By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Ilonggo mixed martial artist Rene Catalan bowed down to nemesis Alex Silva for the second time during ONE: NextGen III held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The pride of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo couldn’t withstand the grappling prowess of his old foe Silva during their clash after tapping out in the first round.
With 1:30 remaining in round one of the highly-anticipated rematch, Silva found the perfect angle to execute an arm bar submission that immediately caused Catalan to tap out while grimacing in pain.
Catalan opened the round on a high note after a quick leg kick that connected cleanly to Silva’s thigh but the former ONE strawweight champion took the fight to the ground when he scored the first takedown of the match.
Silva continued to dominate while being on top of Catalan but a surprising turn of events saw the two fighters switch positions in just a matter of two seconds.
The Ilonggo fighter sprawled his way out of the dangerous position he was in for two minutes and was now in a dominant position, putting Silva under his body, effectively reversing their positions on the ground.
When Catalan looked to finish Silva via a choke submission, he countered back with a slick and technical defense that locked the Ilonggo’s arm inside his hands and hip for a perfect arm bar that put an end to their head-to-head matchup in ONE.
Catalan suffered his third-straight loss with a 6-5 win-loss record while Silva improved to 11 wins and six losses.
