Thanh Le knocks Garry Tonon out cold in a night of finishes at ONE: Lights Out

ONE: Lights Out on Friday, March 11 truly lived up to its name. The Singapore-based promotion’s fifth show of the year was a martial arts fiesta from start to finish, with nine out of 10 fights ending before the final bell.

In the main event of the evening, Thanh Le proved once again why he is the most feared athlete in the featherweight division. The Vietnamese-American sensation put No. 2-ranked contender Garry ‘The Lion Killer’ Tonon to sleep after just 56 seconds with a plethora of huge right hands to defend his gold for the very first time.

Tonon dove for Le's legs early to try for his signature leg attacks. However, despite his best efforts to squeeze in the leg lock, the division king Le stayed calm and composed to fend off any hopes of another Tonon submission on the global stage.

The co-main event was just as spectacular as the night’s final showdown. John ‘Hands of Stone’ Lineker put an end to Bibiano ‘The Flash’ Fernandes’ reign as the ONE bantamweight world champion courtesy of a left hook at 3:40 of the second round.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic, though. The top-ranked bantamweight contender was forced to get into a couple of exchanges on the canvas against the multiple-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion. He fought them off brilliantly and controlled the flow of the contest in the stand-up department.

Lineker was even dropped midway through the opening round but reminded the watching world that his chin, too, was perhaps made out of stone.

Meanwhile, Martin ‘The Situ-Asian’ Nguyen powered himself out of a two-match skid, overwhelming debutant Kirill Gorobets in a featherweight clash. The Sanford MMA standout tagged the Ukrainian with body shots, a left hook, and a right hook to bag the 14th win of his career.

The rest of the main card dazzled with three more second-round knockouts. Iran's Iraj Azizpour claimed the biggest scalp of his resume in exciting fashion against Dutch kickboxing veteran Ismael Londt.

Indonesian phenom Adrian Mattheis secured his eighth finish in the Circle against former strawweight king Alex Silva, and Chinese striker Zhang Peimian introduced himself on the global stage with a dominant display against Josh Tonna.

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ONE: Lights Out full results

Main Card results

MMA - Featherweight: Thanh Le def. Garry Tonon via knockout at 0:56 of R1

MMA - Bantamweight: John Lineker def. Bibiano Fernandes via knockout at 3:40 of R2

MMA - Featherweight: Martin Nguyen def. Kirill Gorobets via TKO at 2:18 of R3

Kickboxing - Catchweight (123.80 KG): Iraj Azizpour def. Ismael Londt via knockout at 2:01 of R2

MMA - Strawweight: Adrian Mattheis def. Alex Silva via TKO at 0:05 of R2

Kickboxing - Strawweight: Zhang Peimian def. Josh Tonna via TKO at 2:11 of R2

Lead Card results

MMA - Flyweight: Eko Roni Saputra def. Chan Rothana via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:34 of R1

Muay Thai - Strawweight: Iman Barlow def. Daniela Lopez via TKO at 1:39 of R1

Muay Thai - Catchweight (79.55 KG): Liam Nolan def. Kim Kyung Lock via TKO at 1:02 of R1

Kickboxing - Strawweight: Lin Heqin def. Milagros Lopez via unanimous decision