Eki Roni Saputra is ‘furious’ with Adriano Moraes and wants to fight the former flyweight champion. Supposedly the Brazilian has been making derogatory comments about him on social media.
The comments in question have been deleted so we only have Saputra’s word for it but he sounds extremely upset,
“I am a bit furious with a statement this person made when I won against Liu Peng Shuai. He said that my opponent was very easy to beat, but he erased the comment. After my next fight, I want to call him out.”
Moraes is a little bit busy at the moment on account of having a trilogy fight with Demetrious Johnson booked for ONE on Prime Video 10. Saputra is not currently ranked in the top five despite having won seven ONE Championship fights in a row.
View this post on Instagram
Extremely confident
Every single one of those wins has come inside the opening round but he has never faced a ranked opponent. Perhaps this is why Moraes publicly questioned the standard of the Indonesian’s opposition but Saputra clearly took it personally,
“I told my wife, ‘I want this person to face me because he underestimated me’. It doesn’t mean that I want to fast-track myself to the top, no. I just want to face the person who undermined me.”
But Saputra is extremely confident he would be able to submit the Brazilian who he thinks should not have erased the comment in question,
“I am confident. I will put him to sleep as soon as possible. I mean, he erased his comment, if he had the guts he shouldn’t have erased the comment. If he wanted to say that, then let it be.”
View this post on Instagram
Bigger and better
ONE on Prime Video 7 is set for Jakarta in February and Saputra will surely be on that card. No other Indonesian fighter on the roster has had his success and the 31 year old wants to move onto bigger and better things in the new year,
“I see bright lights in 2023. I want to be in the top-five (but) I want to do it step by step and I don’t want to think that I am this great guy who can do anything. I must conquer what is ahead of me.”
Saputra does not feel that Moraes is the only person who has underestimated him and was pleased to prove the critics wrong in 2022,
“2022 has been fruitful for me. I see this year as a massive accomplishment (because) there are people who underestimated me every time I fought, they had always considered me as a nobody.”
View this post on Instagram
Grudge match
But regardless of who Saputra is matched with next he plans to call out Moraes in the immediate aftermath,
“Of course, I am totally fired up. I will call him out because there is still something unsettled here.”
If Moreas loses to Johnson in May and Saputra manages to extend his winning streak to eight before then it is a matchup that could well happen. The Indonesian might not have faced any ranked opponents yet but he has his sights firmly set on the #1 contender in the division and it would clearly be a real grudge match.
