They say patience is a virtue, and that rang true for heavyweight MMA star Paul Elliott this past weekend as he picked up his first win in ONE Championship recently.
The rising British star scored a third-round TKO victory over Ryugo Takeuchi at ONE Fight Night 30 on Saturday, 5th April, inside Bangkok, Thailand's Lumpinee Stadium to finally get off the mark in the world’s largest martial arts organization.
Elliott didn’t have an easy start in ONE. He fell to a defeat in his debut in 2022 and followed up with a no-contest and another loss in his next two outings. With such a difficult run, he was unsurprisingly delighted with the result this weekend.
“It means a lot. I’ve certainly had an interesting few years [in ONE Championship], I’ll say that,” he said.
“So to get a win in ONE and to do it in this historic stadium, it meant a lot.”
Notching up a victory is a notable achievement for the heavyweight dueller, but he isn’t confusing it with conquering the division.
Elliot dreams of one day fighting the likes of two-weight ONE World Champion Anatoly Malykhin and reigning heavyweight MMA king “Reug Reug” Oumar Kane, but he knows that’s not on the cards just yet.
For now, the Middlesbrough monster is just enjoying the moment, and he’s looking forward to bigger and better things.
“It was my first win in ONE, so I’m not going to be silly and start saying ‘give me the belt’ or anything like that. I need to keep winning and get myself up there, so this is a building block,” Elliott explained.
“I’m looking forward to recovering, getting back to training, and taking whatever offer comes my way.”
