Pakistani mixed martial artist Ahmed Mujtaba extended his unbeaten streak by defeating previously unbeaten Singaporean featherweight prospect Benedict Ang.
The featherweight match lasted the entire three rounds, and Mujtaba was able to earn all three judges’ favor to win by unanimous decision.
The bout took place on the undercard of ONE: Defending Honor at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday.
The first round saw both fighters trading strikes at the center of the cage. The local favorite Ang pressed the action, catching Mujtaba with a couple of solid knees from the clinch while Mujtaba laid back and countered with repeated boxing.
However, neither fighter could establish themselves in terms of damage inflicted, but a calmer and more composed Ang landed the cleaner blows in the opening frame.
Action continued in the second round with both fighters scoring multiple times with landed shots. Ang continued to land clean strikes, but Mujtaba slowly worked towards the mat.
Mujtaba scored a take down on Ang close to the end of the round and quickly took his back nearly securing a rear choke as time ran out.
Mujtaba had his arm underneath Ang’s neck, but the bell rang just in time to save the 20-year-old Singaporean from a submission loss.
Ang regained composure in the third round, slipping Mujtaba’s punches, countering with blistering uppercuts and hooks. However, it was Mujtaba who scored on a few more take downs and appeared in control to finish the fight.
It was a very close contest that could have gone either way, but Mujtaba did just enough to earn the victory. With the win, Mujtaba improved his unbeaten record to 6-0.
As for the still-undefeated Mujtaba, his ONE debut couldn’t have gone any better.
“Of course, fighting in ONE Championship has always been my dream when I started my career, and by the grace of all my luck, I’m here right now for my debut in ONE FC against a good wrestler, Benedict Ang,” he said.
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“He fought against Waqar Umar for ONE, another guy from Pakistan, and he won against (Yohan Mulia) Legowo and had a really good fight against (Jimmy) Yabo, so I was pretty sure it was going to be a tough fight for me.
“Of course, it’s a fight where one has to lose and one has to win, and today I was the better man.”
Speaking after the loss, Ang said: “It didn’t go my way, but there are a lot of things I could have done better. I enjoyed the whole experience”
“ I’ll take it as it is and come back stronger. I’ll take this as a positive. One loss doesn’t define anything. I’ll come back.”
Singapore’s Benedict Ang fights Pakistan’s Ahmed Mujtaba in @ONEChampionship #ONEFightNight pic.twitter.com/dQtLPCwQm7
— ST Sports Desk (@STsportsdesk) November 11, 2016
Benedict Ang of @EvolveMMA suffers his first defeat to Ahmed Mujtaba by unanimous decision @ONEChampionship #ONEFightNight pic.twitter.com/JLS88ShN3H
— ST Sports Desk (@STsportsdesk) November 11, 2016
This story originally appeared on Yahoo Sports.
