ONE Championship

Two fights into his ONE career, a Brazilian flyweight already has a timeline for gold. He wants one more test first.

Antonio Cesar stopped Joshua Perreira via first-round TKO at ONE Fight Night 48 on Prime Video on Friday, October 2. The doctor stoppage at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, handed the American the first defeat of his professional career.

The 22-year-old weathered an early elbow before taking over with heavy strikes and two takedowns. Perreira could barely make it back to his corner when the round ended, and referee Olivier Coste called for the doctor, who ended the bout.

The win extended Cesar’s winning streak to 10 and moved him to 2-0 in ONE. He said Perreira’s approach held no surprises.

“Basically, the game plan was to get there and to feel the fight and do it in my own Brazilian way. The game plan was also to do a bit more of a striking game, and it was a bit of everything, but finally I got to win by the striking game,” Cesar said.

“I knew that Joshua would do the striking game. He would do a lot of hands and all that. So it was something that I had been training for. So there was no surprise, and I managed to do what I planned.”

Antonio Cesar targets Avazbek Kholmirzaev next year

Reigning ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Avazbek “Ninzya” Kholmirzaev sits at the top of Cesar’s ambitions. The Brazilian is measured about the timeline, though, and wants one more fight before calling for gold.

Former ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Yuya “Little Piranha” Wakamatsu is the name he has in mind for that next step.

“I would say that it’s not that far. As I mentioned on the stage in the ring as well, I would like to get one more fight with anyone here in ONE and to test [myself] a bit. And then after that I would call for the championship, for the champion,” Cesar said.

“And so I would say that it would be around next year that I would be very ready to fight for the belt.”

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM