New Zealand's Ev Ting has battled back from the jaws of defeat to score a remarkable show-stealing second-round submission win over Daichi Abe at ONE: Masters of Destiny in Malaysia.
Dropped twice by the Japanese fighter in the opening round - at one stage, seemingly a solitary blow away from a referee stoppage - Ting survived the early onslaught to turn the tide with a stunning display of courage and aggression and swing momentum back in his favour.
After sending Abe to the mat with a searing overhand right, the Auckland MMA product pounced with a flurry of elbows from the top position. With his opponent and the round in its dying stages, Ting then made a lightning transition to Abe's back and applied a deep rear-naked choke with just 20 seconds remaining to both force the tap and send the crowd in his native Kuala Lumpur into hysterics.
Not only was the contest a likely Fight of the Year candidate, the result was a timely and much-needed victory that puts the perennial lightweight contender back in the winner's circle, after the first two-loss slump of his career.
"It's such a relief," Ting told Newshub. "It's been a long time coming, it means everything to me."
"It's by far the best win of my career. The best feeling in the world, coming back from all that adversity."
Although Ting came out with plenty of gusto to start the bout, Abe promptly established his reach advantage to twice send the Kiwi staggering to the mat.
The former Pancrase world champion was at the brink of a referee's stoppage the first time he dropped Ting, who only managed to survive by grabbing one of his legs and forcing a clinch.
"He did a great job. He utilised his reach really well, so before I could get in and work my game, he was landing shots."
On the advice of his corner, Ting took a much more measured approach in the second stanza. That immediately paid dividends, as he caught one of his Abe's kicks and countered over the top with a heaving right hand that spelled the beginning of the end for his adversary.
"They told me to just stop hunting those one shots," Ting said of his cornermen's counsel. "They knew that I was more technical and I was fitter.
"They reminded me what I was capable of, so I just had to take a deep breath and work the gameplan."
Sensing Abe was beginning to fold, Ting pre-empted another hip-toss attempt and spun to take his back to bring the curtain down on the contest, moments before the round expired.
"Once I got the grips and I knew he was puffing more than I was, I knew I had it. I was just worried the time was going to run out before he tapped."
Ting is eager to keep the ball rolling and already has sights set towards the top of ONE's deepest division.
"I want to keep competing with the best… I wouldn't mind taking a couple more fights to see where I'm at. Any given day, if there's a contract - I'll sign it.
"Any lightweight in the world, I'm down."
In other results on the night, Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Michelle Nicolini scored an upset win over Angela Lee, while Giorgio 'The Doctor' Petrosyan took a unanimous decision against Petchmorakot to advance to the semi-finals of ONE's Featherweight kickboxing super series.
Newshub.
