It’s been a spectacular year for Singapore-based promotion ONE Championship. With big-name signings and a packed schedule of events encompassing MMA, kickboxing and Muay Thai, 2019 has been the biggest year in ONE Championship history.
The promotion has served up more than its fair share of spectacular finishes over the course of the year, as the stars of Asian MMA have delivered a plethora of eye-catching knockouts to wow the fans across the region.
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In Part 3 of ONE’s official countdown of their Top 10 knockouts of the year, we round out the list with the top three knockout finishes from the Asian promotion.
The KO that resonated the most with the U.S. MMA audience was undoubtedly Timofey Nastyukhin’s first-round demolition of former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez at “ONE: A New Era” in Tokyo, Japan. The Russian lightweight had a well-earned reputation as a devastating first-round finisher, but his resumé nonetheless flew under the radar of many fans heading into his bout with the debuting Alvarez on Mar. 31.
But those fans who weren’t aware of Nastyukhin’s nasty KO power were certainly aware of it by the end of the contest, as the power-punching Russian dismantled Alvarez inside a round to claim a huge victory and eliminate the American from the ONE lightweight grand prix at the quarterfinal stage.
If Nastyukhin’s stoppage of Alvarez was a heavy-handed beatdown, the No. 2 KO on the list was a one-shot special from one of the organization’s best athletes.
Australia’s Martin Nguyen became ONE’s first “champ champ” in 2018, but after relinquishing the lightweight belt later that same year due to injury, “The Situ-Asian” headed into 2019 focused on defending his featherweight title. And he successfully held on to his belt throughout the year with a pair of stoppage victories, with his April finish of former featherweight champion Narantungalag Jadambaa at “ONE: Roots of Honor” featuring at No. 2 on the list.
Nguyen systematically broke down Jadambaa with his slick striking and deft footwork as he picked apart the Mongolian. Then, after hurting the former champion with a well-placed low calf kick, Nguyen saw his moment and launched into a spectacular flying knee that sent his man crashing to the canvas.
But Nguyen’s finish wasn’t quite enough to earn the top spot on the list, as Filipino strawweight star Joshua Pacio claimed the Knockout of the Year award with his fourth-round roundhouse knee finish of ONE strawweight champ Yosuke Saruta at “ONE: Roots of Honor” in Manila.
“The Passion” had captured the strawweight title in September 2018, but lost the belt to Saruta after a razor-thin split-decision verdict went the Japanese fighter’s way at “ONE: Eternal Glory” in January. A rematch was booked for April, and a packed Mall of Asia Arena crowd roared their support for Pacio as he battled into the championship round with Saruta once again.
But, just as people began to wonder how the fight might be scored, Pacio ended all doubt about the outcome as he connected with a roundhouse knee, which landed flush on Saruta’s temple, sending the defending champion face-first into the canvas.
It was a stunning KO as Pacio registered the best ONE Championship knockout of the year and reclaimed the ONE strawweight title amid wild scenes in Manila.
Watch the top three ONE Championship finishes of 2019 via the video player above, or via YouTube here.
ONE Championship’s Knockouts of the Year 2019 – in full:
- Joshua Pacio (vs. Yosuka Saruta)
- Martin Nguyen (vs. Narantungalag Jadambaa)
- Timofey Nastyukhin (vs. Eddie Alvarez)
- Robin Catalan (vs. Gustavo Balart)
- Cosmo Alexandre (vs. Sage Northcutt)
- Jeremy Miado (vs. Miao Li Tao)
- Niu Kang Kang (vs. Sunoto)
- Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev (vs. Amir Khan)
- Yuya Wakamatsu (vs. Geje Eustaquio)
- Thanh Le (vs. Yusup Saadulaev)