ONE 164 officially kicked off with the Filipino talent-filled undercards.
Just ahead of the two headlining fights, inaugural ONE heavyweight champion Brandon Vera took on the heavy-hitting Amir Aliakbari in his first fight since dropping the title to Arjan Bhullar in April 2021.
Vera was visibly exhausted midway through the first round and Aliakbari capitalized on the opportunity at the 3:37 mark, finishing “The Truth” with ground strikes.
In a shocking end-of-fight declaration, Vera made it known that his time in mixed martial arts (MMA) has officially come to an end.
“You just witnessed ‘The Truth’s’ very last fight in MMA. I wish I could’ve taken home the win. I broke my damn hand again. Thank you all for showering me with love. I love you all. I’ll be around,” a tearful Vera announced.
Team Lakay bets Geje Eustaquio, Jeremy Pacatiw, and Adonis Sevilleno logged two losses and their lone win on the undercard.
Eustaquio, the former ONE flyweight champion, took on China’s Hu Yong in a hotly-contested bout as both fighters were firing on all cylinders right from the opening bell.
A flurry of strikes, some ground transitions and submission attempts were had, but it was “The Wolf Warrior” who came away with a knockout victory with 17 seconds remaining in the second round as “Gravity” could not bear the punishment anymore.
“My goal was to beat him in the first round and I did it,” a jubilant Hu declared through his translator.
For Pacatiw, who had split his first two assignments in ONE Championship, picking up a victory against Tial Thang was his assignment for the night.
Pacatiw’s energy was through the roof to start the fight as he repeatedly tagged Thang with some heavy blows, but the Myanmar native made the Team Lakay flyweight pay when he rocked him late in the first round.
His efforts and patience in picking his spots paid off in droves in the second round as “The Juggernaut” caught Thang with a wonderful triangle choke–plus a $50,000 performance bonus in his back pocket.
To open the main card of the Filipino-heavy card, ONE Warrior Series Philippines grand winner and newly0christened Team Lakay member Sevilleno fought Drex Zamboanga on the card’s last Filipino-versus-Filipino bout.
As the fight wore on, both fighters appeared to be evenly matched as Sevilleno looked very comfortable in the cage while Zamboanga had his own shining moments.
Both fighters had a viable claim to victory because of their respective exploits, but the judges awarded the unanimous decision in favor of Zamboanga–likely due to the points he scored with the ground-and-pound.
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