Waqar Umar

Fighting out of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Waqar “Psycho” Umar, 27, was the only Pakistani fighter on the card of “ONE: Iron Will” on March 24, 2018. It marked his fifth bout in the ONE Championship cage and his first win in the promotion.

It was a sweet victory for Umar, who was in a losing streak in the promotion from 2014 to 2016. He went on hiatus in 2017 and on March 24, 2018, he made a comeback and faced Zhao Zhi Kang, 23, of China at “ONE: Iron Will” in the featherweight division.

The featherweight bout between Umar and Zhao at “ONE: Iron Will” ended at 4:21 of Round 1. The Pakistani fighter submitted his Chinese opponent via rear-naked choke.

With the victory at “ONE: Iron Will,” Umar now has 5 wins and 4 losses. Before defeating Zhao, the Pakistani fighter lost to Peter Davis, Amir Khan, Benedict Ang and Keanu Subba in the ONE Championship cage.

On the other hand, “ONE: Iron Will” marked Zhao’s second bout and first loss in the ONE Championship cage. He made his promotional debut on November 10, 2017 at “ONE: Legends of the World” where he submitted Thai Rithy, 20, of Cambodia via rear-naked choke.

Zhao was an undefeated fighter from 2012 to 2016 until he lost via unanimous decision to Ilfat Amirov at “WLF: Wars 11.” The loss to Umar at “ONE: Iron Will” downgraded Zhao’s record to 10 wins and 3 losses.

“ONE: Iron Will” took place at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. It was the fifth event of ONE Championship in 2018.

The main event was the historic superfight between ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes of Brazil and ONE Featherweight and Lightweight World Champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen of Vietnam and Australia. The Brazilian champion retained his title after defeating the two-division champion challenger via split decision.