Tial Thang faces shock loss to Song Min Jong with unanimous decision

Undefeated Myanmar MMA fighter Tial Thang faced a loss to South Korean starfighter Song Min Jong in the Bantamweight clash of the ONE Championship Battleground III event at Singapore Indoor Stadium yesterday night.
Their fight was a good one by showcasing continuous punches, kicks and takedowns to each other. Tail Thang relied on wrestling skills plus boxing while his opponent Song Min Jong used mixed fighting styles of taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The first round began with Tial Thang taking a few swings at Song Min Jong with his fabulous wrestling skills.
Song Min Jong took a good defensive position in every takedown of Tial Thang.
Again, Song Min Jong dominated over the Myanmar fighter with high kicks and punches and drove Tial Thang to the floor and then attacked with heavy ground-and-pound and choke attempts till the bell rang.
Both fighters came out with aggressive punches and kicks in round two.
Tial Thang stood his ground and responded with hard counters and this allowed the Myanmar fighter to take Song Min Jong onto the floor, but the Korean fighter found a way to get up quickly. Again, Tial Thang dominated over Song Min Jong with another takedown but Tial’s guillotine choke attempt failed.
Next, the final stanza saw more colourful strategies from both men. Song Min Jong paired flurry punches with low kicks, while Tial Thang responded with heavy right hands like the way Aung La N Sang did.
With a quick takedown, Song Min Jong tried to have an upper position, but Tial Thang responded with a double-leg takedown. However, Song Min Jong’s sweep turned the tide as he got on top and took Tial Thang’s back in the scramble.
Tial Thang came close to locking up the rear-naked choke of Song Min Jong in the final minutes- mark, but the Myanmar starfighter stood in the bout until the end. After a unanimous decision, judges declared Song Min Jong as a winner. Tial Thang faced his very time defeat after three straight wins in ONE Championship while Song Min Jong shaped the 12th MMA career victory to go for the next stage. — GNLM