"Fought till exhaustion" - Aung La N Sang's frightening power shines in brutal back-and-forth against Ken Hasegawa
If you want to turn anyone into an instant ONE Championship fan, make them watch Aung La N Sang versus Ken Hasegawa I at ONE: Spirit of a Warrior back in 2018. It rivals some of the greatest fights in MMA like Forrest Griffin versus Stephan Bonnar I and Fedor Emelianenko versus Mirko Cro Cop.
What makes Aung La versus Hasegawa better is the fact that it ran on a pace that can make anyone's heart stop for five rounds. Another reason is that it had perhaps a more shocking and definitive ending.
Back when Aung La N Sang held the ONE middleweight MMA world title, he was considered the face of the organization and a national hero in his home country of Myanmar.
For his first world title defense, 'The Burmese Python' brought the organization to Myanmar with Japan's Hasegawa as his first challenger.
Here's a video of the highlights of this brutal five-round war:
Fans expressed their awe in the comments section of the post:
@lavendersaltz hit the nail on the head with his comment:
"The KO was nasty.. due folded like a lawn chair"
@handadouglas was all respect for the war of attrition that transpired that night in Yangon:
"Both fighters fought till exhaustion. Mad respect for both fighters!!"
@jeremy.h.e.n.g said what we all are thinking:
"Still one of the best fights ever"
Aung La N Sang and Ken Hasegawa fought in a rematch nine months after their first fight
After the epic first battle, Aung La N Sang successfully defended his belt once again against Mohamad Karaki at ONE: Pursuit of Greatness. A few months after that, fans were clamoring for another dance with Hasegawa, which happened at ONE: New Era in March 2019.
Unlike the back-and-forth first fight, however, the rematch was quite one-sided as Aung La largely learned from the match in 2018 and dominated the Japanese en route to a TKO win in the second round.
You can watch the rematch here: