Ritu Phogat gets a win over Meng Bo to advance in the ONE Atomweight Grand Prix

03 September 2021

The much-awaited showdown between Indian MMA star Ritu Phogat and Meng Bo of China happened today at ONE: Empower in Singapore.

The fight started off with Meng pushing forward. Ritu was cautious on the back foot and shot for a takedown early in the first round itself. This, however, was fended off successfully by Meng. Ritu had success against the cage midway through the round but could not take down her Chinese counterpart to the ground. Meng Bo then tagged Ritu with a huge punch which led to a reverse armbar in favor of Meng. Ritu, however, showed a lot of heart to survive the submission and the round. Meng went for another armbar in the second round and put Ritu in the defensive mode. 

The Indian, however, made use of her advantage on the ground and turned things in her favor. Ritu then landed some ground and pound before the fight went back to standing. Ritu landed a huge takedown early in the third round. The Indian Tigress went on to get some solid ground and pound afterward. It was all Ritu after this as she kept the top position throughout the round. In the end, the judges ruled in favor of Ritu for the win, and with that, the Indian advanced into the next round of the Grand Prix. 

Ritu Phogat came into the fight on the back of a victory against Lin Heqin and was riding high on momentum. She was 5-1 heading into the fight with her only defeat coming against Bi Nguyen in a close decision. The Indian had made her professional MMA debut back in November 2019 against Nam Hee Kim and had been on an impressive run since.

She then improved on this win and extended her winning streak to four with wins over Chiao Chen Wu, Nou Srey Pov, and Jomary Torres before her fight with Nguyen.

Meng Bo, meanwhile, was on a long winning streak of seven fights dating back to 2018. She was also undefeated in ONE Championship having won three of her fights after debuting in 2019 against Laura Balin. Meng then defeated Priscilla Gaol and Samara Santos which then set up her clash with Ritu Phogat at ONE: Empower.

ONE: Empower, the all-women fight card from ONE: Championship was held in Singapore and was headlined by the ONE Strawweight World Title fight between Xiong Jing Nan and Michelle Nicolini. The card also featured the quarter-final matchups for the ONE Atomweight Grand Prix, the winner of which will receive a shot against ONE Atomweight Champion Angela Lee.

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