Abdelali Zahidi’s stunning head-kick KO was the highlight of an action-packed international portion of last night’s ONE Friday Fights 88 card in Bangkok, amid a slew of early finishes and bonuses.
Morocco seemingly has a new star in Muay Thai, the 25-year-old planting Burmese fighter Tun Min Aung on his face in the corner of the ring in the second round of their 158lbs catchweight fight.
It was enough to earn “Black Diamond” a 350,000 baht performance bonus from ONE chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong on his debut.
Fellow debutants Harlysson Nunes and Hiroki Naruo also earned bonuses for their TKO victories at Lumpinee Stadium.
Nunes, who trains at Phuket Fight Club, stopped Ilyas Eziyeu in the second round of their bantamweight MMA bout.
The referee waved off the fight after a wild finishing sequence which saw the Brazilian drop the Belarussian with an upkick before knocking him down again after a frantic scramble.
Japan’s Naruo handed out four knockdowns – and survived one himself – en route to a third-round stoppage of China’s Zhang Jinhu in their flyweight kickboxing bout.
Russia’s Ibragim Abdulmedzhidov would have almost certainly earned a bonus himself for his first-round knockout of Thailand’s Duangsompong Jitmuangnon, had he not missed weight for the flyweight bout by 3.6lbs.
In the opening bout of the night, Vladimir Kuchmistyi – a Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach at Fairtex Training Centre in Pattaya – took a unanimous decision against Craig Hutchison in their lightweight submission grappling match.
