Pieter Buist stuns Eduard Folayang in Manila, Kingad earns hard fought victory over Xie

Pieter Buist scored the biggest win of his professional MMA career following a razor-thin split decision nod over Eduard Folayang at ONE: Fire & Fury Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Folayang went to target the legs of his lanky opponent who pressed forward throwing lead right hands with bad intent. They scrambled as soon as they closed the distance, where the Filipino superstar attempted a guillotine choke.

The Face of Phillippine Mixed Martial Arts started to unleash his signature spinning attacks in round two. Despite getting hit with numerous kicks to the leg and body, Buist remained calm and collected throughout the stanza.

The fight between two strikers ultimately ended up as a grappling exchange after Buist went for an arm-triangle choke. A high kick to the temple badly wobbled Folayang in round three.

A visibly tired and worn out Folayang fought his heart out in the dying seconds of the final round, as both fighters poured everything they got heading to the scorecards.

Buist escaped with a split decision victory after three rounds of back and forth action. He improved his record to 15-4 while Folayang dropped to 22-9.

Also on the undercard, Danny Kingad overcame a tougher than expected challenge from Chinese knockout artist Xie Wei. Both fighters exchanged strikes with bad intent throughout the contest, but it was Kingad's leg kicks that hit its spots that gave him the edge.

All three judges saw the fight for Kingad after fifteen minutes. He moved his record to 14-2 while Xie fell to 5-3. — BAP, GMA News