Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang is fired up entering his momentous clash against Jarred “The Monkey God” Brooks in the main event of the previously recorded ONE: NextGen III on November 26.
The Filipino has always wanted to face the world’s best, and Brooks fits the bill, considering his experience competing in the UFC.
For Adiwang, now is the perfect time to show MMA fans why a lot of people believe that the best strawweights are in ONE Championship.
“That's my goal and dream ever since [I started competing]. I want to test my skills against the best and especially the guys coming from the UFC,” Adiwang said.
“I want this fight to be an eye-opener for everyone. A lot of people think nowadays, maybe because of the marketing, that they're untouchable, that they are the best in the world.
“So, in this fight I'm very, very excited to prove that ONE Championship athletes are the best in the world.”
To do that, “Thunder Kid” will have to deal with the American’s wrestling, a skill that Brooks has been honing since he was in high school.
Not that Adiwang is worried though, as he has been looking to test himself against another strong grappler since his close decision loss to Hiroba Minowa, where he failed to stop the Japanese man’s takedowns.
For the 28-year-old, now is the best time for him to see where he really ranks in that department.
“I've watched some of [his] fights and yeah I respect the wrestling and his ground control. But the thing is, this is a good time for me to show my skills there,” Adiwang said.
“Most of my previous fights have been just purely striking, and no one really pushed me to fight on the ground, so yeah, I’m excited for this. This is a good fight, let’s go.”
The good thing for Adiwang is that he’s already prepared for the strengths that Brooks brings to the Circle. This is because he recently faced strong grappler “Wolf of the Grasslands” Hexigetu and won.
“The Hexigetu fight is a blessing because yeah, [Brooks] has some similarities. So, it was a good warm up fight for me,” he said.
“We know that [Hexigetu's] game plan was to try to take me down and control [me], maybe do ground and pound and win by points. But I did stop his game, so it’s a blessing for me to have had that fight -- great warm-up fight.”
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