“ONE: Iron Will” shook the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand on March 24, 2018 with 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. It was ONE Championship’s fifth 2018 event.
In the third bout on the main card, Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev of Turkey and Tetsuya Yamada of Japan competed in the lightweight division. It was the seventh bout of the evening.
Both mixed martial artists started out aggressively but it was Arslanaliev who showed a more capable set of both striking and grappling skills throughout the three-round lightweight match. As Yamada avoided trading strikes in the stand-up, Arslanaliev spun a web of crafty grappling on the ground to overwhelm the Japanese veteran.
Driven to score a finish, Arslanaliev was able to get the submission in the third round, making Yamada tap from a wrenching belly-down armbar. The lightweight bout ended at 2:51 of Round 3.
Yamada was Arslanaliev’s fifth opponent in the ONE Championship cage. Arslanaliev made his promotional debut January 29, 2016 at “ONE: Clash of Heroes” where he knocked out Mishal Alfad via punches.
On May 6, 2016, Arslanaliev knocked out Ma Jia Wen via punches at “ONE: Ascent to Power.” On August 27, 2016, the former submitted Jietebusibai Haolan via guillotine choke at “ONE: Titles and Titans.”
It was on January 14, 2017 when Arslanaliev had his first loss of his career. He was disqualified due to a kick to a grounded opponent at “ONE: Quest for Power” making his opponent Georgi Stoyanov the winner.
On the other hand, Yamada made his promotional debut on January 29, 2016 at “ONE: Clash of Heroes.” He lost to Eduard Folayang via unanimous decision.
On September 2, 2017, Yamada returned to the ONE Championship cage and earned a redemptive win. He submitted Kyle Rozewski via rear-naked choke at “ONE Championship: Shanghai.”
Losing to Arslanaliev downgraded Yamada’s professional MMA record to 22 wins and 6 losses. The Turkish MMA fighter now has 5 wins and 1 loss.
CONAN Daily 