Gold Coast fighter Reece “Lightning” McLaren was dropped early in his ONE Championship bout against Chinese opponent Xie Wei, but was able to recover and secure a submission victory.
An early low blow from McLaren paused the action and on the restart, the Australian was dropped with a powerful overhand right but recovered and shortly after secured a driving double-leg takedown. There he looked in his element and capitalised by taking the back of his opponent and securing the tap with a rear-naked choke submission.
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The win came 3:42 into the first round as he keeps his name near the top of the ONE Championship flyweight division. He moves his record to 15-8 while Xie drops to 14-4.
It was an all-important win for an emotional McLaren who post-fight paid respect to a close friend he lost to cancer earlier this.
Earlier on the card, Absolute MMA coach Simon Carson took on a tough challenge in world-class grappler Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida. A multiple-time world BJJ champion, “Buchecha” took the fight to the ground early and rained down heavy shots to force the referee to throw in the towel, just as Carson’s corner also threw in the towel.
The end came 2:24 into the contest with the 45-year-old Carson taking his record to 2-2. Almeida remains undefeated as he moves to 3-0.
A former Commonwealth Games Judoka, Duke Didier made his international MMA debut on the card also and the bout looked to be going his way early as he dominated the grappling exchange. As the bout went on though, the tide started to turn as his opponent, Uzbekistani Jasur Mirzamukhamedov started to successfully defend the takedown and came back into the contest. When the final buzzer went, it took have gone either way and was scored the way of Mirzamukhamedov.
He remains undefeated and moves to 6-0 while Didier falls to 8-2.
Full Results (Main Card)
Muay Thai – Tawanchai PK.Saenchai def. Niclas Larsen via Knockout at 1:42 of R2
Fabricio Andrade def. Kwon Won Il via Knockout at 1:02 of R1
Reece McLaren def. Xie Wei via submission (Rear-naked Choke) at 3:42 of R1
Kairat Akhmetov def. Tatsumitsu Wada via Unanimous Decision
Kickboxing – Guto Inocente def. Rade Opacic via Knockout at 2:33 of R1
Alex Silva def. Adrian Mattheis via Submission (Inside Heel Hook) at 3:34 of R1
Full Results (Preliminary Card):
Gurdarshan Mangat def. Yodkaikaew Fairtex via Split Decision
Kickboxing – Constantin Rusu def. Marouan Toutouh via Unanimous Decision
Marcus Almeida def. Simon Carson via TKO at 2:24 of R1
Odie Delaney def. Mehdi Barghi via Submission (Straight Arm Lock) at 2:22 of R2
Jasur Mirzamukhamedov def. Duke Didier via Split Decision
Jenelyn Olsim def. Julie Mezabarba via Split Decision
Lightweight: Edson Marques def. Kim Kyung Lock via Unanimous Decision
*MMA unless noted otherwise
