FORMER featherweight champion Honorio Banario sustained his quest for redemption as he scored a submission victory over Rajinder Meena, highlighting a show by local-based Filipino fighters in the ONE: Age of Domination on Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Showing he’s comfortable in the lightweight class, the Team Lakay standout survived an early scare before turning the match around by locking in armbar that forced his Indian foe to tap out with 55 seconds left in the first round.
Banario thus won for the third straight match to erase the stigma of a five-fight losing streak that ensued after he briefly ruled the featherweight division.
Two Banario stablemates likewise emerged successful.
Edward Kelly connected on a kick to the body, before finishing one-named Sunoto off with his ground and pound, forcing the referee to stop the fight in the third round of their featherweight bout.
Danny Kingad, for his part, forced Eugene Toquero to submit with an armbar right in the first round of their flyweight all-Pinoy fight.
Two Lakay standouts, however, were not as fortunate.
Geje Eustaquio bowed to taller Toni Tauru of Finland, tapping out after getting in a rear-naked choke late in the first round of their bantamweight bout, while April Osensio lost to Taiwanese Jenny Huang in the only women’s fight of the night, tapping out after getting caught in a gogoplata with 30 seconds left in the second round.
In an all-foreigner bout, Leandro Ataides of Brazil put Egyptian Mohamed Ali to sleep with a flying knee that beat the third-round bell of their middleweight fight.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
