Malaysia’s Agilan “Alligator” Thani has never looked so dominant.

On Friday, 9 March, the hometown hero met India’s Amitesh “Hitman” Chaubey in a welterweight contest, and used his opponent’s showboating as fuel for the fire.

The fans almost blew the roof off the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur at ONE: VISIONS OF VICTORY, as Thani defeated Chaubey with a second-round submission, giving him back-to-back wins since his sole defeat to Ben Askren for the ONE Welterweight World Title last May.

As if the crowd was not fired up enough already, the SFL Welterweight Champion goaded Thani early in the first round, sticking his unguarded chin in the direction of the Monarchy MMA athlete. While jeers came from the stands, Thani maintained his composure, and waited for the right time to mete out his own form of retribution.

Thani caught a Chaubey kick and dumped his opponent to the mat, before letting rip with an outstanding ground and pound attack that came close to finishing the contest.

“Hitman” made it to the second round, but the motivated Malaysian was not going to let him off the hook again. Thani hoisted Chaubey above his head and drove him into the canvas, landing almost straight into an Americana submission, which caused a frantic tap from the Indian athlete.

Thani adds another finish to his resume at 1:04 of round two, and pushed his record to 9-1 overall. He remained grounded after the bout, opening himself up for a second world title shot, but not forcing the issue.

“If I’m ready, you can give me the shot, but if not, I’m taking it one person at a time,” the victorious local favorite stated.