ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano "The Flash" Fernandes retained his title with a first round submission win over Team Lakay's Kevin "The Silencer" Belingon in the main event of ONE: Dynasty of Champions on Saturday, January 23 at the Changsha Stadium in Changsha, China.
Fernandes nullified Belingon's supposed striking advantage by going straight for the takedown.
After passing Belingon's guard and moving into side control, Fernandes worked an armbar attempt into a Kimura, forcing the tap at 4:04 of the very first round.
Prior to the title bout, Belingon had not seen action for over a year, showing a bit of cage rust. Fernandes had no intention of standing with Belingon and made his gameplan clear.
It was quick and easy work for Fernandes who seems to have no equal in his division. With the victory, Fernandes becomes the most dominant champion in ONE Championship history while Belingon gets sent back to the drawing board.
Belingon had long been one of the most promising fighters to come out of the Philippines and was thought to be a stern test for the streaking Bibiano Fernandes. Fernandes however took the opportunity to prove to the world that his world-ranking is warranted, and that there are hardly any fighters out there who will be able to give him a good challenge.
With the loss, Belingon will head back to Baguio City to rejoin his Team Lakay brothers looking to improve their grappling. Despite Filipino fighters all having excellent striking techniques, their grappling acumen has severely lacked and figures to be the missing piece in the puzzle.
If Belingon can come back stronger and with a better grappling technique, then he will become a complete fighter who is both dangerous on his feet as well as on his back.
ONE Championship returns Friday, January 29 at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for ONE: Clash of Heroes. The card will be headlined by a featherweight matchup between Ev Ting and Eric Kelly.