MMA News: Kevin Belingon Reveals Injury After Shock Loss At ONE: Winter Warriors II

Kevin Belingon’s long-awaited return to the cage did not pan out as he expected after suffering a knockout loss to Kwon Won Il in the co-main event of ONE: Winter Warriors II.

Speaking to the media via virtual press conference, the No. 2-ranked banatmweight revealed that he was nursing a rib injury going into the fight with the South Korean striker.

“But eight weeks before this fight, I had a rib injury so I needed to rest around two weeks then I got back into training. I had to be careful with it at first. In the first round, he already hit me with a push kick in the ribs so I kind of had to slow down a bit from there. My whole body felt heavy the whole time,” Belingon glumly said.

Despite the South Korean repeatedly putting pressure on Belingon, the Filipino standout was fighting beautifully in the opening frame and had been responding well to Kwon’s fight strategy.

Belingon was even able to trip up Kwon but failed to do anything meaningful when he was holding top position for a short while.

Kwon kept the pressure up on Belingon and his strikes were enough to keep “The Silencer” away from him enough for him to use his reach advantage and keep aiming his kicks at the Filipino’s body.

Early in the second round, “Pretty Boy” forced Belingon to the mat with a menacing left uppercut to the body and took home the knockout victory with that singular punch.

The effect of Kwon’s body shots were certainly felt by Belingon throughout the fight as it can be seen that he was tucking his right elbow closer to his body than normal.

When asked about whether he noticed that his opponent was having a night at targeting his body, Belingon admitted that they have noticed Kwon’s tendency.

“In his previous fights, we noticed that he really does enjoy aiming for body shots. We expected him to do the same against me. I always made sure to work up my core strength so it doesn’t feel as bad when I get hit there during the fight. In this fight, it all went away because I was very careful with the injury that I was nursing,” Belingon added.

Belingon is now riding a four-fight losing streak dating back to March 2019.

“The Silencer” will likely take a few weeks off to recuperate and it will be interesting to see who fights next as he looks to keep his name in the top five of the bantamweight division.