MMA: ONE executive Rich Franklin has high expectations for Lito Adiwang | ABS-CBN

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MMA: ONE executive Rich Franklin has high expectations for Lito Adiwang

MMA: ONE executive Rich Franklin has high expectations for Lito Adiwang

ABS-CBN News

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Team Lakay’s Lito Adiwang in ONE: Fire and Fury. ABS-CBN Sports

MANILA -- Expect Team Lakay’s Lito Adiwang to go places with his cage prowess as witnessed by fans in his most recent fights.

Even ONE Championship executive vice president and former UFC champion Rich Franklin has high expectations for the ONE Warrior Series (OWS) graduate.

Franklin knows talent when he sees it being a former fighter himself.

“You see what Lito has done in ONE Warrior Series, graduating to ONE Championship and he’s just making a statement, living up to what I was expecting,” Franklin said in ONE’s official website.

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Adiwang made his professional MMA debut in 2012, and racked an excellent record with eight finishes before punching his ticket to ONE Championship with two successive wins in Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series.

His latest victim was title contender Pongsiri Mitsatit whom he submitted via Kimura in ONE: Fire and Fury last Jan. 31.

“I don’t think Lito exceeds my expectations and that’s a compliment to him because I have a lot of expectations for him. I knew how talented he was when I first saw him,” said Franklin.

The ONE executive also praised other up and coming Filipino talents, whom he considers the future of Philippine MMA. These include another OWS graduate Rockie Bactol and Jhanlo Sangiao, son of Tema Lakay coach Mark Sangiao.

“Rockie Bactol, for example, got promoted right away. That was somebody that Chatri (Sityodtong, ONE chairman and CEO) himself saw some talent in and pushed him in the first event,” said Franklin.

“I can expect the same from Jhanlo… He will be the next generation of Team Lakay and the next big thing in this area. He will be the standard for everything else following him. Fortunately-slash-unfortunately he is the son of Mark. Because he is the son of Mark Sangiao, he has big shoes to fill.”

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website).

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