He delivered just that by dispatching AKA Thailand fighter Jeff “The Machine” Huang with a second-round rear-naked choke after dominating throughout the bout.
The opening stanza had a tentative start. It looked like Huang would try to dictate the distance by flicking out jabs and kicks to employ his reach advantage. However, Thani closed the distance by literally jumping inside his opponent’s range, and from there it was all dominance from the local favorite.
‘The Alligator’ lived up to his moniker with a smothering clinch and ground attack that was always one step ahead of his foe’s. To Huang’s credit, he was always trying to escape and create space. But every time he tried, Thani used this to advance his position and attack, enjoying significant periods in the mount and on the back of the Chinese Taipei veteran.
With the stage set from round one, Thani again wasted no time in closing the distance in the second stanza, diverting Huang’s striking aggression and pressing him to the fence before dragging him to the mat once more.
This time, Huang’s durability wasn’t enough to keep him in the fight. Thani pre-empted his every move, and allowed ‘The Machine’ to try an escape before shutting it off by taking back control.
With two hooks in and punches loosening up the defenses of his opponent, Thani sunk in a rear-naked choke and applied the squeeze to get the finish at 2:26 of the second round.
Adding another victory to his resume, Thani remains undefeated at 7-0, and looks better with every outing. His sights are set on the welterweight title, as he pleaded to the ONE CHAMPIONSHIP matchmakers, saying: “Give me a chance. I will fight anybody. You call me, and I will do it.”
After another excellent performance with huge support in his native Malaysia, his case for title contention has taken a huge boost.
Huang drops to 6-3 following the loss, his first under the ONE CHAMPIONSHIP banner.
