By REYNALD MAGALLON
- Carlo Bumina-ang made a resounding return to the ring, clobbering erstwhile undefeated Brazilian striker Marcos Aurelio via TKO in their bantamweight MMA bout in the ONE Fight Night 39 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday, Jan. 24.
The 31-year-old got things going in the second round and unloaded a couple of big hits to the head of Aurelio — the last of which a vicious left straight and right hook combination that floored the Brazilian for the third time in the frame and convinced the referee to stop the fight.
The halt came just 50 seconds into the second frame where Aurelio, a notorious knockout artist himself, invited Bumina-ang to trade punches — a ploy that immediately backfired for the 21-year-old striker.
Bumina-ang landed a clean counter left that rocked Aurelio, who momentarily kneeled after taking the shot. Though he managed to create distance, Bumina-ang went for the chase and landed another booming left that put down Aurelio once more.
Smelling blood in the water, a thudding left from Bumina-ang greeted the face of the escaping Aurelio before a vicious right hook sent him flat on his back.
With the win, Bumina-ang has successfully erased the bitter taste of his November loss to Elbek Alyshov to improve to a 9-2-0 record.
Aurelio, who had a great start to the contest after repelling Bumina-ang’s repeated take down attempts in the opening round, absorbed his first defeat in nine bouts.
