One FC: Vera wins, but Folayang gets knocked out

Filipino-American mixed martial arts star Brandon Vera won his One FC heavyweight debut in style after he stopped the game Igor Subora of Ukraine at Mall of Asia Arena late Friday.

 

But local MMA hero Eduard Folayang of Baguio was knocked out cold in the first round by hard-hitting Russian Timofey Nastyukhin.

 

Against the former UFC heavyweight campaigner in Vera, Subora started the contest fighting the only way he knew how, moving forward and throwing punches in bunches. Vera, fighting his first bout before a Filipino audience, kept his cool, maintaining his fighting distance with kicks and counter-punches.

 

An early Vera left kick to the head stunned Subora but the latter kept pressuring, throwing hard shots with bad intent.

 

An opening from a Subora right hand left him open for the taking and Vera was quick to respond with a counter-left straight that dropped him for the first time. The referee had to step in and stop the fight after a series of unanswered soccer kicks to the head of Subora.

 

The official time was 3:54 of round one.

 

"I almost started crying man, it was so good," said Vera of his first win in One FC.

 

Meanwhile, Nastyukhin's intentions were clear early on against Folayan as he fired vicious punches and kicks both to the head and body.

 

A flying left knee sent Folayang flying to the canvas. Nastyukhin followed up with two soccer kicks to the temple that left the Filipino unconscious at the 3:11 mark of round one. — JST, GMA News