Meng Bo has won both her ONE Championship fights with first round finishes. She saves the best until last, putting Priscilla Gaol down with power and precision at ONE: ‘Inside the Matrix’ Part III in November.
The 24 year old has won six fights in a row and the majority of those victories have come inside the opening round. It is not a coincidence that this keeps happening, Bo says she is always looking to finish fights as fast as possible,
“My style is stand-up fighting (but) I’m also great at ground fighting. I prefer to KO opponents ASAP.”
Big win
Bo went the distance on her pro debut, earning a decision win over current UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang. In a recent interview with MMA Mania the Chinese atomweight said she would be confident of doing it again,
“No doubt I’m still confident that I can definitely defeat her again. I’ve been improving my skills day by day. We are both stand-up fighters, so I think we’d showcase our stand-up fighting skills to entertain our fans. Though I beat her in that fight, I also learned a lot from her. We both changed a lot since then and improved our skills as well.”
First she has to face former ONE Championship title challenger Samara Santos on Friday. It will be Bo’s second fight in Singapore in the space of three months and she sounds confident about this match too,
“I’m fully confident (but) you never know what’s going to happen in the ring until the bell rings and the different fighting styles clash. All you can rely on is your preparation,” she said.
Tough fighter
Bo has beaten Brazilian opponents before. And Santos doesn’t come into ONE: ‘Unbreakable’ on particularly good form but the Chinese fighter sees some real grit in her upcoming opponent,
“She’s a really tough fighter. She’s a Brazilian, pretty good at ground fighting but, from what I’ve observed in her previous fights, she shows better skills in stand-up fighting especially in mid-to-late rounds.”
While Bo won’t be trash talking the Brazilian she doesn’t sound too concerned about the threat posed by Santos,
“Truth be told, no matter what her weaknesses or strengths are, I can totally defeat her in any aspect,” she said.
Main motivation
For Bo it will be the second fight against a South American who has challenged for ONE’s strawweight title. But she wants to face off against the best fighters in her division and hopes a win on Friday will lead to bigger and better things.
Specifically, she wants a spot on the upcoming atomweight Grand Prix and that will be her main source of motivation as she goes into the fight with Santos,
“I’m so interested in participating. My ranking in the atomweight division is #2, and through the Grand Prix, I can showcase all my training and skills to fans. Most importantly, I can prove that I got all the talent to challenge the champion.”
