Ennahachi Outpoints Superlek, Petrosyan Upends Kiria at One: Fists of Fury

Who's YOUR pick for Xiaomi Fight of the Night? #ONEFistsOfFury #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/Wj7ntPmTBe

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) February 26, 2021

The first event in the One Championship “Fists of Fury” trilogy saw most of the fights go the distance.

In the "Fists of Fury" main event, Ilias Ennahachi put his flyweight kickboxing title on the line against Superlek Kiatmoo9. The defending champion took his time to study his opponent in the first round. Superlek had some issues with steadiness early in the first frame as he slipped on the canvas a few times, which may have contributed an accidental groin strike from a back kick. After apologizing, Superlek kept kicking his opponent’s left side, but it was not enough to slow Ennahachi’s offense. The second round saw Ennahachi going in and out with his flashy combinations as his opponent resorted to his kicks.

The third round was arguably the best for the challenger, whose gameplan started paying dividends as Ennahachi slowed his pace down. The Dutch-Moroccan kickboxer escaped from his opponent’s fury with savvy footwork across the cage. In the fourth stanza, Superlek kept chasing his opponent with his aggressive kicks that were largely blocked, all while Ennahachi retaliated with some combinations of his own. After a close fifth round, the match went to the judges’ scorecards, who rewarded Ennahachi with a unanimous decision victory and his second successful title defense.

In the co-main event, Italy’s Giorgio Petrosyan once more showcased his surgical striking at the expense of Davit Kiria. The two fighters had previously met at Glory 3 in 2012, where “The Doctor” outpointed his Georgian opponent. Years may have passed, but the result was the same. After taking a hard left hook early in the first frame, Petrosyan made a few adjustments and started scoring with his combinations using punches and knees.

Kiria swung wildly with power punches in the second and third round, but Petrosyan frustrated his opponent by making his best shots miss. Whenever Kiria came out overly aggressive, Petrosyan stalled the action with the clinching game. The Italian fighter looked for a finish that never arrived, but ultimately took home a unanimous decision victory.

Elsewhere, current One flyweight muay Thai titleholder Rodtang Jitmuangnon tested himself in kickboxing for the first time against Tagir Khalilov. After three full rounds of action, Rodtang edged his opponent by a narrow decision, and used the opportunity on the microphone to ask for a shot at Ennahachi’s belt.

Earlier on the card that night, Hiroki Akimoto upended Zhang Chenglong on the scorecards in their kickboxing rematch in One’s bantamweight division; Jackie Buntan outpointed Wondergirl Fairtex en route to a unanimous decision, after knocking down her opponent in the first round of their One strawweight muay Thai clash.

16-year-old phenom Victoria Lee does her family proud, submitting Sunisa Srisen in her ONE debut! #ONEFistsOfFury #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/PjNK3FmHlU

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) February 26, 2021

The card also featured the professional debut of Victoria Lee (1-0), who submitted Sunisa Srisen (4-2) in the lone MMA match of the evening. After conceding a few punches on the feet in the opening stanza, the youngest of the Lee family found her pace and moved the action on the mat. Lee dominated her opponent thanks to her BJJ skills, and came close to securing a rear-naked choke in the second half of the round.

The second round saw “The Prodigy” become more comfortable in her striking game. Shortly after the first minute elapsed, Lee took her opponent down, immediately jumped on her back and sank in a submission attempt. The 16-year-old forced Srisen to tap to a rear-naked choke seconds later, with an official stoppage time of 1:03.