 and a unification bout with Jadambaa is surely next on the agenda. Nguyen drops to 4-1.
Roger Huerta is known for his famous all-out wars with Clay Guida and Leonard Garcia. He added another installment to the series in a hard-fought decision loss to Koji Ando. In round two, the American was rocked with a hard left hook, as the former ONE lightweight title challenger swarmed all over him.
Huerta was taking an incredible amount of punishment and looked close to being knocked out, but instead of covering up, he elected to plant his feet and fight fire with fire. As Ando repeatedly tagged him with punches, kicks, knees and elbows, the UFC and Bellator veteran just stood his ground and threw punch after punch.
There was no question that Ando got the better of these wild exchanges and Huerta came out for the third round knowing he was behind on the scorecards. The Japanese fighter was on the front foot with the American looking to counter strike. With 30 seconds to go, another wild exchange ensued.
While Huerta brought plenty to the table in terms of heart and determination, it was Ando who landed the cleaner shots and came closest to finishing the fight, making the decision a formality. With the decision win, the Japanese fighter improves to 12-4-2, while the American drops to 22-8-1-1.
Middleweight Alexsei Butorin (10-0) introduced himself to fight fans in Asia in style, knocking out former title challenger Leandro Ataides (9-2) in the second round. The Brazilian controlled the first five minutes, as his undefeated opponent showed incredible determination and flexibility to survive multiple keylock attempts from the BJJ black belt.
In three ONE Championship fights, Ataides has never been beyond the first round and he seemed to slow at the start of the second. Butorin smelled blood and began to press forward with a right hook landing on the button and sending the BJJ black belt to his knees.
Ataides managed to work his way back to his feet, but his legs had gone. As he stumbled away defensively following a right uppercut, Butorin landed a right high kick that hit him flush in the face and finished the fight.
Timofey Nastyukhin (9-2) is known for his striking, but never got a chance to use it as Herbert Burns (6-0) took him down early in the opening round and finished him with a rear-naked choke. The Russian showcased impressive submission defense to repeatedly peel the BJJ black belts hands away, but eventually he succumbed to the inevitable and tapped.
(Follow @JamesGoyder on Twitter)
