| Fadhil Yunus |

BRUNEI Darussalam’s mixed martial arts exponents Ahmed Faez Anuar and Nurhidayat Haji Abdul enjoyed impressive victories in their respective One Warrior Series debuts in Singapore yesterday.

Ahmed Faez, commonly known as Eazy, won the fight via a second-round submission after putting an armbar lock on Pardeep Kumar of India in the lightweight division while Nurhidayat also emerged victorious through a first round submission after an arm triangle choke against Thailand’s Sanya Kongkatonk in the strawweight division.

The Bruneian took an early initiative with a nice knee into the body and drove into the takedown, as his opponent was pinned up in a corner.

Kumar, a wushu champion from India, could not afford to get Eazy slowly into position as he found it difficult to swim his hands through Eazy’s legs.

Eazy found the space to work on with the ground and pound attempt as he lined up an arm bar in the first round.

Kumar was in all sorts of danger and create some kind of movement as he had his hand pinned down, but he tried to bridge and got out of an arm bar.

The Indian got out of trouble and attempted a spinning back kick to the body before Eazy sent him tumbling into the floor with a body lock takedown.

There was no holding back in the dying seconds of the first round as both traded a flurry of punches before the bell rang marking the end of the round.

Kumar tried to defend but to no avail as the fight returned to the ground where Eazy seemed to be in control.

Eazy’s opponent needed to explode and used everything he had to let at least set one arm free to defend his face before the referee would have stopped the fight.

Eazy asserted his authority while on the other hand, Kumar had to scramble and there was no defence because his arms were all dealt with.

The Indian tried hard to get one of his arms free, but he was left hopeless with Eazy continuing a series of forearm.

There were a lot of unanswered strikes coming from the Khalifa Mixed Martial Arts fighter as Kumar had to create movement. Eazy went for the ground and pound route for victory before Kumar tapped into his armbar lock in the dying moments of the second round.

Meanwhile, Mohd Nurhidayat was also as spectacular in his debut in the One Warrior Series after claiming a fine win over Sanya Kongkatonk.

Nurhidayat, who boasts a grappling background, wanted to close the distance and avoid the range of Kongkatonk and managed to get up at speed.

The Khalifa Mixed Martial Arts fighter tried to isolate the right arm with his leg and performed ground and pound.

It took 47 seconds of the first round for Norhidayat to finish the match with a beautifully executed submission. He dropped the shoulder in a cork screw motion, driving the shoulder and biceps onto the side of the opponent’s neck and forced his opponent to tap.