Belingon annihilates Vu for shot at One FC bantamweight title

Kallang, Singapore – You can blame it on overconfidence, disrespecting an opponent, and well, on the boogie.

Vietnamese-Australian submission specialist Thanh Vu promised to break Filipino bantamweight counterpart Kevin Belingon’s bones and put him to sleep in their One FC: Kings and Champions match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in the Kallang district.

The cocky Vu, who defeated Malaysian Mohd Fouzien with a series of crippling strikes before making him eat a pair of knees last February in One FC: Return of Warriors in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, even entered to The Jackson Five classic “Blame it on the Boogie”.

Belingon, who is known as “The Silencer” as he prefers to let his fists and feet do the talking, opened the fight with a pair of leg kicks that could be heard throughout the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Vu retaliated with a kick of his own but an intense and focused Belingon sent him back with a powerful body kick. He then proceeded to keep the Vietnamese fighter off balance with well-placed kicks and occasional punches. When the Filipino took down his opponent, he viciously rained down elbows and punches. When Vu escaped the clinch, Belingon closed out the round with a kick.

Belingon, a Baguio City native, opened the second round once more with a kick to keep Vu back. He then rocked his foe with a series of powerful combination shots that floored Vu. Belingon went in and whaled away before referee Yuji Shimada pulled him away giving him a technical knockout win due to strikes with a minute gone by in the second round.

In a daze, Vu tried to launch himself towards Belingon but Shimada got between the two fighters.

“I thought the fight was stopped too early,” Vu would later say in the back room.”

Shimada disagreed, “He was dazed and defenseless.”

A victorious Kevin Belingon poses for posterity.

Belingon’s win set him up for the One FC bantamweight title bout against Japanese Masakatsu Ueda, who made short work of fading former UFC champion Jens Pulver via D’arce submission at 3:52 minutes of Round Two in the other semifinals match of One FC’s Bantamweight Grand Prix.

Both Belingon and Ueda (17-2-2) will face each other for the bantamweight title in One FC: Rise to Power that will be held on May 31, 2013 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

“Pinaghandaan ko nang mabuti ‘tong laban na ‘to,” said Belingon (11-2), who won his second consecutive One FC match after losing his first two. “Game plan namin (Team Lakay) maging aggressive. Ayaw ko siya maka-diskarte. Binigyan ko na agad ng malakas na sipa para magisip na siya.”

Belingon remained humble in handing Vu his second loss in seven matches.

“Wala naman sa salita yan. Sa aksyon lang yan,” he said.

And maybe The Jackson Five classic as an entrance song?

Belingon let out a hearty laugh.