Gustavo Balart has won three fights in a row and beaten two former strawweight champions during this stint of victories. The Cuban does not currently have a fight booked but knows exactly who he wants to fight next.
Balart has been putting his Photoshop skills to good use. He edited a photo of a fighter with the ONE Championship belt and added his face to it along with a caption which says,
The belt looks so much better slung over my shoulder.
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Title eliminator
Balart is currently ranked #4. The belt is the property of Jarred Brooks and the Cuban is hoping that his next fight will be against the UFC veteran.
Neither man currently has a fight booked so it is possible Balart could get his wish. But then neither does #1 ranked Joshua Pacio who is entitled to feel he should be entitled to an immediate rematch with Brooks.
Meanwhile #2 ranked Bokang Masunyane and #3 ranked Hiroba Minowa are facing off at ONE Fight Night 9 later this month in a match that has all the makings of a strawweight title eliminator. So while Balart is definitely in the queue he might not quite have reached the top.
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Remarkable turnaround
But Balart has definitely turned his career around after losing his first three ONE Championship fights. He dropped decisions to Tatsumitsu Wada and Chan Rothana and was knocked out by Robin Catalan.
The shortest male fighter on the roster appeared to have come up short but Balart would bounce back to win his next three bouts by decision. He beat Ryuto Sawada, Yosuke Saruta and Alex Silva to rise up the strawweight rankings.
The belt recently changed hands when Jarred Brooks beat Joshua Pacio by decision. Minowa and Masunyane are the only fighters in the top five who currently have a bout booked so there are a lot of possible permutations.
Balart is potentially just one win away from securing a title shot. But the 36 year old is not feeling patient and he wants to challenge for the title sooner rather than later.
