Iniong returns to winning ways, decisions foe

MANILA, Philippines —  Gina Iniong returned to the win column after a gritty unanimous victory over Jenny Huang in ONE Championship’s “Heroes of Honor” preliminaries on Friday night at the MOA Arena.

Iniong dictated the tempo early in the opening round with her strikes. But Huang matched that as the strawweight tussle went into the second round.

The next phase saw the fight go to the ground. Both coming off a loss, the two fighters leaned on their resilience to hang tough.

Huang tried to catch Iniong with a gogoplata late in the middle round but Iniong was able to reverse it with an armbar of her own. The Taiwanese was able to shake it off as the round bell rang.

But the Filipina simply wanted it more. Taking down her foe early in the final period,  the Team Lakay fighter, who belongs to a crop of fighters who take pride in their striking, kept the fight on the ground.

Iniong hung on until the final moment to earn her seventh victory in 10 fights.

Huang, on the other hand, drops to 5-3 professionally.

Iniong's Lakay teammates Honorio Banario and Kevin Belingon will see action later in the showpiece.