Lo Thi Phung won a gold medal for Vietnam from the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Championships 2026 on January 11 in China.
The former kindergarten teacher needed only 51 seconds to beat Akbaridast Gerdi Mobina of Iran in the women's 49kg modern MMA final in Luzhou, Sichuan province.
Phung proactively applied her grappling skills against Mobina from the first seconds. She easily took the Iranian down to floor and locked her by a leg triangle choke.
Despite her good physical strength, Mobina couldn't escape and tapped out.
The referee thought she tried to fight back and could only recoganise her yield several seconds later when Mobina continued tapping out.
Phung was announced champion with a submission win.
Earlier, she defeated Thanyaret Suksamran of Thailand and Narantur Enkhjin of Mongolia in the previous rounds.
The Beach World Cup 2024 champion Phung was the only gold-medal holder of Vietnam in this tournament.
Another medalist was Luu Duc Manh who placed third in the men's 60kg traditional MMA category.
Tong Ngoc Hoa, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam MMA Federation, said: "Our athletes faced many challenges when competing against powerful MMA countries such as China and West Asian countries. Despite the limited preparation time, fighters still achieved targeted goals. Phung's and Manh's results are very encouraging."
Athletes will earn points from their bouts to qualify for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and the 2026 Riyadh Asian Indoor & Martial Arts Games later this year./.
