MANILA – Ilonggo mixed martial arts fighter Robin Catalan started the year in style as he scored a unanimous decision win over Indonesian Stefer Rahardian in ONE: Eternal Glory on Saturday night at Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The victory against Rahardian served as a bounce back for the Iloilo City native Catalan after ending his MMA campaign last year with a submission loss to Japan’s Hayato Suzuki in Thailand.
Knowing his opponent’s style fully well, the 28-year-old Catalan always has a response to all of the attacks of Rahardian as he displayed his takedown defense to bring the fight to the ground.
Catalan was also able to overcome his opponent’s reach advantage as he come up with leg kicks and kicks to the body of Rahardian en route to a one-sided decision win after three rounds.
“I am happy to be able to bounce back from my loss last year. It also helped me that (Rahardian) was a former opponent of my brother (Rene) so I have a idea how to beat him,” Catalan said.
With the victory, Catalan has improved his mixed martial arts record to 10-4-0 win-loss-draw, including two TKOs and three submission wins, while Rahardian’s slate dropped to 8-4-0.
Meanwhile, Filipino MMA fighter Edward Kelly suffered a first round submission loss (grounds and pound) to Christian Lee in a rematch of their controversial encounter a year ago.
Lee made sure this time that his victory against Kelly will be legal as he quickly pounce on the Filipino fighter right from the start. Last year, Lee was disqualified due to an illegal move against Kelly./PN
