ONE Championship: Winter Warriors II's co-main event gets personal

Ahead of their co-main event bout at ONE Championship: Winter Warriors II, No.2 bantamweight and former champ Kevin 'The Silencer' Belingon had some heated words with his opponent Kwon 'Pretty Boy' Won Il.

The exchange of words was documented in a recent YouTube clip released by ONE Championship.

After losing the belt in 2019 and suffering the first KO loss of his career in 2020, Belingon's back is against the wall. Pundits and fighters alike, including his opponent Kwon, feel that Belingon's time at the top is over.

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In response to this, 'The Silencer' tried to dispel his critics with these words:

"To those who are saying this is my last stand, there's more to prove for Kevin Belingon."

The surging Korean knockout artist, Kwon Won Il, believes he is 'the icon of the new generation'. The confident young lion proclaims that this fight will boil down to precision and timing, not power. 'Pretty Boy' is confident that he has advantages on those two things, being the younger fighter.

The conversation escalates as Belingon points out that Kwon's major weakness is his ground game and the Filipino veteran will exploit it in their fight. To which Kwon simply replies with a smirk, "so what?"

Watch the full video of the verbal exchange here:

Kevin Belingon and Kwon Won Il co-headline ONE Championship: Winter Warriors II

This battle of the old guard facing new blood is quite an intriguing one to see. The most compelling narrative is that both are knockout artists but are also separated by age and style.

Belingon, despite being only 34 years old, has been fighting professionally for almost 15 years, not to mention his lengthy career as a Wushu competitor. The legend has had some mileage in his engine and yet he always fights like a man ten years his junior. The Wushu standout has insane pace as he uses swarming attacks to overwhelm his opponents.

Kwon, being the younger fighter, made his professional debut just two years before Belingon got his first ONE Championship title shot. Despite being less experienced, Kwon engages his opponents as a veteran as he relies on timing and precision, not aggression, to find the KO.

Come ONE Championship: Winter Warriors II, we'll see one of two things. Either Kwon snatches the torch from Belingon or the Filipino wrecking ball stifles the rise of the Korean superstar. Tune in December 17, 7:30PM (SGT) to watch the drama and action unfold.

About the author

Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with 15 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 11-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim

Watch: Former ONE Championship bantamweight champ Kevin Belingon and Kwon Won Il exchange heated words

Kevin Belingon and Kwon Won Il co-headline ONE Championship: Winter Warriors II