By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno/PNA
MANILA — Adriano Moraes stunned the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on Friday night when he took the flyweight belt back from Geje Eustaquio in the main event of One: Hero’s Ascent.
Despite the jampacked crowed rooting for Eustaquio, the Brazilian fighter proved that the championship belt belongs to him after prevailing in their third showdown.
After a relatively slow first round, Moraes found an opportunity to take Eustaquio to the ground in Round 2.
Eustaquio, however, was able to overturn things and even forced two takedowns later in the round.
Both pugilists had their own dose of striking prowess in Round 3, but Moraes attempted on a rare submission on Eustaquio in Round 4, stretching his leg at full extent.
After five rounds, judges Ian Cartwright, Rosenberg Rosete, and Joey Lepiten gave Moraes the nod.
In the co-main event, Lowen Tynanes made a triumphant return to One Championship on Friday night, knocking out Honorio Banario in the first match of the One Lightweight Grand Prix.
Fighting for the first time after a two-year break, Tynanes showed no rust, showcasing his renowned ground game on Banario and forcing the stoppage to stay perfect after 10 matches.
After both fighters started out slow, Tynanes found an opening to take Banario down to the canvas two minutes into Round 1.
Banario got a chance to get out of Tynanes’ grappling hold, but the latter took the former down again and turned to the ground-and-pound, forcing Yuji Shimada to stop the fight with just 14 seconds left in the said round.
Tynanes will face the winner of the March 31 showdown between Eddie Alvarez and Timofey Nastyhukin in the semifinals of the Grand Prix, where a future world title shot is at stake.
Meanwhile, Danny Kingad was the only winner for Team Lakay after he prevailed over Japanese opponent Tatsumitsu Wada.
Kingad showed that he can be efficient in the ground game as well as he spoiled Wada’s bid to finish the match by submission and took the unanimous decision win.
He was actually the one better on the ground, overturning a submission bid by Wada in the first round and even scoring a takedown.
Kingad then kept Wada from scoring the takedown in Round 2 and even scoring another in Round 3.
Kingad now has won four straight fights.
