“Knockout rain” at MMA AFC 25 event

At this event, AFC 25 witnessed an extremely attractive "rain" of knockouts when 5/6 matches ended without the need for a referee's scorecard. Right in the opening match, 2 experienced boxers with 24 professional fights, Rodrigo Caporal (Brazil) and Burenzorig Batmunkh (Mongolia), dedicated a fierce match in the Light Weight category.

Brazilian boxer celebrates victory with Vietnamese flag

With a series of heavy leg sweeps that left Rodrigo Caporal with a serious injury, Burenzorig Batmunkh broke the Brazilian jiu-jitsu master's attempt to close in before landing a heavy left kick to Caporal's liver, sending his opponent to the floor and earning a knockout victory with less than a minute left in the second round. This result gave Batmunkh his fourth technical knockout victory of his career.

Next, 27-year-old Korean boxer Jang Bum Seok caused excitement when he won by knockout after just over 2 minutes of competition in the Light Heavyweight category against 10-year professional boxer Nosherwan Khanzada (Hong Kong, China). This was a match where Khanzada actively approached and knocked his opponent to the floor, but Jang Bum Seok was the boxer who gained a more favorable position to continuously launch "rice pounding" punches to end this match early.

In the match between two Vietnamese boxers Phan Huy Hoang and Ta Quang Hai in the Bantamweight category, it was thought that Quang Hai could make a surprise when he launched a dangerous armlock right at the beginning of the first round. However, with the experience of reaching the semi-finals of the Vietnam professional MMA tournament LION Championship 2022 (losing to Nguyen Tran Duy Nhat), Huy Hoang escaped and launched extremely heavy arm strikes to win by knockout right in the first half of the first round.

Phan Huy Hoang won an impressive victory

However, the highlight match of AFC 25 is the interim Fly Weight title match between famous Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion Robson Oliveira and Rene Catalan Jr., a Filipino fighter who is in extremely good form with 9 wins in only 10 times on the ring. It should be added that Rene Catalan Jr. is also the son of famous martial arts legend Rene Catalan.

At the beginning of the match, Rene Catalan Jr. launched two powerful high kicks in succession. Robson Oliveira dodged the attack very quickly and then rushed in to close the distance. At close range, the two fighters continuously exchanged blows with fiery punches. In the middle of the second round, Robson Oliveira knocked Rene Catalan Jr. to the floor and launched an extremely classy armlock using both calves. Although Rene Catalan Jr. escaped this extremely dangerous attack, he could not escape the control of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu master.

Robson Oliveira held onto Rene Catalan Jr.’s arm before launching a series of right punches into his opponent’s face. Realizing that Rene Catalan Jr. was no longer able to defend, the referee immediately stopped the fight, giving the Brazilian a classy technical knockout victory with more than 2 minutes left in the first round.

Along with the fierce competitions, the MMA AFC 25 event delighted the audience with a party of music and extremely top-notch lighting, including performances by singers from Korea, especially the famous "male god" Lee Dae Won.

Article and photos: BAO ANH

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