The Real Winners and Losers from ONE on TNT II

ONE Championship returned to TNT on Wednesday night, and the card gave us plenty talk about.

In the main event, ONE lightweight champion Christian Lee reasserted himself as one of the sport’s top talents by beating the brakes off ferocious knockout artist Timofey Nastyukhin inside a round.

In the co-main event, meanwhile, ONE atomweight kickboxing champion Janet Todd improved to 3-1 in ONE Championship Muay Thai competition with a sizzling third-round TKO win over Norway’s Anne Line Hogstad.

The three-fight ONE on TNT II undercard, finally, featured plenty of talking points as well, as Yoshiki Nakahara snagged a disqualification win over Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg, and Wang Shuo and Shuya Kamikubo picked up stoppage wins over Kim Kyu Sung and Mitchell Chamale respectively.

But who really came out on top when all was said and done? Keep scrolling to see the real winners and losers from ONE on TNT II.

Winner: The Lee Family Dynasty

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The Lee Dynasty is alive and well after ONE on TNT II.

In the card’s main event, 22-year-old lightweight champion Christian Lee defended his title with a breezy first-round TKO win over Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin—who was supposed to be the more dangerous striker in the matchup. With that win, Lee has now defeated four of ONE Championship’s top-5 lightweight contenders—and three of them by stoppage.

With the ONE lightweight title tucked away in his luggage, Lee will return to his home in Hawaii, where his family will no doubt greet him proudly. Winning, however, is nothing new for them. 

Christian’s 24-year-old sister, Angela, is the ONE atomweight champion, and one of the most successful fighters in the promotion’s history. His 16-year-old sister Victoria, meanwhile, recently made her pro mixed martial arts debut under the ONE banner, picking up an impressive submission win over the amply more experienced Sunisa Srisen. 

The Lees are ONE Championship royalty, and it doesn’t seem like that will change any time soon.

Winner: Janet Todd’s Two-Sport Ambitions

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Janet Todd is already the ONE atomweight kickboxing champion. After defeating Norway’s Anne Line Hogstad by third-round TKO in the ONE on TNT II co-main event, the Californian is now also 3-1 in ONE’s atomweight Muay Thai division. 

With so much success in the rear-view, Todd has more than earned a Muay Thai title shot. In fact, were reigning atomweight Muay Thai champion Alycia Helen Rodrigues not currently pregnant, Todd might well have been booked for a title shot already.

Whatever the case, the American is well positioned to follow in the footsteps of others like Stamp Fairtex and Sam-A Gaiyanghadao and win titles in two sports in ONE Championship.

Loser: Disqualifications

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One of the biggest talking points after last week’s ONE on TNT I card was Eddie Alvarez’s disqualification loss, which occurred after he landed several strikes to the back of his opponent Iuri Lapicus’ head.

Some fans were still struggling to digest that unfortunate moment heading into ONE on TNT 2—and unfortunately, it happened again.

The trouble occurred in a dizzying featherweight fight between Japan’s Yoshiki Nakahara and Mongolia’s Shinechagtga Zoltsetseg. In the third and final round, Zoltsetseg attempted a scramble, and kicked Nakahara—who had his back on the canvas—square in the face. The referee promptly handed the Mongolian a red card, which meant a DQ win for the Japanese fighter.

In his post-fight interview, just moments after he was disqualified, Zoltsetseg assured that he was only trying to escape a bad position and that he didn’t mean to kick his rival in the process. Some fans will believe that explanation, others won’t. 

No matter which side of the fence you’re on, there’s no denying that the DQ was a definite disappointment.

Loser: People Who Blink

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We talk a lot about blink-and-you-miss-it knockouts in MMA.

We got one of those lightning quick KOs on the ONE on TNT II undercard, when China’s Wang Shuo flattened South Korea’s Kim Kyu Sung at flyweight.

The first two round of the pair’s fight, which was contested entirely on the feet, were competitive but not exactly spectacular. That changed in the third round, when Shuo felled his significantly taller foe with an elbow that was little more than a blur in real time.

As the finish replayed, commentator Rich Franklin claimed he missed it because he blinked. He can’t have been the only one.