Today’s ONE Championship 61 main event went the distance, but the flyweight bout was spoiled in the first round by an apparent referee blunder. Facing Kairat Akhmetov (21-1), Geje Eustaquio (9-6) unloaded a flush upkick – totally legal under ONE Championship’s rules – but referee Yuji Shimada inexplicably called a timeout. Instead of awarding the knockout stoppage, the ref continued to fight, and Akhmetov rallied to pick up a narrow split-decision win. Here’s the kick in question (via Twitter ): That was a completely LEGAL upkick by Eustaquio. What the hell Shimada? pic.twitter.com/g5DIoz99DG — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) September 16, 2017 ONE FC's officials are highly competent, there's been nearly no controversy in promotion's history
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ONE Championship 61 results and gifs: Main-event ref blunder, 11-second face-plant – MMA Junkie