Kiwi flies flag for Maori in spectacular win
It was a night of firsts for Kiwi Shane Young at UFC Fight Night in Singapore.
After losing his promotional debut last November on just eight days’ notice Young showed what he could with a full training camp under his belt, earning the US$50,000 ($72,000) Fight of the Night honours with a second round TKO over Filipino Rolando Dy.
The 24-year-old Napier-born featherweight has recently been reconnecting with his Ma¯ ori culture which was on full display in Singapore.
He proudly fought under the Tino rangatiratanga flag and opened his post-fight victory interview in te reo
Ma¯ori – both firsts for the
UFC.
‘‘I’ve really begun rediscovering my heritage and I had shunned it for years,’’ Young said later.
‘‘I was caught up in trying to be a white person but now being in touch with my Ma¯ ori side has made me connect my training to our warrior heritage.’’
It was a relentless display of pressure from Young, who landed 104 significant strikes to just 57 from Dy.
He rocked his opponent in the first round and scored a takedown.
Dy did find some openings on his feet but Young took his best shots and continued to come forward.
With less than 30 seconds left in round two, Young caught Dy by surprise with a vicious elbow and proceeded to unleash a flurry of strikes before the referee stepped in.
The result improved his overall MMA record to 12-4 and was the perfect response to his decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski in Sydney.
‘‘I’ve just got to open my ears more when I fight and listen to my coaches,’’ said Young, who fights out of Auckland’s City Kickboxing gym.
"It was nice to get back to my winning ways, it felt how like it used to be. Taking that fight on eight days’ notice was different than I’m used to.’’
In the main event, welterweight veteran Donald Cerrone suffered a unanimous decision defeat to Leon Edwards while light-heavyweight Ovince Saint Preux recorded a first-round submission to beat Australian Tyson Pedro.