Myanmar mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Aung La N Sang lost his middleweight world championship belt to Dutch fighter Reinier De Ridder at the One:Inside the Matrix event on October 30.
De Ridder choked out the Burmese Python in the first round to claim the middleweight belt at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. This marks the 30-year-old Dutch fighter’s 13th consecutive win.
Kachin-born Aung La first won the middleweight title in 2017 after defeating Russia's Vitaly Bigdash in their second match in five months. In June 2018, Aung La beat Japanese fighter Ken Hasegawa, successfully defending his middleweight belt for the first time. He later fended off Mohammad Karaki from Lebanon and Hasegawa, retaining his middleweight title.
Despite losing the middleweight to De Ridder, Aung La retains his light heavyweight world championship belt, which he defended against Brandon Vera from the Philippines in October last year.
The One: Inside the Matrix event also saw world title holders Christian Lee from Singapore and Xiong Jing Nan from China successfully defend their belts against Romanian fighter Iuri Lapicus and Singapore’s Tiffany Teo, respectively. However, Australia Martin Nguyen lost his featherweight world title to new champion Thanh Le from the US.
The event also saw Australia’s Antonio Caruso beat Eduard Folayang from the Philippines and Indian fighter Ritu Phogat defeat Cambodia’s Nou Srey Pov in the women’s event.
