Mixed martial arts

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Trúc (right) and Hồ Thị Ngọc Bích fight in their belt match of the women's 52kg category in the LION Championship on October 7 on Phú Quốc Islands, Kiên Giang Province. Photo of VMMAF

PHÚ QUỐC — Nguyễn Thị Thanh Trúc has defended her belt of the national largest mixed martial arts series LION Championship 10 on Phú Quốc Islands, Kiên Giang Province.

National Muay Thai champion Trúc proved her higher level over the rest of the competitors in the women's 52kg belt on Saturday.

She showed her top techniques from the bell in the rematch with challenger Hồ Thị Ngọc Bích. Trúc pushed her rival, who rose up strongly in recent months with three wins in a row in the LC events, to the corner before landing a series of punches.

Trúc also mastered pulling Bích to the floor and locking her legs, aiming for a submission win.

Bích escaped from dangerous situations in the first round but failed to fight back while still making mistakes in the second round.

As both fighters grappled to lock each other's legs, Trúc managed to switch to a heel hook and wrapped up the match, securing a submission win as expected.

Last year, Bích also lost to Trúc by submission with a rear-naked choke.

Trúc is the third champion who defended the title after Trần Quang Lộc and Phạm Văn Nam in the LC series. She secured VNĐ120 million plus an additional bonus shared with Bích as their fight was voted the Match of the Night.

In the earlier bouts, the women's 60kg belt finally found its owner after one year of sitting vacant.

American fighter Chelsey Cashwell dominated her Vietnamese rival Nguyễn Thị Hương from the off.

Hương could only resist Cashwell in the first round but the second and third ones were her worst nightmare.

Cashwell delivered heavy ground-and-pound attacks on Hương, who failed to offer a suitable defence.

In the third round, Cashwell made a tight armbar from mount and Hương had to accept a submission loss, watching the belt and a purse of VNĐ200 million given to Cashwell.

Brazilian jujitsu black-belt fighter Felipe Negochadle (left) beats Asian MMA champion Nguyễn Tiến Long in the men's 65kg. Photo of VMMAF

In the men's 65kg, Brazilian jujitsu black-belt fighter Felipe Negochadle proved his higher level against Việt Nam's Asian MMA champion Nguyễn Tiến Long.

Negochadle used his grappling skills to push Long on the floor. Despite his strong resistance Long could not get out of Negochadle's rear-naked-choke.

After three quick wins in the LC series, Negochadle advanced to the belt bout fighting against defending champion Nghiêm Văn Ý in the LC's Grand Finale in December in Hà Nội.

In the men's 84kg, world silver sanda (Chinese kick-boxing) medallist Phạm Công Minh secured an easy win over Ngô Hồng Giang.

Giang could not stand for long under Minh's heavy low kicks and asked to quit near the end of the first round.

A technical knockout win for Minh was a strong motivation for him before the belt bout against Trần Quốc Toản in December.

In the men's 60kg, Nguyễn Hợp Hải recorded a submission win against Đinh Chí Công in the third round.

Hải's ground-and-pound attacks were so heavy that Công had to tap out.

In the men's 56kg, Phan Thanh Tùng beat Võ Thanh Tùng by points after both two fighters fought neck-and-neck in all three rounds. — VNS