Aung La N Sang, Olivier Coste, Brandon Vera (©ONE Championship)

“The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang, 34, of Myanmar is still the reigning ONE Light Heavyweight World Champion. The Burmese-American mixed martial artist successfully defended his title at “ONE: Century 世紀” in Tokyo, Japan.

“ONE: Century 世紀” was the second ONE Championship event held in Japan and it marked the martial arts organization’s 100th live event. The combat sports event had two parts with 11 bouts each.

Featuring mixed martial arts, Muay Thai and kickboxing matches, “ONE: Century 世紀” took place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on October 12, 2019. In the main event of the second part, Brandon “The Truth” Vera, 42, of the Philippines challenged the reigning ONE Light Heavyweight World Champion with Olivier Coste as the referee.

Vera is the reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion. Aung is also the reigning ONE Middleweight World Champion.

In the first round, Aung set the tempo peppering Vera with leg kicks in an attempt to slow down the taller man. Against the fence, the Filipino-American challenger would connect on a series of punches and elbows, which the Burmese defending champion La wore well.

The second round opened up with more action on the inside as both Aung and Vera connected on huge combinations from close range. They both took each other’s best shots and a furious exchange of thunderous strikes against the fence ensued.

Aung landed a sharp spinning back elbow to rock Vera, sending the challenger to the canvas. The defending champion put on the finishing touches with ground-and-pound while the challenger covered up.

Coste put a stop to the title bout after 3 minutes and 23 seconds in the second round. Aung knocked out Vera.

This marked the first loss of the Filipino-American MMA veteran inside the ONE Championship cage. It was Aung’s first title defense as the reigning ONE Light Heavyweight World Champion.

Winning at “ONE: Century 世紀” improved the professional MMA record of Aung to 26 wins, 10 losses, 0 draw and 1 No Contest. On the other hand, Vera now has 16 wins, 8 losses, 0 draw and 1 No Contest.

The reigning ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion is training out of Hardknocks 365. The reigning ONE Heavyweight World Champion trains at Alliance Training Center.

Including Myanmar and the Philippines, 18 countries were represented in the two parts of “ONE: Century 世紀.” The others were Algeria, Belarus, Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United States.

Aung was one of the two fighters who represented Myanmar while Vera was one of the five representatives of the Philippines. Watch the highlights of “ONE: Century 世紀” part 2 here: