Belingon halts Aussie in 62 seconds

KUALA LUMPUR – Filipino Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon lived up to his reputation as a knockout artist, making short work of Australian Reece “Lightning” McLaren Friday night in the ONE:Quest for Greatness card at the iconic Stadium Negara.

Belingon took just 62 seconds to finish off McLaren, dropping his opponent with a hard right straight and following it up with a series of strikes to compel referee Olivier Coste to step in and halt the fight.

The Team Lakay veteran, who recorded his seventh KO win as a professional and 16-5 overall, boosted his bid for a crack at the ONE bantamweight Bibiano Fernandes.

In the main event, Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen of Australia completed his journey through ONE Championship’s featherweight ranks by stopping previously-unbeaten Russian champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov in two rounds to clinch the highlycoveted ONE Featherweight World Championship.

Gafurov dominated the first round with his magnificent grappling arsenal, but Nguyen found his groove in the second frame as he tore apart his Russian foe with his striking. Recognizing an opening, Nguyen countered Gafurov’s jab with an overhand right that knocked out the champion at the center of the ONE Championship cage. Nguyen’s remarkable conquest of Gafurov earned him the “GoDaddy Knockout of the Night” award.

“I just want to dedicate this fight, not only to Malaysia for being so welcoming and having such a beautiful country. This is for my dad. He was my inspiration for the whole camp when I mentally broke. (He and) the boys kept me together. I’ve got a deadly overhand right, but it’s not my only weapon. Thank you to Marat [Gafurov] for giving me the opportunity,” said Nguyen.