MMA: Filipino fighter Catalan loses to Dima, gets taken out on a stretcher after fight

The ONE FC losing skid for Filipino fighters continued at ONE FC: Total Domination, as Rene Catalan lost by referee stoppage against Cambodia’s Khim Dima, Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

After winning the first round easily due to his takedowns, Catalan lost steam in the second, allowing Dima to use his superior striking. Catalan took so many blows to his head that he needed to be taken out via stretcher.

[Related: Rene Catalan looking for early stoppage win over Khim Dima at ONE FC: Total Domination]

Like he said after the weigh-in, Catalan went for the kill early, as he threw a roundhouse kick to open the fight. He then took down the much-taller Dima to offset the Cambodian’s height advantage. The Filipino was able to lock in an armbar, but Dima stayed tough, refusing to tap out, and managing to wiggle out of it eventually.

Catalan continued to take Dima down at will. He did damage with some punches on the ground and even attempted another armbar but he lost his grip anew.

In the second round, the two stayed on their feet in the early goings. However, Catalan scored another takedown against his opponent, who didn’t seem to know how to sprawl. The Filipino could not take advantage of being on top though, as he could not get the correct posture to land strikes.

Catalan landed three good punches after the two stood up, but he got caught trying to get a single leg takedown. Instead of breaking his hold and stepping back, Catalan held on to Khim’s leg which allowed the latter to rain down elbows and punches.

Catalan gets taken out on a stretcher after losing via ref stoppage in the second round. pic.twitter.com/qG5OQeGyTX

— Carlo Pamintuan (@carlo_pamintuan) October 18, 2013

The defenseless Filipino fell to the mat, where Khim landed some more strikes to end the fight at the 3:40 mark of the second. - AMD, GMA News