Kimihiro Eto Submits JD Hardwick in ONE Warrior Series Season 3 Finale

Lightweights Kimihiro Eto and JD Hardwick clashed in the main event of the ONE Warrior Series 3 Finale. It was a fight that pitted the grappling of the Japanese fighter against the Muay Thai of the American and it was the latter style which would ultimately prevail.

Hardwick was taken down early in the opening round at Zepp@Big Box in Singapore. Their fight headlined the Thursday afternoon fight card and the Fairtex prospect was able to prevent his Japanese opponent from progressing further than half guard.

Eto eventually got back to his feet and Hardwick immediately went to work with low kicks, only for his opponent to time one and sweep him. The American southpaw started to score with hard kicks to the legs and body, but towards the end of the round the Deep veteran caught one and slammed him to the ground.

Hardwick had clearly done more damage in the opening round but Eto had controlled the majority of the action and it was a similar story in the second stanza. The Japanese fighter ate a few more low kicks but countered one with a straight right hand that put the U.S. Army veteran on his back.

It looked like more of a slip than an actual knockdown, but it put Eto exactly where he wanted to be, in his opponent’s half guard. From there he looked to secure an arm triangle choke while moving into side control, but the latter proved unnecessary with Hardwick tapping to the submission attempt.

Earlier in the night, Japanese strawweight prospect Ryuto Sawada (11-4-1) made short work of Ismael Bandiwan (4-2) in a battle between two OWS veterans. The Filipino was completely outmatched and eventually succumbed to an armbar late in the opening round.

This article first appeared at News – MMAWeekly.com