CEBUANO warrior Allan Albindo displayed a ton of heart after surviving an early onslaught and stopped Malaysian Arif Izzudin in the third round in one of the undercard fights of ONE Warrior Series (OWS) 7 last Aug. 6, 2019 in Singapore.
Albindo was in trouble early in the fight and got dropped by Izzudin with a right straight to the head. He was also caught with a rear-naked-choke but somehow managed to survive. The 22-year-old Malaysian dominated the round, having Albindo locked up on the ground.
In the second round, Albindo showcased his striking ability and rocked Izzudin with a flurry of strikes. Izzudin, however, managed to pacify Albindo by taking him down on the ground.
Sensing that he was behind on the scorecards, the 22-year-old Argao native went in for the kill and hurt Izzudin with a vicious left straight to the body that dropped him in the corner. He followed it up with a flurry of strikes that forced the referee to intervene.
“It was all worth it,” Albindo told SunStar Cebu. “I had difficulty against him at first. That’s how MMA is. You really don’t know what will happen in a fight. He gassed out from trying to submit me with a rear-naked choke. That’s why I made up for it in the second and third rounds. That’s when I landed a body shot.”
Albindo, who fights under the tutelage of Master Benigno “Ekin” Caniga at Yaw-Yan Ardigma Cebu, kept his future in Rich Franklin’s MMA reality series alive. At stake is a $100,000 contract in Asia’s premier MMA organization - ONE Championship.
After losing to Indian Manthan Rane in his OWS debut, Albindo bounced back and improved to 1-1. Izzudin dropped to 1-2.
In the main event, Team Lakay’s Lito Adiwang (9-2) won by unanimous decision over former Bellator FC prospect Anthony Do (7-4). Two other Pinoy fighters—Ismael Bandiwan and Dave Bangguigui—were victorious, while Pinay Jenelyn Olsim lots her fight.
Bandiwan (6-2) stopped Adib Sulaiman (2-2) with punches in the third round, while Bangguigui (8-1) submitted Brazilian Alber Correia (3-3) with a rear-naked-choke in the second round.
Olsim (3-2), in the meantime, tapped out in the first round to an armbar submission by Aussie Caitlin McEwen (5-1). (EKA)