MMA News: ONE Championship Confirms Scrapping Of Fight Reviews, Opts For Immediate Rematch

Singapore-based ONE Championship looks to resolve controversial fight outcomes by having immediate rematches instead of having a committee review.

Chatri Sityodtong, the chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, confirmed the initial report that the promotion had scrapped fight reviews in a text message sent to the International Business Times.

“ONE Championship will do automatic rematches for controversial decisions. ONE competition committee was disbanded [at the] end of 2021 and ONE will no longer review fights,” Chatri wrote.

Fans and observers alike were up in arms after the fight between Supergirl Jaroonsak and Ekaterina Vandaryeva was ruled in favor of the Thai despite Belarusian dominating her opponent for the better part of their three-round Muay Thai strawweight bout.

After the first round, it seemed as if Supergirl was set to take home the fight after repeatedly catching the 30-year-old Belarusian with strikes that Vandaryeva was seemingly not expecting.

However, Vandaryeva’s veteran experience shined through in the second round and caught Supergirl with a right hand to the jaw that stunned her.

“Barbie” then put on a 10-second flurry of punches that disoriented Supergirl and allowed her to setup combinations that repeatedly connected to the face of Supergirl.

The high output of strikes in the second round took its toll on both fighters, but it was Supergirl who dealt with its effects the worst as she struggled to mount a convincing comeback in the third round.

As Supergirl’s hand was raised by referee Olivier Coste following the announcement of the split decision victory, Vandaryeva looked dumbfounded with the decision and said as much in her post-fight interview with ONE Championship commentator Mitch Chilson.

“You shouldn’t be asking me; you should be asking the judges. I [had] more hits and more kicks and they were more accurate and I don’t know what else I need to do to win here,” Vandaryeva declared via a translator while the crowd in the Singapore Indoor Stadium showered her with cheers of support.

Chatri also decried the outcome of the fight in the post-event presser, insisting that Vandaryeva was “one punch, one kick away from finishing Supergirl.”

Vandaryeva was awarded one of three $50,000 performance bonuses after the event.

This would not be the promotion’s first brush with controversial judging that led into committee review as two fights in September 2021 were seen in the same light; those being Seo Hee Ham’s split decision victory over Denice Zamboanga and Ok Rae Yoon’s title-clinching unanimous decision win against then-lightweight champion Christian Lee.

With the review committee being scrapped, future fights that suffer the same controversial decisions will now be subject to immediate rematches to determine who really won.