By:  | May 25, 2023 9:07 am

Jeremy Miado knows that Mansur Malachiev is undefeated after ten fights. But he points out that the Russian has never faced a Filipino opponent before and thinks the outcome could be very different at ONE Fight Night 11.

He knows that Malachiev comes into the contest with a much more impressive record but Miado believes he can prove the doubters wrong,

“People are expecting me to struggle with his wrestling but I want to prove them wrong. Filipinos are different from who he faced before.”

Miado has won four fights in a row with all those victories coming inside the distance. At ONE Fight Night 3 he finished Danial Williams in the third round.

Very emotional

Williams had won his previous five fights and three of them had been on ONE Championship shows. So he had a lot of momentum heading into that meeting and Miado knows just how big a win it was.

He was very emotional after the fight and explained why,

“I was just thinking about all the sacrifices in training and, of course, we all know Danial Williams is a big name. He was on a good run. So I believed it was a great win, and I was overwhelmed by my emotions just thinking that everything I worked hard for was worth it.”

His opponent will doubtless want to take Miado down. But the Filipino is not concerned about Malachiev’s wrestling,

“I wasn’t afraid to throw strikes against Williams because I know that my takedown defense is solid should he try to take me down. If (Malachiev) ever gets me down, I know I can get back up and pick him off with my striking.”

Risky fight

Malachiev won the flyweight and bantamweight titles with Eagle FC before signing with ONE Championship. That is Khabib Nurmagomedov’s promotion and signs some of the top talent in Russia.

Given Malachiev’s record and resume Miado admits he was taking a risk by accepting this matchup,

“I took a risk in this fight. He’s only making his debut while I believe I’m on my way to being a contender. So, in a sense, he’s lucky because he’s going to zoom past the rankings if he wins. But I took the risk because I want to see where my skills are.”

But with risk comes reward and Miado thinks a lot of people will be paying attention when he faces the undefeated Russian,

“I’m sure there are a lot of eyes on us now because I’m facing an undefeated, double-champ in Eagle FC.”

Title shot

Jarred Brooks has yet to make the first defence of the strawweight title he won by beating Miado’s compatriot Joshua Pacio in Manila. The 30 year old feels he is just one win away from securing a shot against the champion,

“If I impress, maybe I even get Jarred Brooks. Looking at the rankings, Jarred has pretty much beaten everyone in the top five.”

He also sees Malachiev as a different type of test. He is a wrestler, just like Brooks but there aren’t too many strawweights on the ONE Championship roster with this type of skillset.

Miado says he is ‘excited’ by the prospect of testing himself against such a high level wrestler,

“Looking at the top five, almost everyone is a grappler. Mansur, being a high-level wrestler, will test me. I’m excited to see the outcome.”