Stella Hemetsberger’s magical run through ONE Championship continued with a world title victory over Jackie Buntan.
Hemetsberger courageously exchanged fire with the promotion’s kickboxing champion Buntan for five thrilling rounds to win the ONE strawweight Muay Thai world title.
Though Hemetsberger made history as the first Austrian to win gold in ONE Championship, it didn’t come easy.
Buntan made her presence felt immediately in the opening frame when she smashed her rival’s nose with her signature right hand. Blood instantly seeped out from Hemetsberger’s nostrils, but she remained focused and dropped her Filipina-American adversary twice – missing with a roundhouse kick but following up with a short right-hand punch for a pair of knockdowns.
Buntan blocks a roundhouse kick to the body.
The Austrian got off to an early lead on the scorecards, but Buntan regained her footing and spent the next two rounds targeting her opponent’s nose. She dodged kicks and then crashed forward with the left hook and that trademark right cross, further damaging the facial region.
Despite the battle wounds, Hemetsberger didn’t slow down. In the fourth, she truly utilised her size advantage, as she connected with long jabs, hook shots, straight kicks and kicks to the legs and body.
Buntan made it even closer in the fifth and final frame with her boxing prowess, but the Austrian stuck to her strategy and pulled away with the historic victory by unanimous decision.
Rytolo takes out teen sensation Lee
The undercard featured the brilliant MMA debut of ONE welterweight submission grappling world champion Tye Ruotolo.
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu prodigy showed everyone that he has the striking, endurance and fight IQ to be a success in the all-encompassing sport at the expense of previously undefeated teen sensation Adrian “The Phenom” Lee.
Lee entered the contest with a perfect 3-0 record, 100-per-cent finishing rate, and a lifetime of experience training alongside his big sister, former atomweight queen Angela, and big brother, reigning two-division king Christian.
From the opening bell, the two competed at a frantic pace, with each man determined to land the takedown. The 22-year-old Californian eventually dragged Lee to the ground, got into his rival’s guard, and rained down shots at his Hawaiian nemesis, who often tried to tie him up and threw upkicks.
Hemetsberger came through a punishing fight with a unanimous decision victory and the Muay Thai world title.
“The Phenom” scrambled out of the position at the very end of the round to bring the action to the feet, where he was thought to have an advantage, but Ruotolo pieced him up with some stiff punches and even threw some head kicks.
In the second round, the two young guns took turns exploding forward with their boxing and occasionally incorporated the random kick. But nearly two minutes in, Ruotolo planted Lee with a double-leg takedown.
From there, it was systematic. Ruotolo slithered his way to full mount, causing Lee to scramble out of the predicament any way he could. While the Hawaiian teen returned to his feet, he gave up his back in the process, where he ate strikes, was taken down, and eventually choked out.
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