ONE UNBREAKABLE
A Rocketship 🚀 to Truth, Justice, & Bruce Lee™ Spirit
7 hours to liftoff
I’ve been bizarrely excited about this co-main event all week - Shinya Aoki vs. James Nakashima - perhaps more so than any other MMA fight this weekend, which is especially weird considering we have Michael Chandler’s UFC debut and Conor McGregor at UFC 257. I guess I’ve officially jumped the shark. It’s just Aoki’s last fight at Road to ONE 3 was so bizarre when he, quite purposefully, made his totally dominant victory as dull as possible and then went on a long post-fight harangue against ONE and kinda sorta courted RIZIN, while Nakashima’s last fight, a loss with him being massively outsized, was really great.
I’m also more of a Khabib guy and have a feeling Chandler’s going to lose, which is sort of bad for Bellator, who I also support. I’ll be watching anyway, depending on how serious Dana is with his crackdown. But ONE tonight is live (maybe) and free on ABEMA in Japan (and other places elsewhere) so no worries there.
Back to Aoki. I have no real proof of this per say, but my impression from the media and talk around town is Aoki is still a top-3 MMA star in Japan with Kyoji Horiguchi and whichever Asakura brother you want to pick for the day. Further I think if he fought for RIZIN he’d still be top of the bill with those guys and get a leg-wrestling match with Kouzi or something dumb. (I wonder if Takanori Gomi would even take a fight with him at this point? I guess money talks.) This is all to say that he’s still a big star in Japan and Japan is excited to see him perform tonight and I am excited for the chaos of it - but Nakashima is totally legit.
The main event has the “Babyface Killer” Alaverdi Ramazanov going up against Capitan Petchyindee Academy in defense of the Bantamweight Kickboxing title. As I’ve said on here before, I’m a KB casual with the memory of a distracted puppy, but I do remember having definitely enjoyed Ramaznov’s fights in the past, so I can confidently say it should be fun. There’s also a HW KB fight which I can totally get behind, because, remember, I’m a casual and we like heavier weight classes because, as they say, motherfuckers get knocked the fuck out. Prior to these top fights, a few more MMA match ups round out the card.
T-minus 10, 9, 8….
Before I forget, check out this new JMMA podcast with two guys that are ridiculously well-informed about all things JMMA. Shinya Aoki gossip can be found in the debut episode; Itsuki Hirata😍 apparently signed with his new management company.)
If you have any shopping needs, you can check out the new line of Bruce Lee merch at the ONE store, which makes me wonder if the Lee estate naming license expired or something.
5, 4… getting a bit tired of this rocket bit… 1
Ignition!
Namiki Kawahara vs. Lito Adiwang - Strawweight MMA
DEEP Strawweight champ who trains at Team Alpha Male going here against the ONE Warrior Series guy. You would imagine Kawahara takes it, even though he’s fighting on short notice (I think). Adiwang is Team Lakay though and I love me some Team Lakay guys so I’m torn. Really wild first round with both guys throwing big heat, though it slowed down towards the end. Pretty even.
Just a bit into the second and Adiwang just plants Kawahara with a precise left hand. Team Lakay forever!!!
After the fight we get our first advertisement for the Bruce Lee gear I mentioned above (as I figured we might).
Meng Bo vs. Samara Santos - Catch Weight MMA (54.8 KG)
By she, I mean Meng Bo. (Zhang of course is the UFC champ - this was a long time ago however and both of their debuts.) Santos has won like one fight in four years. Do the math.
Pretty dull first round until Meng Bo slipped and some fun scrambles on the ground. Second and third are not great either. Seo Hee Ham gonna smoke these fools (if she is fighting in the atomweight GP - the weights in ONE confuse the shit out of me).
Zebaztian Kadestam vs. Gadzhimurad Abdulaev - Welterweight MMA
Geez, I forgot Zebaztian was on this card. He’s an old school ONE champ who I’ve certainly seen fight many times and vaguely remember including his fight with Ben Askren. He’s up against an undefeated debutant.
Easy work as Abdulaev gets a takedown within a minute in a half, takes Kadestam’s back and gets a face crank submission AKA the McGregor special. It then sounds like he called out Sage Northcutt but the translator didn’t mention it.
Next is a big announcement, unfortunately peppered with lots of ridiculous hyperbole like all DJs toughest fights have come in ONE - well he lost a few in the UFC, but whatever, of a show airing on Prime Time in the U.S. so like morning for me which is okay unless I have work which I probably do considering it’s a fucking Wednesday.
Rade Opacic vs. Bruno Sasano - Heavyweight KB
Wow. What a first round. Opacic is so damn big and also fast and precise. That’s some scary shit. Opacic just pouring it on Sasano and takes a 10-8. Ref steps in a minute into the second. Brutal. This guy’s a killer.
Shinya Aoki vs. James Nakashima - Lightweight MMA
It’s time. Feeling a bit nervous here. Not sure what to expect. We’re about to find out!
Holy shit. That was easy. Aoki takes it in a flash and doesn’t even get hit. He’s crying in the post fight. Is he going to retire or something? No, it seems he’s just emotional about the win. I don’t know quite what to say about this. I’m a bit stunned. Great for Shinya though. I wonder what’s next? I really would rather see him in RIZIN at this point, but he’s probably married to ONE for the rest of his career. (I forgot this until later, we need to see him fight Eddie.)
Alaverdi Ramazanov vs. Capitan Petchyindee Academy
Here it is folks. This one’s for all the marbles, the ONE Bantamweight Kickboxing World Championship!!!
I honestly get this Capitan guy confused with the Chinese kickboxer with a mohawk. Apparently Capitan says he’s getting a five-second KO which I’m calling unlikely.
No KO, maybe no strikes in the first 5 seconds, but Ramazanov spends the first on the run and is having some serious problems. The second continues with a relentless assault of leg kicks until Capitan puts Ramazanov down and he can’t get up. Fin.
Damn! A whole mess of unpredictable fights here where the theoretically lower-ranked fighter comes away with the victory. The legend Aoki gets his 46th win over a legitimately tough opponent and does it easily. The challenger takes the title in the Main Event. Interesting and surprising night of fights for sure.
Orbit
More UNBREAKABLE action can be had in the coming weeks. After tonight’s results, I’m curious to see what else they filmed today when they release the full line-ups for Unbreakable 2 and 3. (Unbreakable 2 line-up is out.)
Goodnight and Goodluck ✌
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the post please use the share button and pass it on to a likeminded friend or follow F.P. on Twitter and retweet there. Also please subscribe to the site. It’s free and gives me an idea of who’s reading and what they are interested in. Lastly, if you’re feeling up to it, you can buy me a slice. Thanks much and see you next time on Fight Pizza.