Combat sports athletes typically don’t need too much of a push to deliver a prediction ahead of their fights, and ONE Fight Night 10’s combatants were no exception.
Ahead of ONE’s historic U.S. on-ground debut, which went down on Friday, May 5, a host of the fighters on the stacked card lifted the lid on how they saw their bouts going.
And some of those predictions came true with shocking accuracy inside Denver, Colorado’s 1STBANK Center.
Zebaztian Kadestam: ‘Somebody has to sleep’
Zebaztian Kadestam (15-7) wasn’t mincing words before his blockbuster showdown with Croatian superstar Roberto Soldic (20-4).
“The Bandit” assured fans that their welterweight battle wouldn’t go the distance.
“It’s got to be by KO. Anything else is not enough. I’m giving this fight zero percent chance of going the distance,” he said.
“Somebody has to sleep. And to be honest if it’s a good fight, and it has to be me, I don’t give a f-ck.”
But it was the Swedish slugger who served up the knockout in the end. He took control of the much-hyped Soldic in the second round and sent him down to canvas just under a minute into the frame.
The victory netted Kadestam a $50,000 performance bonus and continued him on his quest to retake the divisional gold.
Aung La N Sang: ‘If the submission is there, I’ll take it’
Myanmar MMA legend Aung La N Sang (30-13) teased an opportunistic finish ahead of his middleweight encounter with China’s Fan Rong (19-4).
“I’m looking for a finish. Honestly, I’m looking for a grand finish. If the submission is there, I’ll take it, but I’m not going to force anything,” he said.
And take it he did.
“The Burmese Python” snatched a lightning-quick guillotine choke as Fan rushed in for a takedown in the early going of round two. From there, he forced the tap and had the win sewn up before 60 seconds had passed on the clock.
The former two-division ONE world champion extended his winning run to three with the slick victory and further strengthened his case for an opportunity to reclaim the middleweight throne.
Jackie Buntan: ‘An early night is always a nice night’
American striking star Jackie Buntan had no plans to linger in the ONE circle at ONE’s debut on her home soil.
Looking ahead to her strawweight muay Thai clash with Diandra Martin, the 25-year-old hinted that she had a surprise in store for the Aussie.
“I can’t give too many details about exactly what (I’ll attack with) because I’ll be working on various strategies for this camp, but an early night’s always nice,” Buntan said.
“I think for any fighter, in any discipline they’re in, an early night is always a nice night.”
Ultimately, the former ONE world title challenger needed less than a round to dispatch Martin, as her power punches proved too much to handle.
A left hook to the body followed by a big right hand sent the visitor crashing to the canvas where she was unable to recover, just 2:34 into the contest.
