ONE Fight Night 12 results: Yuya Wakamatsu returns to the win column by smashing Xie Wei

Yuya Wakamatsu scored a destructive first-round knockout against No. 5 ranked contender Xie Wei inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium at ONE Fight Night 12 on Friday night.

Xie and Wakamatsu came out throwing heat right out of the gate, but it didn’t take long for the two men to tie up looking to take things to the canvas. Backed into the corner, Wakamatsu was able to drag Xie down and began to unload a series of vicious elbows on the ground.

Xie attempted to fight his way out of the position but left his head wide open for a couple of brutal knees to the face. That encouraged Xie to lay his head back on the mat, allowing Wakamatsu to move into mount and unleash another barrage of strikes forcing the referee to step in and call for the stoppage just past the two-minute mark of the opening round.

Official Result: Yuya Wakamatsu def. Xie Wei via TKO (strikes) at 2:03 of Round 1.

While it was undoubtedly a moment to celebrate, Yuya Wakamatsu’s impeccable performance will not earn him a $50,000 bonus after missing weight on Thursday.

Even so, you can’t take anything away from his incredible win. The victory snaps a two-fight losing streak, having lost to former eight-time ONE flyweight world champion Adriano Moraes and Woo Sung Hoon in his last two outings. The victory will also get him back into the flyweight world title picture and perhaps, one day a long-awaited rematch with the division’s reigning champion, Demetrious Johnson.

As for Xie Wei, ‘The Hunter’ suffers his second-straight loss, having dropped a first-round submission to Reece McLaren at ONE 158. Xie is now 8-3 under the ONE Championship banner, 17-6 overall.