One Championship Dawn of Heroes Results and Highlights: Former UFC Champion notches comeback win, Demetrious Johnson survives
One Championship held their latest event titled Dawn of Heroes. It featured former UFC Champions, Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson, in semi-final bouts of Grand Prix tournaments organized for their respective weight classes.
Martin Nguyen defended his Lightweight title in the main event of the show against Koyomi Matsushima. Dawn of Heroes is now in the history books and it lived up to all the expectations. There were hard-fought victories, exciting finishes, and one epic come-from-behind triumph - which was scripted by none other than Eddie Alvarez himself.
Also on the card, ONE crowned a new Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion as Rodtang Jitmuangnon defeated Jonathan Haggerty.
Dawn of Heroes emanated from the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. The card featured a total of twelve MMA fights along with two Muay Thai contests.
The preliminary card consisted of eight bouts, while the main card had four highly engaging encounters.
Demetrious Johnson took on Tatsumitsu Wada in the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix semi-final while Eddie Alvarez faced former ONE Lightweight Champion Eduard Folayang in the Lightweight Grand Prix semi-final.
It was a stacked event which delivered the goods with breakneck action and technical fights of the highest quality. Before we go look deeper into some of the biggest outcomes of the event, here are the quick results of the show:
One Championship Dawn of Heroes Results: Main Card
Martin Nguyen def. Koyomi Matsushima via TKO (Round 2, 4:40)
Eddie Alvarez def. Eduard Folayang via Submission (rear-naked choke) (Round 1, 2:16)
Demetrious Johnson def. Tatsumitsu Wada via Unanimous Decision
Danny Kingad def. Reece McLaren via Split Decision
One Championship Dawn of Heroes Results: Prelims
Yuya Wakamatsu def. Geje Eustaquio via Knockout (Round 1, 1:59)
Dae Sung Park def. Honorio Banario via Unanimous Decision
Daichi Takenaka def. Leandro Issa via TKO (Round 3, 1:40)
James Nakashima def. Yushin Okami via Unanimous Decision
Xie Bin def. Edward Kelly via Technical Decision
Miao Li Tao def. Pongsiri Mitsatit via Unanimous Decision
Ayaka Miura def. Samara Santos via Submission (Americana) (Round 2, 0:39)
Muhammad Aiman def. Sunoto Peringkat via Unanimous Decision
One Championship Dawn of Heroes Results: Muay Thai
Rodtang Jitmuangnon def. Jonathan Haggerty via unanimous decision to become the new Flyweight Muay Thai World Champion
Rodlek Jaotalaytong def. Andrew Miller via knockout (Round 3, 0:49)
We have to begin with Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson as they were the two biggest names on the card owing to their UFC exploits. Let's begin with the Underground King.
Alvarez was in a spot of bother early on in the fight as Folayang knocked him down to the mat with a solid left hand that was followed up with a well-placed leg kick. Alvarez kept his cool and swept Folayang before taking his back and locking in a tight RNC. The comeback win takes Alvarez to the final, where he will face Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev on October 13th at ONE's 100th show in Tokyo, Japan.
As for Mighty Mouse, the former UFC Flyweight Champion had to grind out a win after a grueling fight against Tatsumitsu Wada that went the distance.
Johnson took some time to get going as he lost the first round to his proficient opponent. He went on to assert his superior skills and experience by getting the better of the exchanges on the feet and the mat in the second and third rounds. The win takes DJ into the finals, where he would take on Danny Kingad, also tentatively slated for the ONE 100 show.
The night was littered with knockouts that got the fans on their feet. Rodlek Jaotalaytong knocked Andrew Miller's lights out in the third round of their Muay Thai bout. Notable Flyweight contender Geje Eustaquio got rocked by Yuya Wakamatsu's brutal right hand in the Grand Prix alternative fight.
The popular Dae Sung Park scored the biggest W of his career with a unanimous decision over former ONE Champion Honorio Banario. Check out the highlights from the show below:
ONE Championship's next event - ONE Series 7 will take place August 6, 2019, in Kallang, Singapore.