Saturday (22 October) saw Thailand’s Noelle Grandjean successfully navigate her professional MMA debut at the ONE Championship event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 2021 GAMMA Asian Champion faced American Lea Bivins, also making her ONE Championship debut, in her quest to keep her undefeated MMA record intact.
The American Bivins started aggressively, pressing forward early in the match, but Grandjean used all her black belt judo skills to take the contest to the mat. When the match returned to standing, Grandjean was even more energetic and delivered many shots to the legs and body before landing a match ending blow to the liver of Bivins after 4:01 in the first round.
The victory for the lightweight Thai woman not only impressed the fans and improved her career record, but it was also a lucrative 4 minutes as she walked away with a performance bonus of 50,000 US dollars.
The full bout can be replayed here (11:02).
Grandjean’s rise to the professional ranks has been impressive and follows her success at the 2021 GAMMA Asian Championships in Kyrgyzstan where she very quickly asserted her dominance in the sport. Thanks to the strategic partnership that GAMMA and ONE Championship have created to offer pathways for developing athletes, Grandjean has certainly established herself as a rising star.
With the 2022 GAMMA Asian-Pacific Championships taking place in Thailand next month, it will be a fantastic opportunity for the very best MMA athletes to showcase their skills and perhaps follow in the footsteps of the Grandjean. Find out who will be crowned champion when the 2022 GAMMA Asian-Pacific Championships will take place in Pattaya, Thailand from 9 to 13 November. All the action will be available live on GAMMA’s YouTube Channel.
Credit goes to ONE Championship for the Match Report.
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