(James Goyder is the owner/editor of AsianMMA.com)
Stamp Fairtex should be celebrating the biggest win of her MMA career. Instead, she is left with the first loss on her record after tapping out as Alyona Rassohnya worked to secure a guillotine choke with seven seconds remaining in their atomweight fight.
Stamp started celebrating when the referee stopped the fight, apparently under the impression the bell had already sounded. But the round was not over and by tapping once on the Ukrainian’s shoulder, she had clearly admitted defeat.
The Thai was trapped in a guillotine choke, but did not seem in any danger of getting choked unconscious. Only Stamp will know why she decided to tap at that stage, but the 23-year-old was furious when the referee stopped the fight.
It spoiled what had been an impressive performance by Stamp, who was seven seconds away from earning a unanimous decision win. She was taken down early in the opening round by the armbar specialist, but reversed Rassohnya, only to give up the position trying for a rear-naked choke.
Rassohnya rolled for an armbar, but Stamp slipped out and survived the first scare. The Ukrainian completed another takedown, but couldn’t capitalize with a submission, as Stamp got to her feet and landed two hard elbows.
In the second stanza, Stamp landed a counter knee to punish Rassohnya for her first takedown attempt. They clinched against the cage and the Thai landed more elbows before taking her opponent’s back as the Ukrainian tried desperately to get the fight down.
With seconds remaining in the round, a right hand to the body hurt Rassohnya badly, but Stamp seemed oblivious to the effect of her punch. The action slowed in the third, but with about a minute remaining the Ukrainian got the fight down.
Stamp reversed again, but Rassohnya locked on a guillotine. At first it looked like Stamp’s unblemished record was in jeopardy, but she worked her way out and was seven seconds from victory by the time she tapped out.
Stamp drops to 5-1. While she protested loudly, the tap was there for all to see. Why she decided to tap remains open to conjecture, but it will go down as a submission win on Rassohnya’s record and the promotional newcomer improves to 13-4.
It was a good night for Fabricio Andrade (5-2), who overcame the experienced Shoko Sato (31-13-2). It was a close and competitive bantamweight bout, but the Brazilian had the best moments, opening up a cut with an elbow in the third and final round.
ONE: Unbreakable III results
- Alyona Rassohnya def. Stamp Fairtex via Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 4:53 of round three
- Fabricio Andrade def. Shoko Sato via Decision (Unanimous)
- Ryuto Sawada def. Robin Catalan via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:19 of round one
- Kang Ji Won def. Mehdi Barghi via TKO (Punches) at 4:50 of round one
- Ahmed Mujtaba def. Raju Rahul via KO (Punch) at 0:56 of round one
- Tial Thang def. Paul Lumihi via TKO (Punches) at 2:25 of round two
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ONE: Unbreakable III fight highlights
(Video courtesy of ONE Championship)
Alyona Rassohnya submits Stamp Fairtex at ONE: Unbreakable III
