ONE lightweight Muay Thai fighter Liam Nolan produced a marvelous performance at ONE Fight Night 18 last Friday. Inside the Mecca of Muay Thai, Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, the British striking superstar dispatched Russian Ali Aliev with a unanimous decision victory.
The win was a triumphant return for Liam Nolan, who hasn't stepped into action for more than a year. His last performance in the promotion was another UD win over Eddie Abasalo at ONE on Prime Video 4 in late 2022.
After his win, Nolan called out a fighter who also won on the same card, Thai destroyer Rungrawee Sitsongpeenong. Rungrawee defeated Iraqi fighter Shakir Al-Tekreeti via TKO by way of hellacious elbow strikes.
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Nolan threw down the gauntlet during his post-fight presser:
“You know Rungrawee, like you said, I’d like to fight him next. So yeah man, exciting times and this year’s gonna be good.”
We are quite positive that if and when this bout happens, both warriors will be gunning for the finish. Both are working to build momentum towards a world title shot and will surely try to run through each other.
Liam Nolan versus Ali Aliev at ONE Fight Night 18 play-by-play
Liam Nolan went on a back-and-forth war against Russian Ali Aliev in a three-round Muay Thai bout. Both warriors had their chance to showcase their best weapons in front of the sold-out crowd inside the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.
The first two rounds were pretty much dead even. We saw tons of kick-catching, powerful punch combinations, elbow smashes, and debilitating kicks from both sides. We assessed that both rounds 1 and 2 could have gone either way.
The third round, however, saw Nolan getting ahead of the scorecards quite a bit when Aliev showed visible signs of fatigue. Nolan ended the exciting bout with just as much energy and aggression as he did in the first round, thus earning him the favor of all three judges.
The replay of ONE Fight Night 18: Gasanov vs. Oh on Prime Video is available on demand for those with a Prime Video subscription in North America.