One mistake. That’s all it took to derail Ev Ting’s hopes for a shot at the ONE Lightweight World Title.

“I should have kept moving,” reflected Malaysia’s Ting, who was submitted by Japan’s Shinya Aoki inside the first round at ONE: Kingdom of Heroes in Bangkok, Thailand in October. “I gave him way too much time and respect. He faked a few times and one mistake was all it took for him to put me to sleep.

“So I definitely won’t be trying any guillotine or stopping in front of him.”

Ting was confident he had the skills to overcome the legendary grappler, but was overwhelmed 57 seconds into the bout.

Throwing a head kick in the opening seconds, Aoki seized the opportunity to launch at the hips of Ting, taking him to the ground. Immediately in side control, Aoki wrapped his right arm around the neck of Ting, stepped into half guard and secured a tight arm-triangle choke. Within seconds, Ting was asleep.

“He’s definitely another level on the ground,” Ting conceded.

“I knew that going in, but I think he just executed his game plan much more professionally than I did that night.

“In training I was working on a lot of straight kicks and everything was going right until I went for that stupid guillotine. And that was it. He did his homework and he came out on top. In saying that, if he didn’t take me down he would have been going to sleep.”

Ting admitted he did not even consider tapping, revealing he was determined to fight his way out of the grip of Aoki — but he was too strong.

“I just went to sleep, I didn’t think about it,” Ting said. “In my head I was still working on my escapes and I was thinking ‘how am I going to get out of this’.

“I didn’t think I was even going to sleep, but it happens.”

Ev Ting will look to get back on track in the near future — perhaps as part of ONE Championship’s anticipated Lightweight Grand Prix.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/27/2018.