Jenelyn Olsim is back in action as she moves down to atomweight to face Bi Nguyen in the undercard ONE: Battleground III scheduled on August 27 in Singapore.
She will have her hands full in the Viet-Am who has a 6-6 MMA fight record, 2-3 under the ONE banner, but is coming off a victory over Ritu “The Indian Tigress” Phogat by a very close split decision this May 15, 2021.
This is a new challenge for Olsim as she competed in the strawweight division, one weight class up from atomweight, in all her three ONE appearances.
She submitted Maira Mazar of Brazil by a guillotine choke at “ONE: Fists of Fury 3” on March 19, 2021. On August 6, 2019 and was submitted by an armbar from Caitlin McEwen of Australia at “ONE Warrior Series 7”. On October 11, 2018, she defeated Claudia Diaz of Spain by unanimous decision at “ONE Warrior Series 3”.
The latest Team Lakay athlete to debut in the Circle lived up to the Igorot gym’s reputation by showing a less-known trait of Team Lakay athletes to defeat #5-ranked strawweight Maira Mazar.
In fact, her bout against Mazar was named by ONE Championship as the third best fight in their Top 5 MMA fights of 2021’s first quarter.
Olsim quickly scored a knockdown with a short counter right hand in the opening moments of this bout. Mazar was caught leading to the Filipina’s oncoming fist and dropped to a knee from the hit.
Olsim followed that with a front headlock for a guillotine choke but rip a series of knees to the head when her submission attempt was unsuccessful. Later in the round, she send her opponent down again with a crunching jab-cross combo.
Mazar tried to press Olsim to the Circle Wall multiple times in the second. Olsim countered by making effective use of her range and found some success by landing counter hits that are still scoring more damage in the exchanges.
Mazar, however, dragged her rival to the mat late in the frame and finish the round with a flurry of ground-and-pound.
The third, however, showed how intelligent a fighter Olsim is. Mazar continued to pushed her against the wall to extend her momentum but left her neck exposed for a counter-hold.
When Mazar looked for a takedown, Olsim swiftly threaded her right arm under her opponent’s neck and then locked up the power guillotine. The ONE Warrior Series graduate rolled with Mazar as the Brazilian tried to defend and squeezed to seal the tap at 0:41 of the final frame.
Olsim now becomes part of a stacked division that includes teammate Gina Iniong, Decnice Zamboanga, reigning champion Angela Lee, Stamp Fairtex, Meng Bo, and Phogat, among others.
Meanwhile, former three-time ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang takes on Chinese mixed martial arts star Zhang Lipeng, who makes his ONE debut when ONE returns with ONE: BATTLEGROUND II, a tape-delayed event that airs on Friday, 13 August, in the main event.
By Armando M. Bolislis, photo credits to ONE Championship
