Eustaquio dominates Akhmetov, crowned as ONE interim champ

MANILA - The Philippines has a new mixed martial arts champion after Team Lakay's Geje Eustaquio bagged the ONE interim flyweight title following a dominant performance over Kairat Akhmetov in the main event of "ONE: Global Superheroes" Friday night at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

The fight was cjEustaquio started aggressively throwing punches and kicks while Akhmetov seemingly waited for an opening to score a takedown. When the fight got to the mat, Eustaquio nearly came to pulling off a kneebar submission.

Eustaquio started to dictate the pace in rounds two and three as he cleanly landed his strikes and prevented the kazakh wrestler to score a takedown.

Eustaquio did the same in round 4, landing clean kicks from both legs and even attempted a guillotine choke in the last minute. Akhmetov looked puzzled in round 5 as Eustaquio had an answer to just about everything he did.

After five five-minute rounds, Eustaquio was awarded a unanimous decision and crowned as the new ONE interim flyweight champion.

In the co-main event, Joshua Pacio of Baguio City's Team Lakay showcased his well-roundedness inside the cage after he submitted Lan Ming Qiang in the opening round.

Pacio brought the fight to the mat with his very first takedown attempt. Qiang showed some resistance, but was ultimately overwhelmed by the young phenom's strength and ground superiority.

A small opening allowed Pacio to secure a rear naked choke, forcing his chinese foe to tap at the 4:01 of round one. The submission improved Pacio's mixed martial arts record to 11-2. — DVM, GMA News