Brandon Vera Retains Championship Title Over Challenger’s Attempt
Brandon Vera retained his heavyweight title championship at the ONE after defeating his Japanese challenger Sekine Hideki.
On Friday (December 03, 2016), the Filipino-American mixed martial artist, Brandon Vera still holds the championship’s title by dominating over bigger but shorter Hideki on the Age of Domination mixed martial arts event entitled ‘ONE’. Brandon who is taller defeated the shorter but wide-bodied Hideki.
The Fil-Am fighter already expected that the Japanese will use jiu-jitsu, he had already estimated Hideki’s strength and his game plan to fight on the ground. The Japanese attempts to bring Brandon down but he was caught with Vera’s knee that bent his nose.
Vera hits again Hideki with a kick to the liver which sent the challenger lurching towards the cage. Hideki receives several attacks from the Fil-Am fighter where the referee stopped the first round at 3:11.
“Walang tao sa buong mundo na kayang kainin ang sipa ko,” and “That’s the only thing I’d be cocky about, my kicks,” said by Vera quoted by ABS-CBN. The Fil-Am fighter was glad and more confident after claiming the victory in the mixed martial events at the Mall of Asia Arena.
This year was the first defense of Vera on his championship’s title after claiming the championship against beating Taiwanese Paul Cheng in just 26 seconds last year. The Fil-Am fighter has now a record of 15-7-1.
Meanwhile, in the bantamweight division at the same event, Reece McLaren failed to defend his champion’s title against Bibiano Fernandes over a split decision. Mclaren is a Filipino-Australian MMA fighter like Vera.
At first, the audience expects s that McLaren was about to win but Fernandes was able to change the game phase by having enough score points to secure his victory. Also, Mark “Mugen” Streigl won over Bulgaria’s Sotir Kichukov in a unanimous decision victory in his comeback fight.