Father time may have finally caught up with Philippine Top Team’s Eric “The Natural” Kelly.
Going into this fight, Kelly needed an emphatic victory against Ev “ET” Ting to secure his shot at the ONE Featherweight Championship. Friday evening however, in front of a loud Malaysian crowd at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, the younger Ev “ET” Ting submitted Eric Kelly with a tight choke in the third round to give the Filipino his second professional career loss.
#ONEFightNight MAIN EVENT TIME!
Eric Kelly faces off against Ev Ting pic.twitter.com/E3N9Fk60lQ— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) January 29, 2016
The two warriors slugged it out to the delight of the audience to open the match-up. Finding an opening, the 33 year old went for a single leg takedown but was quickly reverse by Ting. As the two were about to spring back up, Ting landed repeated knees to the chest and the face of the Filipino to score points. Kelly was able to corner thing after the stand-up but went for a ride as Ting carried Kelly over his shoulders for a huge takedown with 1:45 left in the round. The hometown favorite rained on a variety of soccer and axe kicks and, later on, hammerfists to close out the round.
Ting immediately clinched Kelly to the corner and dragged him to the mat for a takedown to open the second round. With Kelly regaining his balance, he was able to take Ting down. “ET” though was active on his back and was able to wall walk his way up but Kelly figured to get his back. “The Natural” landed huge bombs before straigthening the body of Ting for the vine and a rear naked choke attempt. The Malaysian-Kiwi blocked every choke attempt and was able to spin around for a reversal. Ting rained punch after punch in the last 25 second of the round.
Kelly tried to go for an early takedown but excellent balance was displayed by Ting in the first minute of the third canto. A minute later, Ting was able to expose the prone neck of a shooting Kelly for a standing guillotine choke attempt. “ET” used all his force to turn Kelly up in the air for a tight mounted choke. The 33 year old had no other recourse but to tap out at the 1:58 mark of the third round.
#ONEFightNight Ev Ting submits Eric Kelly via a guillotine choke (3:00 rd 3). Kelly suffers 2nd career loss pic.twitter.com/UvgazwRZW8
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) January 29, 2016
Gracious in victory, Ting requested to the Malaysian crowd to give it up for Kelly. “He took me down a couple of times and hit me with a couple of shots,” “ET” said about his opponent. “But my eyes always on the prize!”
Going up to 11-3 in his fighting career, the featherweight immediately called out the champion to the roar of his hometown crowd. “Marat Gafurov where you at? I’m coming for you baby!”
