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ONE Championship: Brandon Vera reacts to Amir Aliakbari KO – ‘worry about the person in front of you’
- Iranian suffers shock defeat by South Korea’s Kang Ji-won on ONE debut in Singapore after talking trash to heavyweight champ
- ‘Like I’ve been telling everybody all along, it’s different here in Asia, it’s different in One Championship,’ says Vera
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
ONE Championship heavyweight king Brandon Vera may have been half the world away training in Florida, but you knew he would be watching Friday’s Fists of Fury II card from Singapore with a keen eye.
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The main event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium pitted much-heralded heavyweight newcomer Amir Aliakbari against South Korea’s Kang Ji-won, with the Iranian expected to steamroll his opponent.
Former Rizin star had been talking plenty of trash to Vera since signing with ONE last summer. “I’m ready for a title shot,” he told SCMP MMA. “I don’t need other fights, I think I’m ready to fight him.”
“The Truth” had warned Aliakbari “make sure you’re ready” in response. “You talk about smashing faces? All right. welcome to ONE, let’s see how it goes.”
To his credit, Aliakbari did smash Kang’s face, busting up his nose with Kang’s left eye almost completely closed after a couple of huge early shots landed.
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But with his hands low as he went for the finish, Aliakbari let his guard down – literally – and got caught with a massive left hook that dropped him to the canvas.
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