Shoya Ishiguro made his ONE Championship debut against Toshiyasu Sagae at ONE Friday Fights 55 on March 15th, 2024 and he get the results he was after in the end. The promotion’s ‘Friday Fights’ series of events have generally focused heavily on Muay Thai fights with the occasional boxing or MMA fight sprinkled throughout, and this was the first time that they had booked a submission grappling match for one. The two men were meeting in a bantamweight bout and naturally both of them were going to be eager to register a win in what was both of their promotional debuts.
Ishiguro hit a great kani basami entry early on and started attacking Sagae’s legs, but he couldn’t win the positional battle and had to bail out back to standing. Another kani basami attempt followed shortly after, but the second one wasn’t as successful as the first and he returned to standing quicker this time. Ishiguro shot in for a takedown and was thrown to his back, but he quickly switched to x guard and stood up to sweep Sagae. It took almost a minute of frantic passing attempts before Ishiguro was able to drop into side control, but he quickly stepped over into mount after that.
Sagae was stuck under mount for a while, but eventually he used a good kipping escape to attack Ishiguro’s legs and put him on the defensive for the first time. Ishiguro dealt with the threat and came back up on top, pressuring Sagae and getting into mount quicker this time around. Sagae escaped after they were reset in the center and was able to get in on Ishiguro’s legs again, eventually coming up on top for the first time in the match. This didn’t last too long though and they returned to standing after Ishiguro threatened to take Sagae’s back with an inversion.
After some more unsuccessful kani basami attempts, Shoya Ishiguro hit another slick entry at ONE Friday Fights 55 when he rolled through for a kneebar. He was quickly countered though and Sagae threatened with some leg attacks of his own, but Ishiguro was able to defend and resume his high-paced passing game. Sagae used a quick butterfly sweep attempt to get back to his feet and the two men started wrestling for a while, before Ishiguro timed another good kani basami to put his opponent on his back. Ishiguro found the saddle but he couldn’t expose a heel before Sagae escaped, and Ishiguro took up top position once again instead.
Sagae was trapped in the corner and couldn’t get much going until he was able to invert under Ishiguro and threaten his legs, almost managing to sweep him at one point. He exposed his own leg in the process of standing up though and the two men engaged in a lightning-quick battle for position. They continued scrambling to take up top position in the final seconds of the match, but neither man was able to really secure position before the time ran out. It was an incredibly tough battle and both men had their moments of success but when the results were read, Shoya Ishiguro was declared the winner at ONE Friday Fights 55.
ONE Friday Fights 55 Full Results
Kiamran Nabati defeats Avatar PK Saenchai via Decision – Unanimous
Rittidet Sor Sommai defeats Tomyamkoong Bhumjaithai via KO – Punch (Round 2, 1:25)
Bhumjaithai Mor Tor 1 defeats Panthep VK Khaoyai via TKO – Body Punches (Round 3, 0:16)
Denphuthai SitJackmuaythai defeats Rhuam Felipe Morais Caldas via Decision – Unanimous
Chalamdam Sor Boonmeerit defeats Singtanawat Nokjeanladkrabang via TKO – Punches (Round 3, 1:57)
Kaichon Sor Yingcharoenkarnchang defeats Jompadej Nupranburi via Decision – Unanimous
Stephen Irvine defeats Longern Paesaisi via Decision – Unanimous
Natalia Diachkova defeats Chellina Chirino via KO – Punches (Round 1, 1:44)
Matheus Pereira defeats Khasan Khaliev via Submission – Guillotine (Round 3, 3:57)
Taiki Naito defeats Sherzod Kabutov via Decision – Unanimous
Ryota Koshimizu defeats Joker Paesaisi via TKO – Punches (Round 3, 0:54)
Shoya Ishiguro defeats Toshiyasu Sagae via Decision – Unanimous
The full ONE Friday Fights 55 event replay, including Shoya Ishiguro winning by decision and the other results above, was uploaded to the official ONE Championship YouTube channel:
