‘The Burmese Python’ Defends Title With Monstrous TKO Over Ken Hasegawa

In the second title bout of the event, ONE middleweight champion Aung La N Sang met Ken Hasegawa on the main card of today’s (Sun., March 31, 2019) ONE Championship: A New Era from Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.

The fight was a rematch of their first bout. Sang knocked out Hasegawa in the fifth round of their title fight at ONE: Spirit of a Warrior last June. He then went on to finish Mohammad Karaki last October. Japan’s Hasegawa received a title shot in his first fight back from his loss to Sang.

‘The Burmese Python’ Sang had his entire home country of Myanmar in his corner, and he’s undoubtedly one of ONE’s brightest rising stars.

Round One:

‘The Burmese Python’ came out pressing the action. He landed a solid uppercut and kick to the body. Hasegawa answered with a kick to the body himself. Sang stalked Hasegawa down with some body work. He scored a strong hook and another kick to the midsection. Another followed and ‘The Murmese Python’ began landing huge shots. A counter rocked Hasegawa. He answered with a counter punch. Sang quickly dropped him with a right hand. An ultra tough Hasegawa got right back up. He clinched and pushed Sang agains the fence to neutralize him. Both missed with big shots and Sang landed one more body to kick to close a good first round for the champion.

Round Two:

Sang defended a takedown to open the second frame. Hasegawa landed his best strike of the fight. Sang threw a kick and Hasegawa countered. Sang rushed forward with a punch. ‘The Burmese Python’ went for a high kick and scored a slapping one to the body. Hasegawa landed a left. More body kicks came from the champion, but Hasegawa landed two big shots. Hasegawa then landed a stiff shovel hook on the chin. Sang scored one more body kick yet ate a counter. Hasegawa went for a takedown and ate a knee on the entry. He clinched again and looked for a standing arm triangle. Sang landed a glancing elbow off the break.

Then, it was all over.

All of a sudden Sang dropped Hasegawa with a huge right and poured on ground shots to score the stoppage.

Impressive stuff.

Final Result: Aung La N Sang def. Ken Hasegawa via TKO (strikes) at 4:41 round two