Shinya Aoki chokes out Eduard Folayang to reclaim ONE lightweight world title

Shinya Aoki is once again the ONE lightweight world champion after beating Filipino icon Eduard Folayang at ONE: A New Era, in Tokyo, Sunday night.

The Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) legend put on an amazing grappling performance in front of the full-house crowd at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan by submitting Folayang at 2:34 minutes of the first round.

After flashing a high kick, Aoki shot in for a single leg and put Folayang on the mat with a takedown.

He then swiftly transitioned into an arm-triangle choke from half guard.

Aoki tightened his squeeze and put Folayang to sleep before celebrating the victory in front of his hometown crowd.

It took him over two years to get a shot to reclaim his world title.

In the women’s strawweight world championship bout, defending champion Xiong Jing Nan of China continued her reign of dominance over the division after defeating her Singaporean, challenger Angela Lee by TKO in the fifth round.

Lee was aggressive and had Xiong in a number of dangerous submission attempts, but the champion was lighting Lee up on the feet the entire bout.

In the final round, Xiong punished Lee with hard kicks to the midsection and fierce punch combinations that forced the referee to intervene and award Xiong with the stoppage win.

Myanmar’s Aung La N Sang successfully retained his ONE middleweight world championship with a spectacular second-round TKO victory over Ken Hasegawa of Japan.

Aung La N Sang was dominant all throughout the bout, punishing Hasegawa with an arsenal of powerful punches and thunderous kicks.

A stiff right straight from Aung La N Sang late in the second round spelled the beginning of the end for Hasegawa, as the defending champion followed up with ground-and-pound to score the finish in dominant fashion.

Meanwhile, an unfortunate sequence of events turned in the ONE bantamweight world Tttle clash between champion Kevin Belingon of the Philippines and former titleholder Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil.

Fernandes, who was dominant after two rounds of action, landed a takedown in the third round but was left unable to continue after Belingon connected on a flurry of illegal elbows to the back of the head.

Belingon was shown a red card and was automatically disqualified.

Fernandes was then awarded the ONE bantamweight world title.

Below are the official results of ONE: A New Era

ONE Lightweight World Championship bout: Shinya Aoki defeats Eduard Folayang by Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) at 2:34 minutes of round 1 ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship bout: Xiong Jing Nan defeats Angela Lee by TKO (Strikes) at 1:37 minutes of round 5 ONE Middleweight World Championship bout: Aung La N Sang defeats Ken Hasegawa by TKO (Strikes) at 4:41 minutes of round 2 ONE Bantamweight World Championship bout: Bibiano Fernandes defeats Kevin Belingon by Disqualification (DQ) ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Quarter-final bout: Demetrious Johnson defeats Yuya Wakamatsu by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 2:40 minutes of round 2 ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Quarter-final bout: Timofey Nastyukhin defeats Eddie Alvarez by TKO (Strikes) at 4:05 minutes of round 1 ONE Super Series Kickboxing Catch Weight bout (72.0kg): Yodsanklai IWE Fairtex defeats Andy Souwer by Knockout (KO) at 0:51 minutes of round 2 ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Quarter-final bout: Danny Kingad defeats Senzo Ikeda by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 3 rounds ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Quarter-final bout: Kairat Akhmetov defeats Reece McLaren by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 3 rounds ONE Super Series Flyweight Muay Thai bout: Rodtang Jitmuangnon defeats Hakim Hamech by Split Decision (SD) after 3 rounds ONE Super Series Flyweight Kickboxing bout: Joseph Lasiri defeats Hiroki Akimoto by Majority Decision (MD) after 3 rounds Women’s Atomweight bout: Mei Yamaguchi defeats Kseniya Lachkova by Submission (Armbar) at 3:18 minutes of round 3 Featherweight bout: Garry Tonon defeats Anthony Engelen by TKO (Strikes) at 4:12 minutes of round 1 ONE Super Series Bantamweight Muay Thai bout: Panicos Yusuf defeats Mohammed Bin Mahmoud by Unanimous Decision (UD) after 3 rounds Lightweight bout: Yoon Chang Min defeats Bala Shetty by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:16 minutes of round 1