Last night in Dubai, a new champion for the One Fighting Championship's featherweight division was crowned. Koji Oishi of Japan in his second defense of the belt was outgunned and outmaneuvered by Jadamba Narantungalag, the challenger who hails from Mongolia. The Mongolian was a huge underdog going into the fight but he didn't look like one when the bell rang and the cage was closed. He dominated the Japanese champion from bell to bell.
We wrote a few days ago that either of these two fighters will be the next opponent for Cordilleran mixed martial artist Eric Kelly. A couple of months ago, Kelly notched an impressive win over Australia's Rob Lisita which had people expecting that he'll fight for the title in Dubai. But due to the injuries he incurred in the Lisita fight, Kelly wasn't allowed to fight as these injuries won't completely heal before the date in Dubai arrives. The silver platter was then handed to Narantungalag.
With Narantungalag's dominant win
over Oishi, it's difficult to see why fans or the ONE FC management
would like to see a rematch. A rematch would've made sense if the affair
was a close one but it wasn't. Oishi had very little to offer as answer
to Naratungalag's striking and wrestling acumen. With that said, the
most viable option would be to pit the new champion against Eric Kelly.
This is the fight that most ONE FC fans would like to see. Let's hope it
gets made before the year ends.
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| Jadamba Narantungalag of Mongolia throwing a kick against Japan's Koji Oishi. Narantungalag won the bout via unanimous decision. Photo by ONE FC. |
In other news, Geje Eustaquio of Team Lakay will be fighting for the ONE FC's inaugural flyweight belt against Adriano Moraes of Brazil on September 12. The two will be headlining ONE FC: Rise of the Kingdom in Cambodia. Eustaquio will be the underdog going into a fight. But the question remains: will he be able to pull an upset, the way Narantungalag did last night in Dubai?
