ONE atomweight MMA contender Chihiro Sawada of Japan churned out one of her best performances yet at ONE Fight Night 39.
The former Shooto Champion displayed refined striking skills along with her elite grappling to take away Natalie Salcedo’s undefeated record. She left Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium victorious via unanimous decision after three hard-fought rounds.
The 28-year-old surprised her American counterpart in round 1, where she let her sharp hands go.
Sawada usually employs a grappling-heavy offense, but got the upper hand with impressive punch and kick combinations that caught Salcedo off guard.
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
When the 33-year-old tightened up her defense, Sawada beautifully chained her strong wrestling acumen to take the fight to the ground and continue asserting her game.
Speaking through a translator during the post-event interviews, Sawada credited her corner’s guidance for allowing her to make the necessary adjustments.
“Chihiro believes that Natalie is, like, her speed, and her leg movement was very fast, but also, she got the advice, got a lot of helpful words from her seconds. That’s why she could do the countermeasure earlier.”
Chihiro Sawada proud to see gameplan succeed vs Natalie Salcedo
While Chihiro Sawada has the utmost confidence in her grappling capabilities, she still chose a smart approach against Natalie Salcedo.
The Japanese star said through a translator:
“Yes, since Chihiro, her background is in wrestling, she’s very good at that, and normally, she would do the takedown, go for the scramble, but if she took Natalie down, [she knew] that Natalie is very good at on the ground. So this time she didn’t want to do that, she wanted to control the whole game by herself. So she made her come to Chihiro on her striking game.”
The full ONE Fight Night 39 replay is available now for Prime Video subscribers in North America.
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim