It was a hard defeat for Ilonggo mixed martial arts fighter Robin Catalan after he bowed in One: Unbreakable 3 Fight at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The Pinoy pride suffered a first round submission defeat to Japanese foe Ryuto Sawada via rear naked choke.
Both players exchanged solid punches in the early going but Sawada threw the first kick to force a clinch at the Circle Wall. The action was then halted momentarily when Catalan took an inadvertent knee to the groin.
Catalan was aggressive after the action resumed. He quickly threw a front kick that backfired but Sawada caught it and countered with a single-leg takedown.
The Ilonggo kept Sawada close and then used the Circle Wall to scale up and regain his feet, with Catalan drilling his knees into Sawada. The Japanese athlete threw body punches and then landed another single-leg takedown. The Japanese fighter then picked his spots softening up Catalan with short punches. When Catalan let go of his arm, Sawada squeezed in a deep rear-naked choke that forced Catalan to tap out at the 4:19 mark of round one.
It was a tough defeat for Catalan, who is fighting for the first time since his sensational knockout of Gustavo Balart at Masters of Fate in 2019.
Catalan’s younger brother and ONE veteran Rene, said Sawada is a really, really tough opponent. “He’s good on the ground.”
With the recent loss, Catalan dropped his MMA record to 10-7 win-loss while Sawada moved up to 14-5 with his eighth submission victory.IMT
Photo from onefc.com
