Filipino MMA fighter Belingon vs Japan’s Ueda in final

Kevin Belingon will face Japan’s Masakatsu Ueda in the Grand Prix Final of One FC Bantamweight next month after his triumph over Thanh Vu, an Australian-Vietnamese, in a match stopped by the referee in Singapore.

The final match will be held at the Philippines’ SM Arena at the Mall of Asia, in Metro Manila’s Pasay City on May 31, where the winner will earn the right to set a date with One FC bantamweight champion Kim Soo-chul of South Korea.

Filipino fighter Rene Catalan, meanwhile, lost to Brazilian Alex Silva in their flyweight bout.

Silva forced Catalan, a four-time wushu world champion, to tap out with an armbar 36 seconds left in the first round.

The 25-year-old Belingon, nicknamed ‘The Silencer’ for his powerful strike, annihilated Vu at the city-state’s Indoor Stadium, on Friday, improving his MMA, or mixed martial arts, record to 11 wins and 2 losses.

He caught Vu with a jarring kick to the head, and then riddled him with a barrage of punches and kicks, prompting the referee to stop the match as Vu, whose MMA record dropped to 4-2-0, crumpled into the fence.

An MMA fighter from the Philippine summer capital of Baguio City, Belingon is a Team Lakay standout and holds a degree in criminology from the University of the Cordilleras, in the same city.

In his post published by Yahoo! Southeast Asia on Saturday, sports blogger Bob Guerrero said that Ueda, 35, “took out American legend Jens Pulver with a textbook D’Arce choke 3.52 seconds into the second round of their Grand prix semifinal”.

In the main bout, Japan’s Shinya Aoki won the One FC lightweight title belt against Korean Kotetsu Boku.

For his part, American Brock Larson won via unanimous decision over Dutchman Melvin Manhoef in their middleweight bout.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.