Emilio Urrutia announces arrival in ONE with win over Edward Kelly

They do not call Emilio Urrutia “The Honey Badger” for nothing.

The 30-year-old Singapore-based American fighter took the stage with headgear matching the energy of the quick and feisty creature – and it worked.

On Friday, 18 August, at ONE: QUEST FOR GREATNESS, he managed to capture a unanimous decision win over the Philippines’ Edward “The Ferocious” Kelly in his promotional debut.

The first round from Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia showed glimpses of each competitors’ strengths. It was Kelly who literally kicked things off early. Kelly, a wushu artist out of the famed Team Lakay, displayed his confidence after landing a side kick to the head of Urrutia.

Urrutia was noticeably stunned, but figured that pressing-forward was the best approach to suppress Kelly’s striking superiority. As Urrutia chased him down, “The Ferocious” implemented leg kicks and front body kicks to create distance. 

Ten different kicks later, “The Honey Badger” finally managed to find the opening to take Kelly to the canvas, where powerful ground and pound strikes were utilized. After a scramble, the 33-year-old managed to find his feet, but Urrutia noticed Kelly’s fatigue and attacked him with a flurry of heavy strikes.

After capturing an early takedown less than 30 seconds into the second frame, “The Honey Badger” maintained control. Urrutia smothered Kelly, even trapping Kelly’s arm with his knee to open space for more ground strikes. As the round was coming for a close, there was a sense of hope for Kelly, as he scrambled in attempt to get the bout back on the feet. Urrutia was too strong however, as he ended up attempting a kimura submission before the stanza ended.

The third round was similar to the previous one — 30 seconds into the action, Urrutia successfully captured a takedown, and implemented more ground and pound to add damage. From there, “The Honey Badger” managed to take Kelly’s back, where he proceeded to attempt submission after submission.

Kelly shockingly managed to escape to top position in full guard, but it did not last long after Urrutia scrambled and brought the match back to their feet. Kelly looked for the comeback and began throwing heavy strikes, but exhaustion set in, and the American’s counter-striking superiority took him out of contention. Urrutia even threw a sweeping leg kick which flattened Kelly, and proceeded to out-strike him the until the bell rang to end the contest.

Unsurprisingly, “The Honey Badger” did enough to secure the victory in the judges eyes, handily being awarded the unanimous decision. He wins his promotional debut and moves his record to 10-4. Meanwhile, Kelly drops to 9-4.