Ranking the best performances in ONE Championship: Bad Blood

Despite losing its marquee bout due to COVID-19, ONE Championship: Bad Blood delivered in spades with fights that excited and awed. The fighters on the card seemed to have kicked into fifth gear after the unfortunate last-minute restructuring of the event.

Add that to the the newly introduced $50,000 performance bonus, and all the fighters on the card were gunning to produce highlights. In fact, one of them earned a double bonus worth $100,000. Newly crowned interim heavyweight champion Anatoly 'Sladkiy' Malykhin's crushing knockout of Kirill Grishenko earned him a six-figure bonus.

Other than the three great warriors who earned bonuses, Woo Sung Hoon, Anatoly Malykhin and Jonathan Haggerty, there were others on the card worth citing. Today we list 5 of the best performances in ONE Championship: Bad Blood.

Before we start this list, however, there are a few special mentions. Bi 'Killer Bee' Nguyen showed the warrior's mentality as she fought tooth-and-nail against Lin Heqin. Despite not finding her range against the lengthy Lin, Bi pushed the pace and never once lost her will to fight. Elsewhere on the card, MMA pioneer Mei Yamaguchi fought valiantly in a losing effort against Jihin Radzuan, despite taking the fight on extremely short notice.

Those two performances, despite losses, deserve recognition. Now, let's get on with the list.

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#5. Odie Delaney performed a submission never before seen in ONE Championship

At ONE: Bad Blood, we witnessed the birth of the "Odie Lock". The excruciating shoulder crank was performed by American heavyweight Odie Delaney on the closest person we can get to a modern-day viking, Thomas Narmo.

Delaney wasted no time in taking the towering Norwegian down and proceeded to crush him with his heavy top game early on. After some methodical ground-and-pound, Delaney slapped on a hammerlock that looked so painful we had to tap just watching it. It was one of the nastiest, rarest submissions we've seen in ONE Championship and worthy of a spot on our list.

Also, props to Delaney for advocating mental health and suicide prevention in his post-fight interview. He is a true warrior, an awesome human being and an overall great ambassador of the sport.

Watch the submission here:

#4. Danial Williams knocks out his idol Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke

In combat sports, perhaps even better than meeting your idol is the chance to fight and beat him. It's the best compliment you can give your hero. Show him how his greatness inspired you to be great yourself. So much so that you exceeded him. Such was the case with ONE Championship strawweight 'Mini T' Danial Williams as he faced his Muay Thai idol.

The Australian-born Muay Thai practitioner faced legendary former ONE strawweight champion Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke in an MMA match.

Dejdamrong, who has amassed over 350 Muay Thai fights and three Lumpinee Stadium championships, belongs to a rare group of Muay Thai masters. The Trang native is one of the few who has won world titles in both Muay Thai and MMA. Dejdamrong's successful application of Muay Thai to MMA has allowed him to win ONE Championship's inaugural strawweight belt.

It's no surprise that Dejdamrong inspired Danial Williams to transition to MMA, having already been a fan of his during his Muay Thai career. Williams, best known for his 2021 fight of the year war with ONE Championship flyweight Muay Thai champion Rodtang Jitmuangnon, has a 3-1 record in MMA.

One would be surprised to learn that the two are Muay Thai fighters as both showed great variety in their attacks. The two went all out as they fought in the clinch, on the ground and in kicking range.

A minute and a half into the second round, Williams caught a kick and connected with a piston-like right hand on Dejdamrong's body. The punch folded the Thai legend, ending the bout. It was extra impressive because Williams seemingly may have hurt the same hand early in the fight.

Watch the full fight highlights here:

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#3. Woo Sung Hoon starches Yodkaikaew Fairtex in just 18 seconds

18 seconds was all it took for Korean slugger 'Dynamic' Woo Sung Hoon to put away the charismatic Yodkaikaew 'Y2K' Fairtex. As one of the fastest knockouts in ONE Championship history, Woo's rattling right hand bagged him a sweet $50,000 performance bonus.

Woo, who was on a 6-fight winning streak, extended his winning ways as he debuted in ONE Championship with a statement-making knockout. The heavy-handed Korean uncorked a solid 1-2 combination after an inside low kick by 'Y2K'. The combination is fast and furious and deserves a spot on the list.

Watch the punch in slow-motion here:

#2. Anatoly Malykhin wins gold and a six-figure bonus

The still-undefeated Anatoly 'Sladkiy' Malykhin won big in his interim heavyweight fight with fellow undefeated fighter Kirill Grishenko in the main event of the night. The confident and hard-hitting wrestler came through with his promise in devastating fashion.

The now ONE Championship interim heavyweight champion tried to close the distance early against the taller Grishenko but had a bit of a hard time finding his target. Grishenko understood Malykhin's power and used footwork and distance strikes to keep him at bay.

In round 2, Malykhin shocked his fellow heavy-hitting heavyweight by scoring a stepping right hook ala Rocky Marciano. It was a rather unusual punch as Malykhin missed a right cross but then stepped forward and immediately connected with another right hand. The unexpected nature of it was the key for Malykhin to finally get close and connect with his power hook. The knockout was so brutal and brilliant that it earned Malykhin a rare double bonus of $100,000.

After the win, the Russian powerhouse unsurprisingly called out ONE Championship heavyweight world champion Arjan 'Singh' Bhullar, setting up a massive unification bout.

Watch the full fight highlights here:

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#1. Jonathan Haggerty wins perhaps another crack at ONE Championship gold

Though the heavyweight main event certainly created headlines, it was ONE Championship flyweight Muay Thai champion Jonathan 'The General' Haggerty's performance that earned the top spot on our list. The Brit fought perhaps the best fight of the night against Mongkolpetch Petchyindee in the co-main event.

The over-arching narrative of this fight is that Haggerty, having already lost twice to champion Rodtang, is gunning for another shot at gold. His opponent, Mongkolpetch, believes that 'The General' already blew his chances and should step aside to allow others to get a shot.

The fight was a tale of three rounds. Haggerty established an early lead by peppering Mongkolpetch with kicks, elbows and punches. He did so by darting in and out using his trademark footwork and movement that's rare in Muay Thai. Seriously, it looked like he was attending Dominic Cruz's school of footwork.

Round two was a different story as Mongkolpetch upped the ante as he pushed forward, allowing the former ONE Championship king little room to move around. Believing that Rodtang exposed Haggerty's weakness against body shots, Mongkolpetch proceeded to murder the Brit's midsection. It worked as the former ONE Championship title holder visibly looked slower, fading near the end of the round.

In round three, however, Haggerty proved why he's a former ONE Championship world champion. Hurt and exhausted, 'The General' caught a second wind and took the fight to the Thai warrior. He returned to his footwork, as well as his stepping and spinning elbows, opening a cut on Mongkolpetch's head.

The fight was reminiscient of Haggerty's title-winning war against Sam-A Gaiyanghadao where he was hurt but came back even stronger. With the win, Haggerty made a very strong case for a third dance with the champion.

Watch the full fight highlights here: