ONE Championship: Kwon Won-il stops Kevin Belingon with ‘succulent’ body shot, demands bantamweight title shot
- South Korean picks up career-changing win on ONE: Winter Warriors II broadcast, finishing former champ in round two
- The 26-year-old says ‘Bibiano Fernandes, John Lineker – I don’t care’ in emotional post-fight interview
South Korea’s Kwon Won-il picked up the biggest victory of his career on the ONE Championship: Winter Warriors II broadcast, defeating former bantamweight champion Kevin Belingon with a sizzling second-round TKO.
Kwon and Belingon met in the penultimate bout of the card, which was taped earlier this month in Singapore. The two bantamweights came out guns blazing, with the 26-year-old South Korean landing sizzling shots to the head and body at range, and his Filipino rival returning fire with leg kicks and looping overhands.
Things then took a decisive turn in round two, when Kwon drove his fist into Belingon’s midsection and sent the former champion stumbling backwards in pain, forcing the referee to leap into action and stop the fight.
“[That was] the most succulent, the most superb liver shot you will ever see,” commentator Michael Schiavello proclaimed after the fight was waved off.
Kwon (11-3) was overcome with emotion in his post-fight interview with Schiavello’s broadcast partner, Mitch Chilson, but took the opportunity to call for a crack at the bantamweight title, which will next be up for grabs when long-reigning king Bibiano Fernandes defends against top contender John Lineker in the new year.
“I beat the ranked No 2 [fighter],” Kwon said, flaunting his rapidly improving English. “I’m the new generation. Give me a title shot.”