(James Goyder is the owner/editor of AsianMMA.com)
The two top ranked strawweights faced off at ONE 156 this evening at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Jarred Brooks and Bokang Masunyane went head to head with a title shot on the line and the American pulled off a convincing submission win.
The two wrestlers clinched up in the centre of the cage almost instantly. Both battled to to get the fight to the ground on their terms but Masunyane inadvertently gave up his back while going for a hip toss.
Brooks had a body triangle from a standing position. Masunyang knew exactly where the danger lied and did a very good job of defending rear naked choke attempts.
Unable to slip an arm under his opponent’s chin Brooks had to settle for softening the South African up with punches to the head and body. Masunyane looked comfortable as he consistently used both hands to peel off whichever arm his opponent was threatening with.
But eventually Brooks was able to slip past his opponent’s defences. They collapsed to the floor with the UFC veteran still pinned to Masunyane’s back and it soon became clear that the South African was unconscious.
With the win Brooks improves to 19-2-0-1 while his opponent drops to 8-1 after suffering defeat for the very first time. Afterwards he called for a fight with strawweight champion Joshua Pacio and this time the request is definitely going to be granted.
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ONE 156, Singapore, April 22nd
- Jarred Brooks def. Bokang Masunyane via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:39 of round one
- Danial Williams defeats Namiki Kawahara via Decision (Unanimous)
- Gustavo Balart defeats Yosuke Saruta via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kickboxing: Andrei Stoica defeats Giannis Stoforidis via Decision (Split)
- Muay Thai: Anissa Meksen defeats Marie Ruumet via Decision (Unanimous)
- Windson Ramos defeats “Dynamic” Woo Sung Hoon via Decision (Unanimous)
- Dayane Cardoso defeats Ayaka “Zombie” Miura via TKO (Injury) at 0:56 of round two
- Abraao Amorim defeats “Crazy Dog” Dae Sung Park via TKO (Punches) at 1:20 of round two
- Jin Tae Ho defeats Agilan Thani via submission (kimura) at 2:23 of round one
- Submission Grappling: Mikey Musumeci defeats Masakazu Imanari via Submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:09 of round one
- Keanu Subba defeats James Yang via Decision (Unanimous)