(James Goyder is the owner/editor of AsianMMA.com)
Jarred Brooks supposedly confronted Hiroba Minowa in the hotel prior to this fight but the American certainly saved plenty of aggression for fight night. He came out swinging in the opening round at ONE: Only the Brave’ and his opponent never really recovered.
Brooks elected to go toe to toe with Minowa in the first exchanges at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and for the better of them. But he wasted no time in taking the Japanese fighter down and punishing him with ground and pound before taking his back and trying for a rear naked choke and a guillotine.
Minowa was saved by the bell but only after eating some hard knees and it was more of the same in the second round. The Japanese fighter did land a knee but moments later he was taken down and subjected to more ground and pound from the UFC veteran.
The third round followed an all too familiar pattern for Minowa. Brooks got him down again and went to work from top position. The Japanese fighter worked his way up with around 30 seconds remaining only to eat a knee to the groin.
There was no quit in Minowa who elected to fight the finally 30 seconds despite knowing he had virtually no chance to win. There was time for the Japanese fighter to try two flying knees as both men swans for the fences with the bell putting a stop to the frenzied action.
Afterwards Minowa sank to his knees, partly out of pure exhaustion and partly out of a desire to pay tribute to an opponent t who has completely dominated him from start to finish. The decision was a formality with the American awarded the victory by all three judges.
The win takes Brooks’ record to 18-2 and could potentially secure him a strawweight title shot. Hiroba Minowa drops to 13-3 and after the fight the American made it clear he wants a shot at the belt,
“Joshua Pacio you’d better be ready baby ‘The Monkey God’ is coming. Daddy’s home.”
He also raised the intriguing possibility of moving up to flyweight,
“I’m coming for the whole flyweight division too baby.”
Earlier in the evening Tatsumitsu Wada (23-11-2) earned a unanimous decision win over Shuo Wang (13-6). The fight was scheduled for the flyweight division but the Chinese fighter couldn’t make weight.
Hiroyuki Tetsuka (11-4) finished Edson Marques (9-2) with a left hook in the third round of their welterweight fight. He could be in line for a title shot but announced he wanted to face Yoshihiro Akiyama.
ONE: ‘Only the Brave’, Singapore, January 28th
- Kickboxing: Sittichai Sitspongpeenong def. Davit Kiria via Decision (Unanimous)
- Chingiz Allazov def. Jo Nattawut via KO (Punches) at 1:55 of R1
- Lipeng Zhang def. Ruslan Emilbek Uulu via KO (Punches) at 0:32 of R1
- Kickboxing: Rade Opacic def. Francesko Xhaja via TKO (Punches) at 2:00 of R2
- Hiroyuki Tetsuka def. Edson Marques by KO (punch) at 1:05 of R3
- Jarred Brooks def. Koha Minowa via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kickboxing: Ivan Kondratev def. Dovydas Rimkus via KO (Punch) at 0:35 of R3
- Tatsumitsu Wada def. Shuo Wang via Decision (Unanimous)
- Otgonjargal Purev def. Micael De Jesus via Decision (Unanimous)
