Female Warriors thrill in ONE: QUEST FOR GOLD prelims

A pair of consecutive first-round stoppages primed the crowd for an exciting night of action at ONE: QUEST FOR GOLD, live from the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar on Friday, 23 February.

The two bouts were contested in the women’s atomweight division, and showed the true versatility of the ONE Championship martial artists, with striking, wrestling, and submissions all on display.

Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol and Bozhena Antoniyar emerged the victors. In a growing division, these performances will help to solidify their places in the chasing pack behind ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee.

Resurgence Continues For Motivated Lumban Gaol

Both Indonesia’s Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol and the Philippines’ Krisna “Phoenix” Limbaga stepped into the ONE cage with a wealth of striking experience. For instance, Lumban Gaol, otherwise known as “Thathie,” is an Indonesian national champion and SEA Games bronze medalist in wushu, while Limbaga is an accomplished Muay Thai specialist who was making her cage debut.

As is often the case between two talented strikers, it is the more complete martial artist who finds a way to win, and “Thathie” out-grappled her Filipino opponent en route to a first-round armbar victory.

Both athletes opened up with kicks, testing their range and the reactions of their adversary. The change in momentum came when the Indonesian worked for a takedown, and took Limbaga off her feet. “Phoenix” tried to stifle the positional dominance of Lumban Gaol, but had to constantly fend off choke attempts.

After working hard to get back to her feet, the Filipino was once again tossed to the mat with a well-timed hip throw from Lumban Gaol. This time, the Indonesian would be more clinical with the finish, as she isolated an arm and set up a stunning armbar finish from the scarf hold position to take the win at 4:05 of the first round.

Bozhena Antoniyar Makes Women’s Atomweight History

In the night’s opening bout, it was the first-ever all-Myanmar battle between female competitors, as two-time Myanmar national boxing champion Bozhena Antoniyar clashed with Myanmar national lethwei champion Shwe Sin.

The historic bout would be extremely brief, however. Bozhena Antoniyar picked up the finish in 24 seconds, and earned the fastest knockout and stoppage victory in ONE women’s atomweight history.

It was clear from the opening exchange that Bozhena Antoniyar was coming to throw hard leather, as she raced to the center of the cage and unleashed a hard combination. Shwe Sin was more than happy to oblige, replying with a punch-kick combo of her own.

However, from there, it was the boxer who showed her versatility. She took Shwe Sin down to the ground, and she immediately went to work with hard punches.

Though Shwe Sin managed to stop the onslaught briefly, Bozhena Antoniyar passed to the mount, and then let go with a volley of strikes. This time, the referee was forced to stop the contest, which gave Bozhena Antoniyar the record-setting victory.