Kelly drops fight against Chinese rival via technical decision

MANILA, Philippines — Youthful Chinese Xie Bin won via technical decision over Filipino Edward Kelly in their featherweight duel serving as one of the prelims in ONE: Dawn of Heroes at the MOA Arena in Pasay City last night.

The fight was stopped midway in the second round when the 21-year-old Xie unintentionally hit the 35-year-old Kelly on the back of the head, forcing officials to go to the judges card that resulted to the Chinese snaring his eighth win in 10 fights and stayed undefeated in seven matches in the last three years.

Kelly, who went out dizzied by the illegal blows, suffered his seventh setback against 12 wins that dealt a big blow to his bid to challenge division champion Martin Nguyen for the title.

Agreeing to fight in a catchweight at 57kg, China’s Li Tao Miao, a Shaolin Kungfu practitioner, overwhelmed Thailand’s Pongsiri Mitsatit in a unanimous decision win – his 12th against three setbacks.

In women’s strawweight, Japan’s Ayaka Miura caught Brazil’s Samara Santos via Americana submission in the 39-second mark of the second round to hike her record to 9-2.