Jingnan Xiong Denies Ayaka Miura, Retains Strawweight Championship at ‘One: Heavy Hitters’

One Championship has heard the cries of “50 G’s, baby,” and successfully answered the call.

In the One: “Heavy Hitters” main event, reigning 125-pound queen Jingnan Xiong notched her sixth successful title defense after an uneventful clash with Ayaka Miura. Xiong (17-2, 8-1 One) spent most of the time defending takedown attempts from Miura. The Japanese fighter never managed to implement her game plan, and often times stalled the action by grinding her opponent against the fence. Every time Xiong disengaged from the clinch, she scored with punches. In the championship rounds, Xiong landed a well-timed head kick and some knees to the body, but she never pushed to finish her adversary. Miura (11-4, 1 NC; 4-2 One) showed that she had no plan B, sticking to tiresome takedown attempts that were denied by “The Panda” time and time again. In the final minute, the headliners yelled at one another to try to force a brawl, but neither did enough to take the fight out of the hands of the judges. Ultimately, Xiong’s strong takedown defense and crisp boxing led the Chinese champion to take home a unanimous decision.

Tawanchai KNOCKS OUT Saemapetch in an epic Muay Thai duel! #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship#ONEHeavyHitters | How To Watch: https://t.co/B1Er5HOcYZ pic.twitter.com/pxHJVkrS5x

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 14, 2022

It took a little less than one round for Tawanchai PK Saenchai to stop his former training partner Saemapetch Fairtex in the co-headliner. Tawanchai, who missed weight by half a pound ahead of the event, looked sharper than his opponent right out of the gate as he let his kicks go early. Saemapetch struggled to find his distance, and found himself missing with most of his shots. Tawanchai pushed the pace after the two-minute mark, forcing his opponent to fight off his back foot. With only 30 seconds left in the round, the PK Saenchai representative fired off a short combination that dropped Saemapetch. Although Saemapetch was able to get back to his feet, it was the beginning of the end for him, as Tawanchai reached him with a vicious left that knocked the Fairtex standout down. While he made it back to his feet, Saemapetch appeared to be out on them, leading referee Olivier Coste to call an end to the bout at 2:55 of Round 1.

Saygid Izagakhmaev submits James Nakashima with a SLICK head and arm choke! #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship#ONEHeavyHitters | How To Watch: https://t.co/B1Er5HOcYZ pic.twitter.com/VBJeUJawTr

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) January 14, 2022

This One event marks the first of its new $50,000 post-fight performance bonuses, and three such awards were doled out throughout the day. Earlier on the card, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protégé Saygid Izagakhmaev (20-2, 1-0 One) submitted former Legacy Fighting Alliance titleholder James Nakashima (12-3, 3-3 One) with a brabo choke at the 2:17 mark of Round 2 and also claimed a $50k performance bonus; “Supergirl” Ann Jaroonsak picked up a controversial split decision against Ekaterina Vandaryeva in their One strawweight muay Thai battle that ended up earning Vandaryeva a post-fight bonus; former Pancrase champion Senzo Ikeda (12-5-1, 2-2 One) folded Elipitua Siregar (4-2, 4-2 One) with body shots two minutes into the third stanza and took home an extra $50,000; at light heavyweight, Glory Kickboxing alum Giannis Stoforidis emerged the better of a double knockdown as he knocked Beybulat Isaev out cold with a clean left hook as he was dropped at the same time, with the stoppage coming a mere 31 seconds into Round 1.

On the lead card, former One strawweight title contender Tiffany Teo (10-2, 7-2 One) submitted Meng Bo (18-6, 3-2 One) via rear-naked choke at the 3:45 mark of Round 2; Shuya Kamikubo (12-1-1, 6-0 One) tapped Troy Worthen (7-3, 3-3 One) with a rear-naked choke with 24 seconds left in their One bantamweight affair.