There was blood and sweat aplenty but no tears as a defiant Kenny Yeung vowed to be back on the mixed martial arts circuit after a brave defeat against Yang Zhou at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre last night.
The 28-year-old Sha Tin-born fighter lost in the fourth minute of the third round to a rear naked choke submission hold by China Top Team member Yang, who is a sanda champion well grounded in grappling as a regional wrestling champion.
'The only mistake was I let him get my back to do the choke. I kept ahead in the fight all the way and had the advantage by making him move back,' said Melbourne-based Yeung, adding that his only worry during the gruelling bout was that the fight would be stopped.
If Yeung was on a mission to salvage respect, he certainly did so as fans cheered his onslaught against Yang. Despite eventually tapping out and struggling at times to pass Yang's guard (the jiujitsu ground defence), Yeung would have confounded critics with his performance in the five-minute, three-round bout as he shook the confident mainlander.
At Yeung's previous outing at Legends II in June, he was knocked out within 45 seconds by Taiwan's Jason Lee, himself a Brazilian jiujitsu specialist taking on a fighter with a Muay Thai background.
'There was a lot of wrestling training since the last fight,' said Yeung.
This was why last night's fight was billed as Yeung's quest for vengeance and his chance to show MMA fans that his grappling skills were being honed to the level of his striking power. So now Yeung, who went to Australia as a school student, will be considering his future in the sport after having trimmed off 4kg to move from lightweight to featherweight.
