Filipino Edward Kelly caps off ONE return with a split-decision victory

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Filipino mixed martial artist Edward “The Ferocious” Kelly earned a tough split-decision victory over Ahmed “The Prince” Faress at ONE: FULL BLAST.

Determined to get back on track, Kelly finally broke his winning drought in the MMA league and had to overcome a tough Faress.

The Egyptian fighter posed all sorts of problems for the Filipino after putting him in deep trouble in the first few rounds.

In the first round, Faress was able to send Kelly to the ground after landing a solid slipping right hook.

Kelly was quick to counter with a takedown and courageously fought with stumbling legs after the lethal hook thrown by Faress.

The next round proved to be the most crucial for Kelly after surviving for almost two minutes when Faress was able to get into a nice position for a triangle choke.

Kelly was able to withstand the triangle choke attempt and managed to get back on his feet with a minute left before finally dictating the tempo of the whole fight in the next round.

The heavily-favored Egyptian suddenly slowed down in the last round and wasn’t able to unload much offense compared to the efficient attack made by Kelly.

Two of the judges scored the bout for Kelly while one favored the fight to Faress in one of the most tightly-contested slugfests of the year.