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“Burmese Python” Aung La Nsang gets to grips with Alain “The Panther” Ngalani in One Championship in Yangon. Photo: Singapore Maven

‘Burmese Python’ Aung La Nsang stops Alain ‘The Panther’ Ngalani

One Championship world middleweight champion wears down Hong Kong-based fighter with a guillotine choke as Shanghai’s Miao ‘Supermum’ Jie claims another win

Hometown hero Aung La Nsang rose to the big occasion once again on Friday night with the Burmese Python forcing Alain “The Panther” Ngalani to tap out in the first round of their open weight “super fight”.

The One Championship’s world middleweight champion wore some shots early from his heavyweight opponent but then wore the bigger man down to the roars of a wild local crowd.

Nsang (21-10) seems to feed off that frantic energy – as he did back in June when taking the title from Russia’s Vitaly Bigdash – and he quickly moved to bring the game down on to the mat, and away from the four-time Muay Thai world champion’s fists and feet. It was over with 4.48 of the first gone via guillotine choke.

Alain “The Panther” Ngalani prepares for battle. Photo: One Championship

“Thanks you Myanmar, I love you,” said Nsang. “Moving up to heavyweight was tough for me. But you guys lifted me.”

There was absolutely no disgrace in the loss for the 42-year-old Hong Kong-based Ngalani (4-4), who is hoping Friday night’s efforts will help him in his quest towards a title crack at reigning One world heavyweight king Brandon “The Truth” Vera (15-7).

There had been threats posted to Ngalani in the lead up to the event and the 42-year-old had kept well away from the spotlight once he had landed in the country.

Aung La Nsang (right) raises the arm of Alain Ngalani after their bout. Photo: One Championship

Nsang praised his opponent for taking on the super bout – and for the way in which he had handled the pressure leading up to an event held in the backyard of a national hero. Perhaps reflecting on the fractured state of his homeland, Nsang said the comraderie shown between the fighters should be used as example.

“If me and Alain can walk away friends from this it shows that every person, every tribe can be friends,” said Nsang.

Earlier on the card and it was another fight, another win and another rung on the MMA ladder conquered for Miao “Supermum” Jie.

The 30-year-old from Shanghai needed just 45 seconds to wrench opponent Amira “The Wandera” Hafizovic (1-1) into an arm bar that had the Australian quickly tapping out of their strawweight bout.

So that’s two fights now with Asia’s leading MMA promotion for two wins – and less than two full minutes spent inside the cage in total for Miao, who stretched her overall record in the sport to 5-1.

Miao captured the imagination of her nation on debut with One, needing just 49 seconds to dispense with Egypt’s Mona Samir (1-4) in Shanghai back in September. It’s very early days of course but it’s also a case of so far so good.

Aung Lasang is declared the winner as Alain Ngalani looks on. Photo: One Championship

“I didn’t expect it to finish so fast,” said Miao. “I thought I would have to control her and go for the win over three rounds. But I didn’t feel any panic. If you feel nervous you can’t fight. I went for it from the start and I was too strong for her.”

Miao picked up a bronze medal at the 2017 IBJJF World Championships and called on all the grappling powers she has at her disposal on Friday night, tossing Hafizovic to the mat within seconds of the bell sounding.

China's “Supermum” Miao Jie goes on the offensive against Amira “The Wandera” Hafizovic. Photo: Singapore Maven

The Aussie found a way out of trouble the first time as the Chinese fighter went in for the arm bar. But there was no chance of that happening twice, given Miao’s tenacity.

“I’ll fight again next year after a BJJ fight,” said Miao. “I love BJJ and it makes me stronger at mixed martial arts. So I’ll come back better next time. I just want to keep improving and keep on winning.”

The sell-out crowd went nuts as Miao ran roaring around the cage to celebrate the victory but she was quickly out of the spotlight and backstage to take a call from her three-year-old son, Peanut – to whom she had promised some treats from the prize purse should she return home victorious.

“He said ‘Mum, I’m waiting for you to buy some toys for me’,” said Miao. “He said come home soon – and bring me those toys.”

Yangon provided rich pickings for Chinese fighters who went 4-0 across the 10-fight card. Alongside Miao there were victories for lightweight Zhang Zehao (2-0), rising bantamweight prospect Chen Lei (4-0) and flyweight Ma Haobin (8-1).

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