ONE Championship has always held exciting and spectacular shows in Manila featuring the best local and international talent, and ONE: GLOBAL RIVALS certainly fit the bill with a tremendous showing of the Philippines' top fighters.
Last Friday night, April 15 at the 20,000-capacity Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, ONE Championship returned in dramatic fashion, showcasing some of the best fights of the year in a stacked card which featured the return of ONE Welterweight World Champion, Ben "Funky" Askren.
With winning comes career progression, and it's always fun to speculate on what could be in store for certain fighters. Here's what's next for the winners of ONE: GLOBAL RIVALS.
Honorio "The Rock" Banario
Team Lakay's veteran Honorio Banario once donned the ONE Featherweight World Championship a few years ago in a brief stint as titleholder. Since then, Banario went on to lose five straight bouts, each one as painful as the next. For a while, it was looking as if Banario had reached the end of his career as a mixed martial artist.
Banario says, however, that stepping away from the cage was never on his mind. As it turns out, he made the right choice.
Banario turned back the clock with a vintage performance, dominating fellow Filipino standout Vaughn "The Spawn" Donayre in three rounds of pure action. The former featherweight titlist was fast, cunning, and powerful with his combinations, getting the better of his opponent in striking exchanges.
Yet perhaps what was even more surprising was Banario's improvement in grappling. Banario showed a vastly-improved grappling game that even saw him step over Donayre for a solid armbar attempt that nearly finished the fight.
With his performance, Banario should land another big fight soon, and he's no stranger to tough opposition. Just take a look at his last six opponents and it's pretty obvious the losing experiences for Banario have helped him grow as a fighter.
Martin "The Situ-Asian" Nguyen
Another fighter in a tough brawl was former Brace featherweight champion Martin Nguyen, who met a charging bull in China's Li Kai Wen.
The two fighters blasted each other with powerful strikes from the get-go, bringing the fans to the edge of their seats in excitement. Chinese fighter Li is the ONE Championship Beijing featherweight tournament winner, and lived up to expectations by giving Nguyen a stiff challenge.
Despite Li's constant attack however, Nguyen was able to fight smart and nab a thrilling first-round technical knockout. With the victory, Nguyen now has two straight wins over solid opponents.
ONE's featherweight division is deep with a lot of talent and although Nguyen challenged for the title just two fights ago against reigning champion Marat "Cobra" Gafurov, another shot at gold is certainly not out of the question. Especially since he took the Gafurov fight on extremely short notice.
Most likely however, Nguyen will be put in against another tough foe as there are many matches to be made at this weight. Nguyen should match up well with Malaysia's Ev Ting or even the Philippines' Eric Kelly. The future looks bright for this young stud.
Reece "Lightning" McLaren
Filipino-Australian Reece McLaren surprised observers and fans alike with his thoroughly dominant victory over highly-regarded Tajik fighter Muin Gafurov.
McLaren, who revealed that his father is Filipino, came into the fight as a slight underdog to Gafurov, who was expected to come away with a breakthrough performance. It was McLaren however, who turned heads when the cards were read.
McLaren showed impeccable grappling skills, and once he latched onto Gafurov, it became increasingly difficult for his opponent to break free. McLaren wowed spectators with his effortless transitions, as he battered Gafurov with his brutal top game.
Gafurov was baffled throughout, stifled on how to overcome McLaren's intricate web of mat and cage control. Then again, it was hardly surprising, since just one fight ago in his ONE Championship debut, McLaren submitted the highly-regarded Mark "Mugen" Striegl.
Now there's no telling where McLaren is headed next, as ONE Championship's bantamweight division is one of the most stacked in the promotion. He could face Team Lakay bantamweight standout Kevin Belingon next, or even challenge the reigning champion Bibiano "The Flash" Fernandes, but whatever direction he goes only one thing is certain - he has our attention.
Lowen Tynanes
One thing has remained constant in all of Lowen Tynanes' nine victories so far as a professional mixed martial artist - the American from Hawaii has been completely and utterly dominant in his performances.
What makes the unbeaten Tynanes so overwhelmingly powerful is his combination of freakish strength and world-class wrestling skills, as well as his brutishly strong leg kicks and concussive knockout power.
Veteran opponent Koji "The Commander" Ando was supposed to give Tynanes a stiff test in his fifth bout for ONE Championship, but what ensued was a one-sided affair with Tynanes giving Ando a complete beatdown.
The sky has always been the limit for Tynanes, who has aced every test put in front of him. He's terribly close to a shot at the ONE Lightweight World Championship against reigning champion Shinya "Tobikan Judan" Aoki. But even if he doesn't get a shot at the title just yet, there are a few fighters waiting in the wings at lightweight.
There's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Ariel "Tarzan" Sexton, veteran Roger "El Matador" Huerta, as well as Japanese standouts Kotetsu Boku and Tetsuya Yamada.
Geje "Gravity" Eustaquio
There were a lot of exciting fights on ONE: GLOBAL RIVALS, but there's one performance that stands out a cut above the rest. Team Lakay's cool striking ace, Geje "Gravity" Eustaquio turned in perhaps his most robust showing to date against top Malaysian prospect Gianni Subba.
Eustaquio, who once challenged for the ONE Flyweight World Championship, has always been one of the more solid contenders at flyweight, continuously providing fans with standout performances. Now contesting at Bantamweight, what he did against Subba-considered one of the best in the division-was a complete shutout.
Eustaquio kept Subba guessing for five minutes of every round. The shorter fighter, Eustaquio attacked Subba with a myriad of head kicks and pinpoint accurate punching combinations. It seemed every strike the Baguio City native landed sapped more and more energy from the young Subba until Eustaquio completely broke his will.
It was a thorough performance, one that certainly deserves praise. This makes two solid victories in a row for Eustaquio, who had knocked out Saiful Merican in his previous bout. Eustaquio may have positioned himself for another title shot, this time against Bibiano Fernandes.
Ben Askren
After a year-long wait, Ben Askren finally made his much-awaited return to action, decisioning Russia's Nikolay Aleksakhin in the night's main event.
While Askren, considered around the world to be one of the best in the sport regardless of weight class, was expected to steamroll through Aleksakhin, but his Russian foe actually fared well midway into the fight.
Aleksakhin landed a plethora of hard strikes that rocked Askren on multiple occasions, reiterating the fact that the ONE Welterweight World Champion leaves a lot to be desired in the striking department. Askren's limited defense on the feet proved to be a major liability as he got tagged over and over by Aleksakhin's straights.
One thing did hold up for Askren however, and that's his chin, which is apparently made of granite. Askren showcased a tremendous fortitude by taking Aleksakhin's best shots while still being able to grind out the victory.
Of course in the end, it was Askren's patented folk-style wrestling that once again prevailed and earned him the judges' nod. With the victory, Askren can now move on to a highly-anticipated fight against Brazil's Luis "Sapo" Santos to settle the score once and for all.