Vera beats Cheng to claim ONE heavyweight world title; Striegl and Julaton lose to rivals

Dec 12, 2015
3 min read

Filipino-American Brandon “The Truth” Vera made quick work of Taiwan’s Paul “Typhoon” Cheng in just 26 seconds to win the inaugural ONE Heavyweight World Championship match at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Vera opened the bout by dropping Cheng with a counter left hook after Cheng was caught over-extending on a missed punch. Vera followed up with a high kick that landed flush, sending Cheng down to the canvas. From there, Vera rained down hammer fists to force a stoppage.

Paul Cheng is a last-minute replacement as Brandon Vera’s original opponent Chi Lewis-Parry failed to submit his medical records prior to the fight and consequently did not board his plane going to Manila.

(Read: Lewis-Parry withdraws at the last minute; Paul Cheng steps up to face Vera in One Championship)

While Vera had something for the local fight fans to be happy about, it was far different for the other Filipino fighters as Mark “Mugen” Striegl, Ruel Catalan, and Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton failed in their respective matches. Only Eugene Toquero managed to salvage a victory for the Filipino fighters aside from Vera.

Crowd favorite Eugene Toquero stopped previously unbeaten Li Wei Bin of China as the latter failed to get up from his chair forcing his corner to throw in the towel after the bell rang for the final round.

Reece “Lightning” McLaren of Australia worked on Striegl’s thighs with kicks that slowed down an Striegl. In the final round, McLaren was able to bring a visibly hurt Striegl to the ground and locked him in a rear naked choke for the victory. McClaren is also a replacement opponent as Striegl's original opponent was Jordan "Showtime" Lucas.

On the other hand, former world women’s boxing champion Ana Julaton struggled to bring Russian Irina Mazepa to the ground and failed to use her boxing skills to lose via Unanimous Decision. All throughout the match, Mazepa owned the advantage in both stand-up and in the clinch that convinced the judges to award her the victory.

Ruel Catalan lost to Brazilian flyweight Alex Silva, who made a successful return to the ONE Cage after more than a two-year break. Catalan tried to use his long reach to keep Silva from closing the distance, as Silva looked constantly for the takedown. A scramble found Catalan in top position as he unloaded punches, but Silva was able to reverse, quickly locking in a knee bar to seal the deal.

In other matches, Bruno Pucci of Brazil made his re-emergence in ONE Championship as he beat a previously unbeaten Anthony Engelen of the Netherlands while siblings Angela and Christian Lee disposed their respective opponents.

Here are the complete results of ONE Spirit of Champions:

ONE Heavyweight World Championship bout: Brandon Vera def. Paul Cheng by Knockout at 0:26 minutes of round 1 Bantamweight bout: Reece McLaren def. Mark Striegl by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:33 minutes of round 3 Flyweight bout: Eugene Toquero def.Li Wei Bin by TKO (Corner Stoppage) at 5:00 minutes of round 2 Women’s bantamweight bout: Irina Mazepa def. Ana Julaton by Unanimous Decision Women’s strawweight bout: Angela Lee def. Lena Tkhorevska by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:26 minutes of round 2 Featherweight bout: Bruno Pucci def. Anthony Engelen by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:19 minutes of round 2 Flyweight bout: Alex Silva def. Ruel Catalan by Submission (Knee Bar) at 3:53 minutes of round 1 Featherweight bout: Christian Lee def. David Meak by TKO (Strikes) at 0:29 minutes of round 1