SINGAPORE, July 28 — Australia’s Martin Nguyen came short on his second attempt to be Mixed Martial Arts’ (MMA) first ever three-division champion at ONE: Reign of Kings in Manila.
The 29-year-old from Sydney failed to stop Philippines’ Kevin Belingon’s onslaught throughout the five rounds as the Team Lakay fighter came out victorious via unanimous decision to claim the ONE interim bantamweight world title.
Belingon moved up 19-5 in his career as Nguyen fell to 11-3, his second defeat in his last three fights.
The Fillipino withstood the Australian’s right hooks and takedown attempts impressively and countered whenever he had the opportunity to do so.
In the fourth and fifth round, Nguyen seemed to have slowed down a bit more and it was Belingon who was laying more damage until the bell rang.
“I can’t explain the feeling, I think I’m the happiest athlete in the world tonight,” Belingon said.
“I’d like to say thank you to all the fans that came to support me and a big thanks to my team, coaches and trainers.”
The Team Lakay fighter was the underdog coming into this fight, but has been on a hot streak with five wins out of his last five coming against Andrew Leone, Kevin Chung, Reece McLaren, Toni Tauru and Muin Gafurov.
Despite a huge upset, Belingon only had kind words for his opponent and said he’s worked harder than ever to make this dream a reality.
“It’s such an honour to fight Martin — he is still a champion.”
“But I’ve trained hard for this fight and to get this belt and I’m proud to say I’m a champion,” he told the crowd.
Ring announcer Mitch Chilson surprised the new interim bantamweight champion by inviting the bantamweight title holder Bibiano Fernandes into the cage after the fight.
“He did a good job today but I’m still the real champion,” he said.
Belingon responded to that threat by saying he is eager to face Fernandes before the end of the year.
“I respect him as a champion, but I have no contenders in the bantamweight division, so I hope he recovers fast enough, so we can unify the belt,” Belingon said.
The last time Belingon and Fernandes fought in the cage was in 2016 when the latter won via kimura submission in 4.04 of round one.
Belingon’s victory makes him the fourth fighter from the Philippines to claim the ONE world title after Geje Eustaqio (flyweight), Eduard Folayang (lightweight) and Brandon Vera (heavyweight).
