Olsim beats Viet-Am rival

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ Jenelyn Olsim turned back hard-fighting Vietnamese-American Bi Nguyen via unanimous decision in the ONE: Battleground III at the Singapore Indoor Stadium the other night.

The 24-year-old Olsim, who moved down from strawweight to atomweight, won on all scorecards to beat the 31-year-old Bi and forge an intriguing duel with Thai-American Grace Cleveland in a historic, all-female ONE: Empower Friday.

It was Olsim’s second straight win in ONE for a 5-2 record in mixed martial arts overall. Bi fell to 6-7.

The Bokod, Benguet native mixed her exceptional striking skills with a much improved ground game to overwhelm a stunned Bi, a veteran who had fought Stamp Fairtez and Jihin Radzuan, some of the notable names in the loaded division.

In the main events, Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong bested Tawanchai PK.Saenchai Muathaigym via split decision while Dejadamrong So Amnuaysirichoke earned a TKO victory over Banma Duoji.

Other winners were Chinese Xie Wei over South Korean Dae Hwan Kim via a third-round TKO win, South Korean Song Min Jong over Myanmar’s Tial Thang via unanimous decision and Purev Otgonjargal over Ben Royle via an opening round stoppage.