Belarusian Prospect Ilyas Eziev, 22, Taps Joji Goto at ONE Friday Fights 61

Belarusian prospect Ilyas Eziev on Friday improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in ONE Championship, as he submitted Joji Goto with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their ONE Friday Fights 61 bantamweight showcase at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 22-year-old controlled his adversary on the canvas for the majority of the first round and scored multiple takedowns before dropping Goto with a straight left toward the end of the frame. Going into the second round, Goto (15-7, 0-1 ONE) seemed to have recovered from the knockdown and began to get comfortable exchanging strikes with Iziev, landing crisp combinations on the Belarusian while also displaying his scrambling ability time and again. Regardless, Iziev stuck to his relentless grappling assault and visibly began to wear his Japanese foe down.

Goto came out guns blazing in the final frame, dropping Iziev with consecutive left hands. However, the Japanese competitor failed to capitalize on the moment and soon found Iziev latched onto his back. Although Goto managed to escape back to his feet once again, it was not long before Iziev managed to shoot in for a takedown, this time swiftly securing a rear-naked choke against his exhausted foe at the 3:01 mark of Round 3.

Meanwhile, Hanna Palmquist earned a unanimous decision over Chloe Cooke in a women’s atomweight attraction. Clearly the bigger opponent, Palmquist (1-0, 1-0 ONE) got off to an aggressive start, pushing her opponent onto the back foot with stinging jabs while punishing her with knees for overreaching. Cooke attempted to clinch and take Palmquist down in vain, only to be reversed against the ropes, ultimately presenting herself as a stationary target for the Swede’s stinging strikes. Regardless, Cooke bit down on her gumshield and looked to turn the tide by fighting her adversary off with teeps and body kicks before dropping her with a check hook. Clearly hurt, Palmquist was able to reverse another takedown attempt by Cooke and control the English fighter, patiently slicing her with elbows from the guard position to ride out the rest of the round.

The opening minute of the second frame saw both competitors enjoy success on the feet before Cooke (0-1, 0-1 ONE) shot in for a well-timed takedown and transitioned straight to Palmquist's back. Shockingly, Cooke was successfully able to ride out the entire round controlling her foe from the back with almost four minutes of control time, although the damage she dealt out was minimal. A point worth noting is that Palmquist was penalized by referee Herb Dean with a yellow card for hooking her hands inside Cooke’s gloves while grappling.

The final round saw Palmquist get straight back to her long-distance strikes against Cooke. An exhausted Cooke found her way to the hips once again, to no avail. Once against the ropes, Palmquist unloaded thudding right hands and knees to the body of her English adversary while easily shrugging off her labored and desperate takedown attempts. Just when everyone thought the outcome of the bout was more or less decided, Cooke landed a sneaky head kick that had Palmquist on skates. However, the 23-year-old was too gassed to string together a finish against her opponent and ended the match with her back on the ropes.

In other action, Duangsompong Jitmuangnon earned a unanimous decision win against Petsukumvit Boi Bangna in a flyweight muay thai meeting; Abdallah Ondash walked away with a unanimous decision win against Suesat Manop Gym in a strawweight muay thai clash; Samanchai Sor Sommai scored a comeback unanimous decision victory against Brazil M Eakchat after getting dropped in the first frame of their strawweight muay thai contest; Petpattaya Silkmuaythai knocked out Chalawan Ngorbangkapi 1:48 into the second frame of their 122-pound catchweight muay thai tilt; Petsaenchai M U Den KhonmaiBaowee eked out a split decision win against Ruayjing Sor Wisetkit in their flyweight muay thai contest; Petnakian Phuyaiyunan knocked out SingUbon Or AudUdon 1:09 into Round 2 of their 132-pound catchweight muay thai affair; Ramadan Ondash earned himself a hard-fought unanimous decision win against Pichitchai PK Saenchai in their 121-pound catchweight muay thai meeting; Muga Seto knocked out Kabilan Jelevan 1:32 into the second round of their 137-pound catchweight muay thai bout; Haruyuki Tanitsu added another win to his record with a unanimous decision victory against Anton Salchak in their 119-pound catchweight muay thai meeting; and Min Kyaw Za made a successful promotional debut with a unanimous decision win over Ryohei Igado in their 143-pound catchweight muay thai contest.