MANILA, Philippines – Filipino fighter Eugene Toquero chose not to wallow over his tough loss a month ago as he is slated to face hard-hitting Thai kickboxer Anatpong Bunrad at ONE Championship’s inaugural event in Bangkok, Thailand on May 27.
Toquero (8-3) is coming off a first-round submission setback to former ONE Championship flyweight titleholder Adriano Moraes this past March.
Although Toquero was coerced to tap at the 4:53 mark of the first round with a reeling brabo choke, he was able to hurt Moraes with a flying knee and created a gory gash around his opponent’s right eye.
However, Moraes weathered the storm with a big slam on the mat and then positioned himself into side control to easily latch on the fight-ending choke.
On the other hand, Bunrad (5-2) was last seen in action when he yielded to Malaysia’s Gianni Subba via split decision last December.
Prior to his razor-thin defeat to Subba, the 29-year-old ferocious striker was riding high on a two-fight winning streak, disposing Marc Marcellinus with a 26-second knockout in October 2014 before picking up a split decision victory over Geje Eustaquio in April 2015.
ONE: Kingdom of Champions, which takes place at the 12,000-seater Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, features two championship clashes as its main attractions.
Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke defends his ONE Championship strawweight belt for the second time against Japan’s Yoshitaka Naito, while featherweight kingpin Marat Gafurov squares off with Kazunori Yokota. – Rappler.com