Julaton rallies to stop Egyptian foe in MMA debut

MANILA, Philippines – Former women’s world boxing champion Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton bucked a poor ground game to stop Egyptian Aya Saber in the third round on her mixed martial arts debut in the One FC: Rise of Heroes card at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on Friday.

Julaton, who once held the Women's WBO super bantamweight and IBA super bantamweight titles, struggled for the first two rounds as Saber dominated her in the mat. Saber was able to pull off several submission attempts at Julaton, including a guillotine choke try in the second round that appeared to take out the Filipino-American.

But Julaton managed to free herself up to survive the round. She then turned the tables in the final canto as she got Saber on a full mount and mercilessly pounded the Egyptian to force the stoppage.

The stoppage came 53 seconds in the third round, and Julaton chalked up her first win as an MMA fighter to the delight of the local crowd.

From the beginning, Julaton's lack of experience was obvious as Saber scored on takedowns and got her on a side mount early in the first round. The Filipino-American fighter tried hard to ward off some of Saber's submission attempts throughout the three-round bout, which included guillotine and arm bar tries.

Julaton though had her moments especially when she fought standing up, landing some crisp left hooks to Saber's head. Her striking ability eventually took the spotlight with the stoppage.

Saber fell to 1-4 (win-loss record).