BRANDON Vera called it a career after suffering a technical knockout loss to Amir Aliakbari in the main card of ONE 164: Pacio vs Brooks on Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Brandon Vera announces retirement after loss
The former ONE Heavyweight World Champion could not recover from a flurry of punches from his Iranian foe that forced the hand of referee Herb Dean to call for the bell at the 3:37 mark of the first round.
"Kababayan, ang tagal ko nang ginagawa ito. You just witnessed my final fight," said Vera, putting a close to a career that saw him record a 16-10 win-loss slate as he savored the adulation from the home crowd.
Nonetheless, it's a statement win for Aliakbari who improved to 12-3.
Jeremy Pacatiw, on the other hand, planted the flag for Team Lakay as he submitted Tial Thang with a triangle choke at the 1:17 mark of the second round.
He made sure that his second attempt for the triangle choke will be for the finish after an absolute striking showdown against the Burmese bet in round one.
"I looked for the opening and got the triangle choke. That's it," he said all smiles while also netting a USD50,000 bonus.
The bounce-back win, which hiked Pacatiw's record to 12-5, allowed him to redeem himself after losing to Fabricio Andrade last February.
Unfortunately, Geje Eustaquio could not follow suit in the win column, suffering a first-round knockout loss to Chinese foe Hu Yong.
The former ONE Flyweight World Champion got caught with a brutal right hook that took him out at the 4:43 mark of round one.
Hu flashed his power with those powerful rights, repeatedly connecting on Eustaquio as the Team Lakay bet tried to take the fight to the ground.
And just before the end of the round, the Chinese made sure to take this win in the bag, and in the process got a USD50,000 bonus for his performance.
It's a tough loss for Eustaquio who dropped to 14-9 after winning his last two fights.
Drex Zamboanga also rained on Team Lakay's parade, scoring a unanimous decision victory over ONE Warrior Series Philippines winner Adonis Sevilleno.
Zamboanga took Sevilleno to school with his striking, negating the upstarts repeated grappling attempts while also connecting with solid punches on the ground.
The win extended his streak to four bouts now and pushed him up to 14-5, boosting his case to make it to the ONE Athlete Rankings, while also following up his sister Denice's impressive win at ONE Fight Night 5 earlier in the day.
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