3 underdogs who beat world champions in ONE Championship

ONE Championship world title fights, especially in MMA, are incredibly entertaining, filled with action, high drama, and shocking results. In the Circle, anything can happen. It’s a fight, after all. Sometimes, the fighter who is supposed to win, doesn’t, and ends up getting his belt snatched in the most exciting of ways.

The mixed martial arts cage is the theater of the unexpected. With ONE Championship gold on the line, the outcome is never certain. The fighters on this list have proven that to a great extent.

Over the years, world title belts have changed hands multiple times in the Circle, in performances that have surprised audiences -- underdogs who made history by winning when they weren’t supposed to. But there are a handful of world title wins that truly stand out among the rest.

Let’s take a look at some of those incredible performances today. Here are three underdogs who have produced the most shocking MMA world title changes in ONE Championship history.

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#3. Reinier de Ridder submits Aung La N Sang

Watch the fight below:

Aung La N Sang was seen as this invincible force battering down opponents with a combination of overwhelming grappling and unrelenting striking. The Burmese superstar once held both the ONE middleweight and light heavyweight world titles and was a pure menace in ONE Championship.

Then came along Reinier de Ridder.

‘The Dutch Knight’ was a fighter never seen before inside the Circle and he needed just one round to solve the puzzle that was Aung La at ONE: Inside the Matrix in October 2020. At 6-foot-4, De Ridder uses his frame effectively in his grappling and he did just that when he took the middleweight gold from Aung La.

De Ridder quickly shot for a takedown and took Aung La’s back in the first round of the middleweight world title clash in Singapore. Showing patience and grit, De Ridder methodically slipped in a rear-naked choke that Aung La had no choice but to tap to 3:26 into the match.

Just like that, De Ridder decreed that his reign will be an impending kingdom in ONE Championship.

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#2. Martin Nguyen sends Eduard Folayang into the shadow realm

Watch the fight below:

Martin Nguyen took on a whole country and won.

The Vietnamese-Australian star was in the middle of his reign as ONE featherweight world champion when he matched up against Filipino legend Eduard Folayang and challenged for the ONE lightweight world title.

While going up against the ferocious Team Lakay veteran was already a tough task, fighting Folayang on his home turf was a whole different story. Nguyen, however, charged on and showed the Philippines that no one was stopping him from collecting a second world title.

The two superstars collided at ONE: Legends of the World in November 2017 in Manila with Nguyen dead-set on becoming the first two-division world champion in ONE Championship history.

Typical of two supreme strikers, the match had all the fireworks expected between the two as both Folayang and Nguyen were swinging for the fences.

It was midway through the second round that Folayang wheeled in for his patented spinning heel kick but what he got was Nguyen’s right overhand landing on his face.

Nguyen sent the mental Manila crowd into stunned silence and his victory over Folayang made sporting history when he became ONE Championship’s first two-division world champion.

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#1. Christian Lee unseats Japanese legend Shinya Aoki

Watch the fight below:

Christian Lee showed the world that he is more than an upstart.

Lee was only 20 years old when he squared off against Shinya Aoki and challenged the Japanese legend for the ONE lightweight world title at ONE: Enter the Dragon in May 2019.

Aoki, at this point, was on a five-fight winning streak with all his wins ending in the first round. The culmination of that incredible run was a first-round submission over rival Eduard Folayang to regain the lightweight gold.

The Japanese legend surprisingly called out Lee upon winning the gold, especially since ‘The Warrior’ competed in the featherweight division at the time. However, Lee was never one to back down from any challenge.

The first round started in Aoki’s realm with ‘Tobikan Judan’ locking in a tight armbar, but that sequence was the most offense the submission specialist would get throughout the whole bout.

Lee, despite getting his arm wrenched in opposite directions, survived the submission attempt and walked into the second round relatively unscathed. With the fight back up on the feet, Lee quickly imposed his will and used a superior striking arsenal to establish his tempo.

Charging head-on, Lee tagged Aoki with a left cross before letting loose a tempest of punches on the defenseless Japanese icon. The barrage prompted the referee to call a stop to the fight and thus start a new era in ONE Championship's lightweight division.