By CARLO ANOLIN
It was an unlucky night for the Philippines inside the Circle as Catalan Fighting System’s Rene Catalan and Jomary Torres fell into their respective opponents in ONE: Big Bang at the Singapore Indoor Stadium Friday night.
Undefeated fighters Bokang Masunyane of South Africa and Ritu Phogat of India handily defeated the two Filipinos and finished them both early in the first round.
Masunyane, known for his wrestling skills, showed a different side of him and only needed 37 seconds to finish Catalan after landing a lethal left high kick off a body scramble that sent the 41-year-old Filipino down the canvas.
The 26-year-old South African warrior attempted for a ground and pound finish but referee Mohamad Sulaiman was quick to call it a knockout victory.
“I’ve been working a lot of my striking, mixing it up with the wrestling so today it worked out well,” said Masunyane after the match, calling out reigning strawweight king Joshua Pacio of the famed Benguet mixed martial arts stable Team Lakay.
“I’m the best in my division. I’d like to challenge the champion. And if the champion is not ready, No. 1 or No. 2, I’m always ready. But I’ve got my eye on the title,” added Masunyane, who improved to an 8-0 record including a two-match win streak in ONE Championship.
Catalan, meanwhile, suffered back-to-back losses since tapping out of Pacio’s arm-triangle choke last November 2019.
In the atomweight division, Ritu Phogat remained unscathed after scoring a technical knockout win over Catalan’s student Jomary Torres in the first round.
After maintaining a dominant top position, Phogat punished Torres with continuous ground and pound action, switching from elbows to hammer fists, until referee Justin Brown stopped the match at the 3:55 mark.
With the win, “The Indian Tigress” improved to a 4-0 record since her debut last year while Torres has yet to recover from a 5-0 slump and slid down to 4-5.
