Sagetdao Petpayathai, Ma Jia Wen

Fighting out of China, “Cannon” Ma Jia Wen, 21, was devastated when instead of his hand, referee Olivier Coste raised the hand of Thai-Singaporean contender Sagetdao “Deadly Star” Petpayathai, 31, at “ONE: Spirit of a Warrior” at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon on June 29, 2018. But hours later, ONE Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong officially announced that the result was overturned.

On July 3, 2018, ONE Championship released an official statement explaining the decision. According to the statement, the team behind the decision was led by the promotion’s vice president of operations Matt “The Wizard” Hume, 51, who is also the founder of American Martial Arts Center (AMC), which is home to reigning ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes, 38, of Brazil.

“The ONE Championship team led by Matt Hume and the official cageside judges have conducted an official review of the controversial bout between Ma Jia Wen and Sagetdao Petpayathai at ‘ONE: Spirit of a Warrior’ in Yangon, Myanmar,” ONE Championship stated. “The bout was extremely close, with both martial artists making a case as the victor.”

“However, after reviewing all standards of ONE Championship judging criteria, we have determined that Ma Jia Wen has slightly edged out Sagetdao on the scorecards,” the promotion added. “The decision has been formally overturned by the ONE Competition Committee and Ma Jia Wen is now declared the rightful winner.”

At “ONE: Spirit of a Warrior,” Ma and Sagetdao competed in the featherweight division, which was the seventh bout of the evening. If the result had not been overturned, the Thai-Singaporean contender should have maintained his undefeated record.

The “ONE: Spirit of a Warrior” victory was Ma’s sixth win in ONE Championship. After beating Sagetdao, the Chinese fighter improved his record to 6 wins and 2 losses.

Meanwhile, here is a “ONE: Spirit of a Warrior” recap by Michael Schiavello and Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson: