ONE Championship has signed up the top talent from the Fairtex Gym in Pattaya. Mark Abelardo, who fights this Friday, is based there long term and says that this teammates have been pushing him very hard in preparation for Emilio Urrutia.
“I’ve been working on getting my conditioning as good as I can and doing a lot of roadwork and a lot of hard round with the top guys at the gym and they’ve been pushing me to my breaking point.”
Abelardo is a veteran of 27 fights with the majority of them taking place in Asia. The New Zealander has lost three out of his last four, the worst run of results since he turned pro in 2010.
The 29 year old is desperate to get back in the winning column this week,
“With the losses, it’s something you really have to learn from and its something I don’t want to ever go through again. I’ve had a lot more preparation going into this fight and I feel a lot more confident and I’m ready physically and mentally.”
Action packed
Urrutia is also a long time resident in Thailand. He recently moved from Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket to Bangkok Fight Lab in the country’s capital.
With both men on losing streaks Abelardo expects it to be an action packed fight,
“I feel like Emilio is a dangerous fighter, he’s a high level jiu jitsu brown belt, he’s got heavy hands and some good wins against good opponents but I feel his style is something I can match. He likes to brawl, I like to brawl too so we’re gonna put on a show and hopefully the fans will enjoy it.”
The Fairtex camp is home to some famous Muay Thai fighters, many of them are on the ONE Championship roster. Abelardo will have had the chance to train with Yodsanklai Fairtex, Wondergirl Fairtex and Stamp Fairtex over the years over the years and he has been working on his striking ahead of this fight,
“I feel like my striking will be better than his, I’ve been working a lot on it. I want to be the one pushing the pace, controlling where the fight goes and looking to break him.”
Valuable lessons
Abelardo says he learned valuable lessons from those back to back losses. He says ‘preparation is key’ and has spent six weeks getting ready for this fight,
“I feel like in my last fights I wasn’t there 100%, I wasn’t physically in the best condition that I can be. This time I’ve made some adjustments, trained hard and I’ve had more time to prepare. Preparation is key so I feel ready.”
Abelardo has been in with some of the best bantamweights and featherweights in Asia over the years.
“It’s definitely a stacked division, everyone in the division is dangerous (but) from my fights I’ve had I feel like I can hang with all of them. I may have had a few losses but I feel like they don’t define me.”
He feels fans haven’t seen the best of him. Abelardo believes he has more to offer and wants to really show what he is capable of at ONE: ‘Fists of Fury’ part II,
“I’ve got a lot more to show and I will definitely show it in this fight. I’ll make it exciting.”
