MANILA – Ilonggo mixed martial arts fighter Robin Catalan suffered a first round submission defeat to Japanese foe Ryuto Sawada via rear naked choke at One: Unbreakable 3 Fight on Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
It was a tough defeat for Catalan, who is fighting for the first time since his sensational knockout of Gustavo Balart at Masters of Fate in 2019.
Sawada threw the first kick while Catalan countered it with a sweep before swinging for the fences but the former closed the distance to force a clinch at the Circle Wall. The action was then halted momentarily when Catalan took an inadvertent knee to the groin.
Catalan was aggressive upon the restart. He quickly threw a front kick that backfired but Sawada caught it and countered with a single-leg takedown. The Ilonggo kept Sawada close and then used the Circle Wall to scale up and regain his feet.
The two engaged from that position, with Catalan drilling his knees into Sawada while the Japanese athlete threw body punches and then landed another single-leg takedown.
The Japanese grappler jumped into the mount position before forcing Catalan to give up his back. From there, Catalan desperately tried to keep his left arm tucked between him and Sawada to avoid the rear-naked choke.
Sawada remained patient and picked his spots softening up Catalan with short punches. When Catalan let go of his arm, Sawada squeezed in a deep rear-naked choke that forced the Filipino to tap out at the 4:19 mark of round one.
“Sawada is a really, really tough opponent. He’s good on the ground,” said Catalan, younger brother of ONE veteran Rene Catalan.
With the defeat, Catalan saw his MMA record dropped to 10-7 win-loss while Sawada moved up to 14-5 with his eighth submission victory./PN
