3 biggest upsets in ONE Championship in 2022

ONE Championship was home to some of the most shocking upsets in mixed martial arts over the past year. Today, we look at the three biggest upsets of 2022, all resulting in new world champions being crowned.

#3. - John Lineker’s ‘Hands of Stone’ smash Bibiano Fernandes

When Bibiano Fernandes stepped into the circle to defend his bantamweight crown, he was never once knocked out. In fact, he had only lost once under the ONE Championship banner in a very tight split decision. That all changed when he met John ‘Hands of Stone’ Lineker in March 2022.

In the early going, it looked like it may be another successful outing for ‘The Flash’ who scored an early knockdown on Lineker. Going into the second round, Fernandes began to show some fatigue, allowing Lineker to pressure the defending world champion. Backing Fernandes to the cage wall, ‘Hands of Stone’ threw a right to the body followed by a looping left that caught Fernandes clean, putting his lights out in a flash.

---

#2. - Jarred Brooks dominates Joshua Pacio to capture the strawweight world championship

‘The Monkey God’ Jarred Brooks closed out the promotion's 2022 with a bang at ONE 164 in December. Meeting reigning strawweight titleholder Joshua ‘The Passion’ Pacio in the main event of the evening, Brooks delivered a spectacularly dominant performance for 25 minutes en route to capturing his first world championship.

‘The Monkey God’ came into the bout intent on utilizing his wrestling to best Team Lakay’s last remaining world champion. Instead, Joshua Pacio showed fantastic wrestling defense, leaving Brooks with only one option: stand and trade. Brooks did exactly that, piecing up ‘The Passion’ in the championship rounds, something nobody around the world expected to see.

After five full rounds of action, Jarred Brooks was awarded a unanimous decision victory and 26.4 pounds of ONE Championship gold.

#1. - Anatoly Malykhin smashes Reinier de Ridder at ONE on Prime Video 5

Reigning interim heavyweight champion Anatoly Malykhin delivered one of the most dominant performances in ONE Championship history when he practically walked through the undefeated Dutchman Reinier de Ridder.

Both men walked into the bout with undefeated records and gold around their waists, but it was ‘The Dutch Knight’ who put one of his world titles on the line. The game plan for de Ridder was simple - get Malykhin on the mat and fish for a submission. However, things quickly went sideways for de Ridder when he discovered that he couldn’t take Malykhin down.

Unsuccessful in his first few attempts, ‘The Dutch Knight’ was forced to stand and trade with Malykhin. That proved to be disastrous. With 32 seconds left in the first round, Malykhin landed a booming right hand that immediately sent de Ridder crashing to the canvas.

Four hammer fists later, ‘The Dutch Knight’ was out cold and Anatoly Malykhin was crowned the new light heavyweight world champion to become ONE Championship's latest two-division titleholder.