Lipeng Zhang Tops Eduard Folayang in One Championship ‘Battleground 2’ Headliner

One Championship aired the second pre-recorded portion of its “One: Battleground” series of events Friday.

In the “One: Battleground 2” main event, Ultimate Fighting Championship vet Lipeng Zhang made his promotional debut by taking on former two-time One lightweight titleholder Eduard Folayang. The 37-year-old Folayang (22-12, 12-10 One) put a lot on the line as he entered the competition with a single victory in his latest six appearances. The Filipino appeared to control the situation in the first minute of the clash as he landed a few punches. Zhang (31-11-2, 1-0 One) waited for the right moment to secure a takedown, pinning “Landslide” with his back on the canvas for the rest of the round and punished him with punches from the top. Before the end of the first stanza, Zhang took his foe’s back but failed to finish him with a rear-naked choke.

In the second period, the Chinese fighter wanted to move the action on the canvas once again. “The Warrior” landed a takedown midway through the round, but Folayang bounced back on his feet after a few seconds, stuffing all the subsequent attempts for the rest of the round. The third frame saw “Landslide” preventing his opponent from taking him down but eating a lot of damage in the process. Zhang kept pushing the pace and forcing Folayang to back down. Ultimately, Zhang took “Landslide” for a ride and ended the fight in side control. The dominant performance earned Zhang a unanimous decision victory, presenting himself as a dangerous contender in One’s lightweight division.

In the co-main event, former One strawweight champion and No. 5 ranked Alex Silva (10-6, 9-6 One) rebounded after back-to-back defeats as he outgrappled Li Tao Miao (6-4, 4-3 One) en route to a unanimous decision. “Little Rock” had no difficulty dragging Miao to the mat and attacking him with several armbars. Miao did well to escape the danger, but he offered no defense for his opponent’s relentless wrestling. Miao clipped Silva with some punches in the third frame, but the 38-year-old Brazilian stopped the initiative by taking him down and jumping on his back. While Miao defended the subsequent rear-naked choke attempt and even managed to sweep, the judges rewarded Silva with the decision.

Elsewhere, the promotional debut of heavyweight Thomas Narmo (4-0 1NC, 0-0 1NC One) ended in anticlimactic fashion after Alain Ngalani (4-6-1 2NC, 4-6-1 2NC One) landed an accidental groin kick that prevented “The Last Viking” from continuing. The fight was ruled a no-contest in the second stanza.

Evolve MMA’s Eko Roni Saputra (5-1, 5-1 One) scored the fastest KO in One’s flyweight history after rendering Pengshuai Liu (6-6, 3-3 One) unconscious with a nasty right hand 10 seconds into the fight.

In One’s lightweight division, Rahul K. Raju (8-6, 3-5 One) snapped a two-bout skid by submitting One Warrior Series graduate Otgonbaatar Nergui (5-3-1, 0-1 One) thanks to a rear-naked choke that stopped the contest at 3:54 of Round 2.