Rafael Nunes silences Manila, defeats hometown hero Eric Kelly

Rafael “Indio” Nunes may have been three and a half years removed from cage competition, but when he returned to ONE Championship on Friday, 26 January, he made up for lost time.

After a tentative first round, the Brazilian was able to submit local favorite Eric “The Natural” Kelly via D’arce choke at ONE: GLOBAL SUPERHEROES in front of his opponent’s countrymen at the Mall Of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

A lot of respect between the two warriors was shown for the better part of the first round. The Brazilian stayed at a distance, as he had the reach advantage and attempted to pick his punches from the outside. Kelly was never able to truly find his range, and Nunes, a product of the famed Nova Uniāo, soon took the action to the canvas.

He tried to finish “The Natural” with an armbar attempt late in the first, but overcommitted and was reversed, allowing the Filipino to end the round dropping ground strikes.

The second round would see a quick return to the canvas, as Nunes caught a front kick and brought Kelly back to the ground. “Indio” went to work on the ground once again, moving to side control and locking in a D’arce choke.

This time, there was no escape for Kelly, who was forced to tap at 1:31 of round two.

“Indio” improved to 11-1 with the impressive win over Kelly and notched his first victory in the ONE cage.

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