Thanks to Janet Todd contracting COVID-19, forcing her Muay Thai title unification bout with Allycia Hellen Rodrigues being called off, heavyweight Oumar Kane, better known as Reug Reug, was a late addition to Friday’s ONE on Prime Video 5 card.
Originally scheduled for ONE 164 hours later, the Senegalese wrestler was paired up with the undefeated Jasur Mirzamukhamedov, who had won his ONE Championship debut last time out.
After an exchange of light leg kicks, it was Reug Reug surging forward first, letting his hands go. Mirzamukhamedov moved out of harm’s way, and Kane landed an outside leg kick. Another offensive foray by Kane followed, but it wasn’t long before he exploded in on a takedown, landing it.
From there, Kane sat in half-guard, with Mirzamukhamedov doing little more than tying up his opponent from bottom, perhaps hoping for a stand-up. He did manage to shrimp back to the fence, and look to scramble free, but Reug Reug grabbed the fence with both hands, leading to ref Herb Dean repeatedly warning him, then wrenching an arm free of the cage. Just a stern warning, however; Mirzamukhamedov would eventually get up, and they’d stall out against the cage, with Dean coming in to halt the action and restart it.
That led to the fight going back to the mat, where Kane was again in control.
Round two saw Kane fire a front kick, while Mirzamukhamedov tried to press forward. He got off a few leg kicks, but soon enough, Kane changed levels, landed a takedown, and ripped the body. While Reug Reug had clear control and continued to land to the body, the ref was looking for more, admonishing him to work, and finally standing the fight up with about two minutes left.
Kane then drove Mirzamukhamedov back to the fence, with Dean again urging him to work more. A foot stomp landed, but again, the action was restarted at center. Back underway, he pushed Mirzamukhamedov back to the fence again, taking things back to the same position the ref had taken away just moments before.
Round three began with another Reug Reug takedown, and more calls for work from ref Dean. Kane was able to hold Mirzamukhamedov down, and work in some ground n’ pound, but didn’t appear to show much interest in passing guard.
Another stand-up gave Jasur Mirzamukhamedov about two minutes to turn things around. He fired a right hand that connected, but soon enough, Oumar Kane/Reug Reug found enough gas in the tank to change levels and blast through a double-leg takedown. The final minute saw him sitting in half-guard, and in a low-action, tepid affair, the behemoth from Senegal proved at the very least he can go the full 15 minutes.
Official Result: Oumar Kane def. Jasur Mirzamukhamedov by unanimous decision
