Lito Adiwang has been in scintillating form and is riding a seven-fight winning streak spanning more than four years. This Friday the Filipino strawweight faces Hiroshi Minowa at ONE: ‘Inside the Matrix’ Part III.
Adiwang’s last loss came back in 2014. After that, he took almost two years off and returned with a vengeance with six of those seven wins coming by way of stoppage.
The Team Lakay star will be fighting for the first time this year and wants to remind everyone of exactly who he is,
“I am very excited and happy to be back in action and continue to do what I love to do,” said Adiwang.
“It is very important for me to keep my momentum in ONE Championship because it’s one way for me to be recognized and a way for me to put my name on top in ONE.”
Success story
Adiwang was one of the biggest success stories from the ONE Warrior Series. He scored two impressive first-round finishes to earn his contract with ONE Championship. Although he’s quickly proven himself with three strong performances on the big stage the Filipino is far from complacent,
“I plan to keep this up by doing my best in training and keep improving myself so that every time I step in the circle I can give a show that fans want to watch while earning my spot to be one of greatest fighter of ONE,” he said.
His opponent signed for ONE Championship as the reigning Shooto strawweight champion and Adiwang has plenty of respect for him,
“Minowa is a very good fighter I respect him. He is a young and hungry fighter that has a good ground game but as always, I’m coming to this fight to get the ‘w.’ I prepared in all areas specially in the BJJ because I think that’s what he’s good at but I focus more on the things than I can do to him, and not the things that he can do to me,” he said.
Nothing personal
Minowa arrives for his ONE Championship debut having won four on the bounce. One of those victories came against Adiwang’s Team Lakay colleague Jared Almazan. Despite that connection the Filipino says the concept of revenge is the furthest thing from his mind,
“Avenging (Jared) is not on my mind,” he said.
“Because, for me he just did what a fighter must do in a fight that is to win and I congratulate him for that.”
Adiwang’s form has earned him a #5 ranking in the strawweight division and he believes that he is not far away from earning a shot at the title,
“I feel that I only need few fights to be a title contender, especially because I’m in top five right now but I’ll let ONE Championship decide for that,” he said.
Future star
The only cloud on Adiwang’s horizon is the fact that Joshua Pacio is the one holding the belt. The champion also trains at Team Lakay, which could become an issue as he inches closer to a title shot.
There have been suggestions Adiwang might need to move up in weight in order to earn a title shot but he says talk of a switch to flyweight is premature,
“For now, it is early to say that because I’m focused on my division so I’ll let the future decide that,” he said.
Preferring to focus on the ‘here and now’ he explained that,
“Fans can expect an exciting show every time I step in the circle by me giving my very best in every fight. I am happy to be labelled as one of Team Lakay’s next big stars and I’m on my way to proving it and to making the ‘future star’ the present and the fantasies a reality.”
