Local MMA fighters tap out in Indonesia
CALL it a sad day for local mixed martial arts as three Baguio fighters falter in their respective bouts during the weekend in Indonesia.
In Brave Combat Federation, Team Lakays Jomar Paac and Jeremy Pacatiw fall to their respective rivals Friday evening in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Pakatiw suffered his third loss in six bouts after a unanimous decision loss to Kaan Offli in a catch weight contest while Pa-ac suffered his first defeat in five outings after getting stopped in the third round by Hussain Ayyad in their flyweight match-up.
Meanwhile, Eric Kelly continue to hit the deck suffering his fifth straight defeat in One Championship.
Kelly fell to Tetsuya Yamada of Japan in the under card of ‘Grit and Glory’ at the Jakarta Convention Center on May 12.
Yamada finished Kelly in the first round submission.
The Japanese traded strikes with Kelly to begin the match, and waited for the perfect time to take his opponent to the ground. On the mat, Yamada quickly took Kelly’s back and locked in the rear naked choke to force the tap.
Kelly was once considered as one of the best and brightest featherweight contenders in the Asian region when he started his professional mixed martial arts run in 2009 lost its luster due to a string of setbacks since losing to Ev Ting in 2016.Kelly tried to bounce back from his loss to Ting by squaring off with former ONE Featherweight World Champion Narantungalag Jadambaa seven months later, but he yielded to the Mongolian hard-hitter by way of knockout in 44 seconds.
After losing to Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev in March, the Yamada meanwhile opted for a quick return to the ONE Championship cage this weekend, and was able to wash the taste of defeat out of his mouth.
Both competitors traded kicks to start the match. But when “MMA Fantasista” charged forward, Kelly surprised him with an overhand right, which caused the Japanese warrior to slow.
Kelly tried to pressure Yamada with more strikes, but the Japanese athlete caught a low kick, put his adversary on the ground, and took his back. As Kelly scrambled to defend, Yamada rained down punches.
Despite his best efforts, the Filipino could not recover from the bad spot he was in, and was eventually trapped in a deep rear-naked choke. He was forced to tap out at 3:00 of the first round.
Yamada finds himself back in the win column, improves his record to 25-6-2, and is set to hunt for another big name in the featherweight division.