Filipino fighter Roel Rosauro suffered defeat at the hands of American amateur standout James Yang in their featherweight bout in ONE: Revolution at the Singapore Indoor Stadium Friday night, Sept. 24.
Rosauro survived a first-round submission scare from Yang but the American fighter made sure to finish the match in the next frame with vicious ground-and-pound punishment, forcing referee Justin Brown to stop the bout with three minutes left.
"It's everything I visualized. For it to come into fruition is, I have no words for it man, it's incredible," said the 32-year-old Yang, who spent a long time training with Shaolin monks in China.
"I'm like a bounty hunter. Put the prize up and I'll collect. Anybody can get it. It's nothing personal. Whoever ONE puts in front of me, I'll fight him no matter."
Trained by mixed martial arts legend and ONE flyweight grand prix champion Demetrious Johnson, Yang displayed grappling mastery like his mentor as early in the first rounds and dominated the Cebuano muay thai specialist.
Capitalizing on his first takedown, Yang never looked back as he took advantage of side control before mounting in while Rosauro defended himself in turtle guard.
Rosauro, who was heard wheezing and catching his breath from Yang's read-naked choke attempt, barely escaped by continuously moving around and preventing the arms to lock around his neck while in a dangerous position.
Come the second round, Rosauro threw costly strikes as Yang caught his leg kick en route to a swift takedown once again.
Yang, once again in dominant ground position, punished Rosauro on his ears and temples with crisp punches before Brown intervened to call it a match.
This marks Yang's first win in his fresh professional career while the 33-year-old Rosauro fell to a 5-4 record.