Shinya Aoki continued his resurgence and once again is a champion after a first-round finish of Eduard Folayang.
Aoki (43-8) caught lightweight champion Folayang (21-7) with an arm-triangle choke in the opening frame. Folayang never tapped, but instead went to sleep at the 2:34 mark of the round. The win made Aoki ONE Championship’s 155-pound titleholder again in a rematch. He lost the title to Folayang in November 2016.
The bout was the main event of “ONE Championship 92: A New Era.” The fight was the fourth of four title bouts on the card at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The main card streamed on the B/R Live app following prelims on the ONE Championship app.
Folayang landed a right hand 30 seconds into the first round, but Aoki stayed patient on the outside. Folayang landed a left, then worked inside leg kicks. A minute in, Aoki moved for a takedown and got clipped when he tried to change levels. But he survived it, clinched Folayang up, then eventually dragged him to the canvas.
Aoki passed to side control and got a D’Arce choke on tight. Folayang defended it properly, but it was just a matter of time before Folayang was out cold. Aoki jumped to the top of the fence to celebrate his new title.
ONE Championship 92 results include:
MAIN CARD (B/R Live, 5:30 a.m. ET)
- Shinya Aoki def. Eduard Folayang via technical submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:34 – to win lightweight title
- Jing Nan Xiong def. Angela Lee via TKO (strikes) – Round 5, 1:37 – to retain strawweight title
- Aung La N Sang def. Ken Hasegawa via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:41 – to retain middleweight title
- Bibiano Fernandes def. Kevin Belingon via disqualification (illegal elbows) – Round 2 – to win bantamweight title
- Demetrious Johnson def. Yuya Wakamatsu via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:40 – flyweight world grand prix quarterfinal
- Timofey Nastyukhin def. Eddie Alvarez via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:05 – lightweight world grand prix quarterfinal
PRELIMINARY CARD (Facebook, Twitter, 2:30 a.m. ET)
- Danny Kingad def. Senzo Ikeda via unanimous decision – flyweight world grand prix quarterfinal
- Kairat Akhmetov def. Reece McLaren via unanimous decision – flyweight world grand prix quarterfinal
- Mei Yamaguchi def. Kseniya Lachkova via submission (armbar) – Round 3, 3:14
- Garry Tonon def. Anthony Engelen via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:12
- Chang Min Yoon def. Bala Shetty via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:16
For additional coverage of ONE Championship 92, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
