ONE Fight Night 17 results: Underdog Mohamed Younes Rabah knocks out hometown favorite Saemapetch in one round

No. 3 ranked bantamweight Muay Thai contender Saemapetch made his return to Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on Friday night at ONE Fight Night 17 for a showdown with ONE newcomer Mohamed Younes Rabah.

‘The Buraq’ entered the bout with an undefeated record of 13-0, but he faced his toughest test to date against the former MTGP welterweight champion.

Rabah’s significant size advantage allowed him to dictate the pace and control the center of the ring with a series of leg and body kicks to the Thai icon. However, Rabah got a little overly aggressive and caught a big left hand coming in that sent him crashing to the canvas.

Answering the standing eight-count, Rabah bounced back and immediately scored a takedown of his own seconds after the fight resumed. Saemapetch got back to his fight and looked to once again catch Rabah coming in with a counter left, but Rabah saw it coming this time and delivered a big flying knee followed up by a series of strikes that put Saemapetch on the mat once again.

The Thai fan favorite got back to his feet, but was clearly in no condition to continue, forcing the referee to call for the stoppage with 31 seconds left in the bout.

Official Result: Mohamed Younes Rabah defeats Saemapetch via knockout (flying knee to follow-up strikes) at 2:29 of round one.

With the victory, Mohamed Younes Rabah moved to 14-0 in his combat sports career and made a huge first impression in his ONE Championship debut.

Saemapetch fell to 8-5 under the ONE banner and has now lost four of his last six bouts.