MANILA – Filipino mixed martial arts fighter Kevin Belingon clinched the ONE FC world bantamweight title with a split decision win over Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Not only did Belingon captured the world championship in the victory, he also avenged a first-round submission loss to Fernandes in their first encounter two years ago.
Fernandes was positioning for a takedown early in the first round before he became successful midway. But Belingon quickly shrugged off the former and landed punches and kicks to close the round.
Fernandes took down Belingon anew early in the second round after unloading an overhand right but the Filipino escaped and landed a spinning back kick on the Brazilian before taking him down to land some punches.
Early in the third, Belingon shrugged off Fernandes’ hard right. He unloaded a side kick to the body that rattled the Brazilian. Fernandes took down the Filipino anew and landed some punches.
Belingon took advantage of a tired Fernandes in the fourth with sidekicks and strikes. Fernandes took down Belingon anew but the latter escaped and knocked down the Brazilian with a right straight late in the round.
Belingon turned up the aggression in the fifth as he landed multiple shots on the groggy Fernandes. The Brazilian tried to took down his opponent anew but the Filipino just created distance from the former as the final bell sound.
“Bibiano is a very tough opponent, I really had a hard time beating him tonight. I respect him very much, and it is an honor to fight such a tough fighter. I know Bibiano is very tough, but I think I deserve this victory,” Belingon said.
“The game plan was to knock him out. We saw a weakness in his previous fight. I kept on giving him everything, but he has a good defense,” added the Filipino MMA fighter.
With the victory, the 31-year-old Belingon improved his MMA record to 19-5-0 win-loss-draw, while the 38-year-old Fernandes dropped his slate to 22-4-0, while also suffering his first loss in seven years./PN
