Brazilian Bibiano Fernandes has extended his long reign over the bantamweight division after blitzing his way to yet another decisive victory at ONE Championship: Kings and Conquerors in Macao.
American Andrew Leone's challenge to "The Flash" and his six-and-a-half years of utter divisional dominance was brief and ultimately fruitless, as he fell to a first-round rear-naked choke to become the victim of Fernandes' seventh consecutive title defence.
Leone's days seemed swiftly numbered after taking a brutal knee to his mid-section which sent him slumped to the mat, where "Bibi" proceeded to rain blows from the mount to set-up the contest-ending choke.
Fernandes was jubilant post-fight, proving that even after 13 straight wins, the taste of success is still sweeter than ever.
"I feel great, thank you, Macao, for having me. Thank you to my family in Canada, and my family in Brazil who are watching me right now," he told a vocal Cotai Arena faithful.
In the co-main event of the evening, Adriano Moraes gained the vengeance he'd long been seeking with a hard-fought win over Kairat Akhmetov to unify the flyweight title.
The Brazilian did the majority of his damage during the scrambles, which he paired with a diverse kick attack to earn a unanimous judge's decision, washing out the bitter aftertaste of their previous contest which controversially went in Akhmetov's favour.
"Mikinho" showed all the benefits of his recent move to the famed American Top Team in Florida, clinically dismantling his counterpart while essentially shutting down the Kazakhstani's entire clinch-based offense.
"I’m not surprised," Moraes said in a heavily censored reference to UFC lightweight Nate Diaz.
"Thank you very much, one more time, for the opportunity. I want to thank my coach, my family and my friends. I’m very grateful."
Top Thai lightweight contender Shannon Wiritchai's night at the office was a brief one as he barely broke a sweat in dispatching Indian Rajinder Singh Meena in just 29 seconds.
Meena, coming in as a replacement for AWOL Australian Rob Lisita on just a week's notice, was sent reeling by a heavy knee from 'OneShin' which saw the referee leap to his defence and call an end to the bout a mere 29 seconds into the opening stanza.
Headlining the preliminary card, Pinay Jomary Torres sent the significant Filipino faithful into raptures with a stunning upset win over heavily-favoured Rika "Tiny Doll" Ishige.
The Pinay's size and strength advantage was apparent from the outset as she established an edge in the grappling department early, peppering Ishige with some heavy shots before a stinging right hand knocked her to the mat.
Torres wasted no time swooping for the kill, blasting shots from the mount then securing a side-choke, despite not having great position, and using sheer brute power to force the Thai to tap.
In other results, China's Chen Lei scored his third-straight win with a slick arm-bar finish of Malaysia's Saiful Merican, while Kotetsu "No Face" Boku battled back from early adversity to finish Eric Kelly in one of the most enthralling contests of the card.
The promotion now makes its way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for ONE Championship: Quest for Greatness on August 18, where New Zealand's own Ev Ting looks to fight his way back into lightweight title contention against Nobutatsu Suzuki and unbeaten Marat Gafurov defends his featherweight belt against the surging Martin Nguyen.
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