ONE Championship: Beyond the Horizon was headlined by two bouts pitting fighters from Team Lakay against Evolve MMA.
Though the Philippine side ended with a 1-1 slate, Honorio Banario’s five-fighting winning streak was snapped at the Baoshan Arena in Shanghai, China.
Amir Khan submitted his Filipino adversary via rear-naked choke in the first round of their lightweight bout.
In doing so, he snapped Banario’s five-bout win streak – his first loss in the lightweight division.
The two renowned knockout artists started this battle with heavy striking exchanges, as they traded punches and kicks in the center of the ring.
A minute and a half into the contest, Banario pressured the 23-year-old Singaporean with a punching combination, and punctuated it with a body kick. However, he left himself open, and Khan landed a double-leg takedown.
The 28-year-old did not remain on the mat for long, though. He quickly returned to his feet, and walked forward with more strikes. Khan continued to defend well, and he went for another takedown.
Although the Team Lakay veteran maintained his balance, his Evolve rival spun around to his back, and forced him to the canvas.
Khan quickly locked in his hooks, and tried maneuvering to secure the rear-naked choke. At first, Banario defended well, and even tried to escape. The Singaporean readjusted his position, however, and looked to pin down his opponent’s left arm with his leg.
When “The Rock” attempted to push the leg away, the Evolve product saw the opening he needed to secure his right arm underneath his foe’s chin. He locked up the hold, and forced Banario to tap at the 4:34 mark of round one.
Banario’s record dropped to 13-7, while Khan climbed to 11-3.
Earlier in the night, Edward Kelly was able to pick up a disqualification win over Christian Lee to give Team Lakay an early edge.
Though it came by the way of DQ, a win is still a win.
Kelly lifted his record to 11-5 while Lee fell to 9-3.
Lee was quick to takedown Kelly early in the bout but when the Filipino was able to get back on his feet, the Singaporean knocked him back down with a belly-to-back suplex. It knocked Kelly out.
However, multiple replays showed that his head was spiked to the mat, which is illegal in the Global martial art ruleset.
