ONE Championship: Superbon’s brutal head kick KO broke Giorgio Petrosyan’s jaw
- Petrosyan’s brother Armen reveals to ONE commentator Michael Schiavello that ‘The Doctor’ is set to undergo surgery
- ‘Prayers for the greatest and wish him a swift recovery,’ tweets Schiavello after shocking finish to First Strike main event
New ONE Championship featherweight kickboxing champion Superbon Banchamek’s vicious knockout of Giorgio Petrosyan in Friday night’s First Strike main event left “The Doctor” with a broken jaw.
The Thai star stunned the combat sports world after knocking Petrosyan out cold with a second-round head kick, sending the Armenian-born Italian legend falling to the canvas stiff as a board at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
It was just the second knockout defeat of Petrosyan’s career, and his first since 2013. The 35-year-old had looked near invincible in his previously-unbeaten run in Asian martial arts promotion ONE, where he claimed the US$1 million featherweight kickboxing grand prix title in 2019.
“So many people asking me about Giorgio’s condition,” ONE commentator Michael Schiavello tweeted on Saturday. “His brother Armen Petrosian just informed me that Giorgio has a broken jaw and undergoes surgery today.”
“Prayers for the greatest and wish him a smooth surgery and swift recovery. God bless you, Giorgio,” added Schiavello, who was ringside for the stunning knockout.
Petrosyan is widely-regarded as the kickboxing “GOAT” (greatest of all time), winning consecutive K1 Max tournament championships at middleweight in 2009 and 2010, and further cementing his legacy by winning the 2012 Glory Lightweight Slam tournament.
The supremely-technical Petrosyan is also known for his defensive prowess, taking little -to-no damage for most of his career – which made Superbon’s KO win all the more shocking.
Superbon’s victory saw him become the division’s inaugural champion, with many observers having not given him a chance heading into the fight.
“Thank you for all the support, thank you for believing in me,” the 31-year-old Superbon wrote in an Instagram post a few hours after leaving the cage, where he had celebrated wildly by running several victory laps while Petrosyan was helped by medical officials.
It was a night of shocks in Singapore, where the quarter-finals of a featherweight grand prix to determine the first challenger to the title also played out.
Samy Sana – who was beaten in the final of the 2019 tournament by Petrosyan – suffered the first knockout defeat of his career, after Chingiz Allazov finished him in just 39 seconds.
Davit Kiria also scored an upset first-round finish of Enriko “The Hurricane” Kehl after three knock-downs, while Marat Grigorian sent the legendary Andy Souwer into retirement when the battered Dutchman could no longer get to his feet following a shin injury.
Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong also progressed to the semi-finals with a narrow split decision win over the debuting Tayfun “Turbine” Ozcan.
