For an incredible sixth time, former kickboxing champions Marat Grigorian and Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong threw down in a ring, but this would be the first time in ONE Championship after the last four fights were under the GLORY kickboxing banner.
Sitthichai won the first four of their five previous meeings, many of which were for Sitthichai’s GLORY lightweight belt. However, the most recent bout in 2019 went the way of the Armenian, Marat. These are some of the best kickboxers in the world, only a little bit past their primes, but they have been locked out of a chance to win the belt by losses to the best fighters in the division, Chingiz Allazov and Superbon Singha Mawynn. Those are also two of the top pound-4-pound strikers in the world, making this division ONE’s most stacked with talent across all four sports which it promotes. There is no shame in those losses, but if either man wanted any shot of capturing gold in ONE, they needed to win in Tokyo on Sunday.
The first round was competitive, as their fights always have been, but Sitthichai’s volume, boxing, and body-kicking seemed to give him a 10-9 win in the round. Although Grigorian was on the front foot, pressuring the entire time as always, the Thai was able to land more offense overall. Sitthichai’s pace while on the back foot was impressive.
Round two began with even higher volume from each. Marat seemed determined to go forward and throw, regardless of if he had figured out the rhythm and regardless of what shots came back at him. He began to work the body and after one minute had a clear lead in the round, though it remained competitive. But nobody can maintain that absurd pace for too long, and when Grigorian’s pace fell back to normal the fight became much more even. Marat still had a boxing advantage, and only ever kicked the legs, but Sitthichai was able to land teeps and southpaw round kicks to the body to keep pace in the strike count while circling out. However in the final minute of the round, Marat turned the pace back up. Sitthichai began to look troubled and Marat hurt him with punches before suddenly dropping him with a knee to the body. However, referee Olivier Coste denied the knockdown, citing the hands of Grigorian being used in as a collar tie and the illegality of clinching in kickboxing. It was a highly questionable call by the referee, but Marat still won the round clearly.
Going into the final round it was obviously tied, 19-19, even though Marat maybe deserved the lead. Grigorian continued to roll downhill like a large stone, growing in his power as the fighter went longer while his Thai opponent slowly faded. Sitthichai was far from out of it, but the pop on his blows had waned and he began to breathe raggedly. Just past one minute into the round, the boulder hit the bottom of the hill. It was the body work that did it in the end, as Marat landed two big knees to the stomach in the finishing sequence before Sitthichai fell to a left hook to the liver.
This marked the first finish in the series between the two fighters in the sextology. After five decisions, Marat Grigorian broke through with a finish, with both fighters aged thirty-two years old. With that, he somewhat evened the score. Despite being down 4-2 in the series, a finish means a lot more, especially when only one of the decisions that Sitthichai won over him was unanimous on the scorecards.
Marat Grigorian gave appreciation to his opponent for their stellar fights over the last six years, really emphasizing what a high level both of them compete at. He also stated his love for Japan, and was awarded a fifty-thousand dollar performance bonus by the promotion for his highlight-reel knockout.
Official Result: Marat Grigorian def. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenon by TKO (body knees and punch) Round 3, 1:20
