Superlek Kitmookao Routs Danial Williams in One on Prime Video 8 Main Event

"They don't call him the kicking machine for nothing."

Superlek with an incredible knockout at #ONEFightNight8! pic.twitter.com/YHsX5QxkIE

— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) March 25, 2023

Superlek Kitmookao was a league or two above his latest would-be successor.

The 27-year-old Thai superstar retained the One Championship kickboxing flyweight title with a sensational knockout of Danial Williams in the third round of their ONE on Prime Video 8 headliner on Friday at Singapore Indoor Stadium. A short-notice replacement for the injured Rodtang Jitmuangnon, Williams (24-9) met his end 1:55 into Round 3.

Kitmookao (133-29) tore into “Mini T” with vicious kicks, turning his lead leg and abdomen painful shades of pink. He turned up the heat on Williams in the second round by incorporating stepping knees and head kicks with ill intent, then went about hunting the finish. Kitmookao floored the challenger with a perfectly timed head kick midway through Round 3, resulting in a standing eight count. A still-wobbly Williams was allowed to continue, though it only briefly prolonged the inevitable. Kitmookao followed with a burst of punches that sent Aussie crashing back to the canvas and necessitated an immediate stoppage.

Meanwhile, Phuket Fight Club’s Allycia Hellen Rodrigues unified the ONE muay thai atomweight championship with a unanimous decision over Janet Todd in their five-round co-main event. The victory moved Rodrigues to 32-6, while Todd slipped to 39-12.

Todd focused her efforts on leg kicks and operated behind a crisp jab, capitalizing on a tepid start from her Brazilian adversary. Rodrigues, 24, upped her aggression considerably in the third round, where she incorporated slashing close-range elbows, one of which opened a cut near Todd’s right eye. Blood streamed from the wound, but it had minimal impact on the outcome. Rodrigues continued to crowd the American with forward pressure and clinches across the final six minutes, all while winning the majority of exchanges in tight spaces.

Elsewhere, former Rizin Fighting Federation champion Seo Hee Ham leaned on basic punching combinations and stellar takedown defense while cruising to a unanimous decision over Itsuki Hirata in a three-round atomweight feature. Ham (26-8, 3-0 ONE) has won nine bouts in a row.

Hirata (6-2, 5-2 ONE) was woefully ineffective. Ham chipped away at her resolve from a distance and cut off the majority of her takedown attempts with a textbook sprawl. She often paired those efforts with punches and knees to the side of the head. Hirata secured takedowns in the second and third round but failed to consolidate them with control, positional advances or meaningful ground-and-pound.

The 23-year-old Hirata has lost twice in three outings.

Finally, Tiger Muay Thai prospect Akbar Abdullaev wowed the crowd in his promotional debut, as he needed less than a minute to bury Ho Taek Oh with punches in their featherweight showcase. Oh (9-3-1, 1-1 ONE) checked out 44 seconds into Round 1, the setback snapping his seven-fight winning streak.

Abdullaev (9-0, 1-0 ONE) walked down his South Korean counterpart with a potent jab, buckled him with an uppercut and then cut loose with punches. Oh crouched in a defensive shell and ate a volley of unanswered shots before referee Mohamad Sulaiman elected to intervene.

The 25-yar-old Abdullaev has finished all nine of his opponents, eight of them inside one round.

In other action, Keito Yamakita (8-0, 1-0 ONE) took a split decision from Alex Silva (12-9, 11-9 ONE) in a three-round flyweight pairing; Zhang Peimian was awarded a unanimous verdict against Zhang Peimian in a three-round strawweight kickboxing battle; Aslanbek Zikreev eked out a split decision over Rui Botelho in a three-round muay thai clash at a 128-pound catchweight; Eddie Abasolo punched out Niclas Larsen 2:14 into the second round of their muay thai affair at a 159-pound catchweight; Iman Barlow laid claim to a unanimous decision over Ekaterina Vandaryeva in their three-round women’s strawweight muay thai pairing; and Tammi Musumeci picked up a unanimous decision against Bianca Basilio in a 10-minute women’s strawweight submission grappling match.