3 biggest takeaways from the explosive ONE 159

ONE 159 delivered on another night of incredible fights from start to finish.

July 22 saw the crowning of a new world champion, the dominance of another, and several stars emerging in an action-packed card.

Action was fast and furious right from the start, with all three of the lead card matches ending in a stoppage. In all, five bouts did not reach the judges’ scorecards, but even those that went the distance had fans roaring with excitement.

Now that the smoke has cleared from the battle, here are three of the biggest takeaways from ONE 159.

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#3. Sinsamut Klinmee is a highlight machine

Sinsamut Klinmee became the first person to be awarded a second performance bonus in 2022. He earned his first bonus when he shocked the world by beating kickboxing legend Nieky Holzken in the second round of their matchup at ONE X earlier this year.

In his return at ONE 159, he was expected to be in another war as he faced British striker Liam Nolan in a lightweight Muay Thai bout. Nolan’s long legs kept Klinmee at bay and prevented the Thai powerhouse from mounting any significant offense in the first round.

In the second round, the Englishman tried to do more of the same, but caught a devastating hook that knocked him out cold.

As a result, Klinmee is now two for two in ONE Championship, with two performance bonus wins. He will surely be a name to watch out for in future events.

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#2. Never underestimate the heart of a champion like Janet Todd

Janet Todd fell to then ONE atomweight Muay Thai world champion Stamp Fairtex in her promotional debut. At ONE 159, she was back to where she started, fighting for the ONE interim atomweight Muay Thai world title.

However, this time, she was already holding the ONE atomweight kickboxing world title and had beaten her last six opponents, including Stamp herself.

Todd looked to be dominating the first two rounds of the contest but her opponent, Lara Fernandez, came out in the third with a lot more energy and enthusiasm. The Spaniard dealt damage to Todd like never before, and she oozed confidence by the fifth and final round.

'JT’ dug deep though, and found a way to show her worthy challenger just why she is holding gold in ONE Championship. In the end, the American was declared the winner via unanimous decision and became the second female two-sport world champion in the promotion’s history.

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#1. ONE 159 main event star Reinier de Ridder is unstoppable

Reinier de Ridder came into ONE 159 with an immaculate 15-0 professional MMA record and was confident that he would be 16-0 by the end of the night. While some may say that it’s just brash confidence, De Ridder has proven time and again that he has the tools to back up his talk.

Against Vitaly Bigdash, ‘The Dutch Knight’ was going to have his hands full. The hulking Russian was on a hot three-fight win streak that saw him submit two dangerous finishers and overcome his greatest rival, Aung La N Sang. Bigdash believed that he would be the person to end De Ridder’s dominant streak.

Bigdash certainly looked to be well on his way to shocking the world early, catching De Ridder with what looked to be a deep guillotine choke. However, the Dutchman stayed calm and later revealed that he never thought that he was in any real trouble.

He quickly turned the tables, taking advantage of a fatigued Bigdash to gain control of their ground scramble. After a failed kimura, it looked like Bigdash was back in the match, but De Ridder suddenly slapped an inverted triangle that put his opponent to sleep.

After the match, De Ridder said he takes down wrestlers, chokes out black belts, and outstrikes strikers, and he proved it again with his latest victory. Is there really anyone out there who can beat Reinier de Ridder?