There were a few concerning moments but Jing Nan Xiong retained her strawweight title at ONE: Empowered by putting on a striking clinic.
Xiong kept the fight on the feet despite the many takedown attempts of Nicolini. The challenger grabbed Xiong’s leg for an unsuccessful heel hook in the second round but struggled to keep the champion on the mat except for a last round triangle choke attempt.
With the unanimous decision victory, Xiong has now defended her title for the fifth time. Nicolini has now lost two of her last three fights.
Stamp Fairtex avenged her loss to Alyona Rassohyna with a split-decision victory. The fight was similar to the first with Fairtex dominating large portions of the bout on the feet and even a rear-naked choke attempt in the first. Rassohyna almost pulled off another last second miracle submission but this time Fairtex held on.
The atomweight world grand prix tournament semi-finalists were determined with Ritu Phogat, Stamp Fairtex, Itsuki Hirata, and Seo Hee Ham (controversially) advancing to the finals.
Their finalist opponents will be determined by a fan vote with the tournament winner awarded a shot at champion Angela Lee.
In other bouts:
SEO HEE HAM DEF. DENICE ZAMBOANGA VIA SD
RITU PHOGAT DEF. MENG BO VIA UD
STAMP FAIRTEX DEF. ALYONA RASSOHYNA VIA SD
ITSUKI HIRATA DEF. ALYSE ANDERSON VIA UD
ANISSA MEKSEN DEF. CRISTINA MORALES VIA TKO R2 2:27
JACKIE BUNTAN DEF. DANIELA LOPEZ VIA UD
JULIE MEZABARBA DEF. MEI YAMAGUCHI VIA UD
