On the evening of June 14, the MMA LION Championship 23 mixed martial arts tournament took place at the Tay Ho District Gymnasium, Hanoi. The event witnessed the second belt match of the 2025 season between the 56kg champion Pham Van Nam and his opponent Le Van Tuan.
Champion Pham Van Nam is highly appreciated for successfully defending his belt against a notorious hitter like Asian Wushu gold medalist Dinh Van Huong. Meanwhile, Le Van Tuan showed progress in the tightening program - the area of Van Nam's skills that was relatively good.
When everyone predicted a tug-of-war situation, Le Van Tuan made the entire Tay Ho Stadium explode with his victory. Pham Van Nam started strongly, pressuring and pushing Le Van Tuan into the corner of the stage right from the first seconds. The two quickly played a tug-of-war.
However, the turning point came when Le Van Tuan took a direct punch in the back, causing Pham Van Nam to fall to the floor in a state of dizziness. Not missing the opportunity, Van Tuan immediately rushed in to launch a series of extremely strong rice and crop moves that caused Van Nam to lose consciousness.
The referee was forced to intervene, stop the match and declare a TKO victory (technical knockout) for Le Van Tuan. With this impressive victory, Le Van Tuan officially became the reigning champion of the 56kg weight class of LION Championship, concluding the competition night with a spectacular overturn.
Le Van Tuan's ascension helped him win his first championship title in his career after three seasons of LION Championship, while at the same time stopping the hope of holding Pham Van Nam's belt forever.
In the remaining matches, "veteran" Tran Trong Kim continued to show his excellent standing skills and was alert against young talent Bui Dinh Khai. Tran Trong Kim's sharp kicks and blatant blatant attacks caused Dinh Khai to gradually lose his resistance. The victory was given to Trong Kim after the referee intervened to stop the match at the end of the third half.
The match between Quang Van Minh and Russian fighter Mikhail Gritsaneko (65kg) witnessed fierce, competitive matches between the two fighters. As a result, Quang Van Minh won a narrow victory on the assessment scoreboard.
The only women's match of the event between Dao Thi Nhu Quynh and Russian boxer Karina Veis ended in an equally surprising scenario. It seemed that he could overwhelm Karina with his professional skills Jujitsu on the floor, Nhu Quynh, from a situation of weakness in the second half, had a wrong knock-off, creating an opportunity for Karina to end the match with a series of rice clashes in the second half.
In the two opening matches of the MMA Pro format, the shots while playing on the soft spot were "unlocked" in the LION Championship 2025 season. From Bui Van Hung's game-changer turn against Le Quang Minh, to Nguyen Phu Thinh's overwhelming situation against Huynh Ngoc Tin, sharp clubs helped the representatives from Lien Phong Martial Arts and Happy Club win resounding victories.
The only MMA Ground Fight match of the event witnessed Adel Iabbarov's (Russia) top-notch technique when defeating Pham Kim Quoc Huy with a tight back-to-backatat combination. The series of MMA Striking matches witnessed Pham Binh Minh's victory over Le Van Vu and Nguyen Van Lam by knockout Tran Quang Khai.
In the remaining international friendly match under the MMA Striking rules, Dinh Van Huong only needed one half to make opponent Jhaymie Gayman give up. The sharp kicks of the Asian gold medal wushu chess forced the Philippine fighter to stop the match right before the opening bell of the second half rang.
