Former Cage Warriors heavyweight champion Mauro Cerilli bounced back into the win column in the main event of ONE Championship 127 in Singapore to move one step closer to a heavyweight title rematch with Brandon Vera.
Cerilli lost out to Vera via first-round knockout in his first title challenge back at ONE Championship 85 in November 2018. He bounced back with a victory over Alain Ngalani, but fell to another defeat as he was outpointed by Arjan Bhullar at “ONE Championship: Century – Part 2” in October 2019.
But, after taking more than a year away from the cage, “The Hammer” returned in fine form to snap Abdulbasir Vagabov’s 10-fight winning streak and push himself back into the heavyweight title conversation.
Vagabov pushed the pace from the opening bell as he chased the backpedaling Cerilli around the cage, with the Italian throwing the occasional one-two combination to give the Russian contender a moment’s pause.
Vagabov continued his forward pressure, but Cerilli ensured that the Russian’s winging punches connected with nothing but air as he kept out of punching range, then connected with occasional counter-strikes of his own. After struggling to make an impact with his strikes, Vagabov then turned to his wrestling, but his takedown attempts late in the round were well defended by the big Italian.
After a frustrating first round, Vagabov started Round 2 noticeably slower and Cerilli took full advantage in the opening seconds as he stepped into range and slammed a powerful kick to the Vagabov’s left hamstring. The impact of the shot forced the Russian down to his hands and knees and Cerilli moved in and unloaded a trio of clean left hands to his grounded opponent before referee Olivier Coste dived in to stop the bout at the 26-second mark.
Mauro Cerilli 🇮🇹 MASHES the “Dagestan Machine” in Round 2 of our main-event clash! #ONEUnbreakable2 #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship pic.twitter.com/UNOuN3aBl7
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 29, 2021
