This Day in History for ONE Championship: Destiny of Champions took place

On This Day in History for ONE Championship, we go back to December 7th, 2018. When ONE: Destiny of Champions emanated from Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

This Day in History for ONE Championship

This whole card offered something for everyone. The fistic fireworks kicked off with a bang from the first fight and that did not subside at all throughout the night.

Sovannahry Em kicks off ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS with a dominant TKO victory over Iryna Kyselova at 1:21 of Round 1! @SavannahEm1 #WeAreONE #DestinyOfChampions #KualaLumpur #MartialArts pic.twitter.com/d0y1BKppNJ

— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 7, 2018

Present-day ONE welterweight world champion Kiamrian Abbasov continued his divisional ascent and emerged victorious via a first-round rear-naked choke. Abbasov improved to 20-4 overall in MMA while former ONE welterweight title challenger Agilan Thani fell to 8-3 as a pro.

Jihin Radzuan improved her record to 4-0 as a pro and earned the unanimous decision victory over Jenny Huang.

This would mark Radzuan’s last foray into the Circle as an undefeated fighter as that first blemish would be put on her record in her follow-up fight in February 2019. A bout she would eventually lose to Gina Iniong by way of split decision.

ONE: Destiny of Champions

Vitaly Bigdash returned to the win column after back-to-back defeats by earning a first-round win via an inverted triangle armbar against Yuki Niimura.

As of this writing, this is the last time Bigdash has had an MMA bout. Efforts to book him against Leandro Ataides and two separate attempts to book a rubber match with Aung La N Sang fell apart due to staph infection and coronavirus considerations.

Yosuke Saruta notched a unanimous decision victory over Alex Silva. A contest featuring warriors who are still stalwart strawweight contenders to this day.

This win over Silva propelled Saruta into securing a ONE strawweight world title show in his follow-up fight.

An affair he eventually won against Joshua Pacio in January 2019. Cementing himself as ONE strawweight world champion and kicking off an epic three-fight series between Saruta and Pacio.

Also on the ONE: Destiny of Champions preliminary portion, multiple time ONE Atomweight title contender Mei Yamaguchi earned the decision win across all three judges’ scorecards against Jomary Torres.

What was your favorite moment from ONE: Destiny of Champions on This Day in History for ONE Championship?

Dylan Bowker

I've been enamored with combat sports for as long as I can remember. I've hosted MMA talk shows Lights Out and Pure Fight Radio with featured guests like Jens Pulver, Roy Nelson, Miesha Tate, Mark Coleman, and more. I've been an MMA broadcaster for XFFC as well as BTC and have done play by play commentary on live pay per view on GFL as well as FITE TV. I've provided written, audio, and video content covering some of the biggest MMA promotions like Rumble in the Cage, Unified MMA, and King of the Cage. I've worked as a sports entertainment personality for over five years and given play-by-play or featured promotions of KSW, ONE Championship, TKO, and Invicta FC. My work can be found in the USA Today Sports affiliate MMA Torch, Cageside Press, MMA Sucka, and Liberty Multimedia.

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