One of the biggest events of the year so far for ONE Championship delivered on the hype last night at the Impact Arena in Bangkok.
ONE 167 brought some of the biggest names in the promotion together in Thailand with some stand out performances stealing the show.
The main event added some controversy to the mix following a second close contest between Tawanchai and Jo Nattawut for the ONE featherweight Muay Thai world championship.
Tawanchai retained the title via majority decision in a verdict that didn’t appear to go down well with the fans in attendance, potentially setting up a trilogy fight between them.
The co-main event, on the other hand, was about as fan friendly as you could possibly get as Thai superstar Rodtang Jitmuangnon and Denis Puric went to war in kickboxing.
“The Iron Man” was emotional after getting his hand raised due to being out of action for a year and facing plenty of criticism in that time but his performance on the night made up for it.
Another stand out performance in kickboxing came from Thai legend Sitthichai who spoiled the party on the highly anticipated debut of Masaaki Noiri with the division’s staple looking back to his best.
Flyweight submission grappling world champion Mikey Musumeci made a statement of his own by submitting Gabriel Souza with a calf slicer up at bantamweight.
With Sousa being the last man to beat Musumeci three years ago, “Darth Rigatoni” was fired up after facing backlash from that defeat ever since.
In MMA, the two hotly tipped debutants picked up impressive wins to secure their first victories in MMA.
Both super prospect Adrian Lee and elite grappler Kade Ruotolo got off to fast starts and picked up submission wins inside the Circle.
Denice Zamboanga, who was supposed to fight for the ONE atomweight world championship on this card until late notice, kept her spot as the next in line for a title shot with a solid win over Noelle Grandjean.
Two upsets took place early on in the night as Itsuki Hirata suffered a submission loss in her attempt to bounce back in the atomweight division and striking sensation Johan Ghazali was handed his first loss by Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat.
The superstar names on this event lived up to the hype with a solid showcase of some of the best talent in ONE Championship.
With their two trips to the United States on the horizon, it looks to be a big second half of the year for the promotion and they’re coming into it off the back of their biggest and best show of the year so far.
