It is over two years since Jhanlo Sangiao made his ONE Championship debut. He beat Paul Lumihi in the opening round but the fight was not without controversy.
It seems that Sangiao came in for some criticism after an incident which occurred at the very start of the fight. The 21 year old has gone on to fight three more times for the promotion but decided that now was the time to address the controversy in an Instagram video.
Sangiao thinks a lot of the critics saw the video from the wrong angle. He thinks the footage on Instagram proves that it was his opponent, not him, who refused to touch gloves:
View this post on Instagram
Unsportsmanlike behaviour
The caption on the video reads,
“Reacting to my unsportsmanlike behaviour.”
Sangiao clearly does not feel he is guilty of unsportsmanlike behaviour but is still coming in for online criticism and abuse because of the events that transpired in the opening seconds of his first ONE Championship fight. The 21 year old wants to set the record straight by explaining exactly what went down,
“Most people watched an angle of the fight where it looked like I was the one who didn’t want to touch gloves.”
Sangiao thinks that the footage he shared on Instagram proves that he was the one who wanted to touch gloves and it was his opponent who refused to do so,
“The fight starts, I walked to the centre of the cage then I raised a hand up. I saw him charging at me, maybe he was going for a flying knee, but I saw him charging at me so I responded with a left hook and a right hook that hit him.”
What a DEBUT 🤩 Jhanlo Sangiao submits Paul Lumihi in the FIRST ROUND via rear-naked choke! #WeAreONE #ONEChampionship#ONEWinterWarriors2 | How To Watch: https://t.co/TP1EQ96v6z pic.twitter.com/Ifb8DSNvYK
— ONE Championship (@ONEChampionship) December 17, 2021
Filipino fans
Filipino fans are passionate about combat sports. With Sangiao being the son of the greatest MMA coach the country has ever produced there is always going to be more scrutiny on him.
Mark Sangiao is the Team Lakay founder and his son is currently exciting young prospect coming out of the famous camp. Fans follow every move that the young bantamweight makes and it is clear that he sometimes finds the scrutiny uncomfortable.
Sangiao hopes that he has cleared up this controversy once and for all by sharing the video and complains that,
“I keep receiving a lot of bad and hateful comments. Some people still think that I raised my hand up for a glove touch just to hit him but that’s not what happened.”
Sangiao’s record stands at 6-1 and he has three ONE Championship wins, all coming by way of first round submission. He is coming off the first defeat of his entire career but remains one of the top bantamweight prospects in the regions, regardless of what the haters say!
