There is a new player in the stacked ONE Championship strawweight division – Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang.
The ONE Warrior Series winner makes his main roster debut against Pancrase Flyweight World Champion Senzo Ikeda on the undercard of ONE: CENTURY PART on 13 October at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
Adiwang knows the importance of leaving an impression – that is why many expect this match to steal the historic 100th show of The Home Of Martial Arts.
“You won’t ever get a chance like this again. You only have one chance to leave an impression on the biggest event in ONE history,” Adiwang said.
“Being a part of the main roster is the culmination of all the hardships that I went through. But I won’t stop. Now I am ready for the next chapter of my career.”
Preparing for his 37-year-old veteran opponent for the past couple weeks, the 26-year-old has visualized the different scenarios that might happen in the Circle.
“I expect him to go toe-to-toe with me in striking, and then I’ll see. If I have problems with him standing, then maybe I could take him down. That’s why I need to be ready.”
“This is the best test for me. Challenging a great athlete in his hometown. This is where I’ll find out on how much I’ve grown as an athlete,” Adiwang stated.
The Baguio City-native knows he and his opponent have the skills and the conditioning to either end this match in highlight-reel fashion or to put out a three-round classic.
But for Adiwang, he is favoring the former.
“It’s really big for me to get a win in decisive fashion,” Adiwang stated. “My game plan is to knock him out, but if this goes to the ground I have no problems looking for a submission as well.”
Adiwang and three of his teammates will compete at ONE: CENTURY, the biggest World Championship martial arts event in history. No organization has ever promoted two full-scale World Championship events in one day, with 28 World Champions competing in multiple World Title bouts.
PART I airs live on Cignal TV at 11:00am Philippine Standard Time (PHT) on Sunday, 13 October. TV5 will cut-in to live broadcast 10:30 am.
PART II airs on ABS-CBN S+A or Cignal TV at 6:30pm Philippine Standard Time (PHT). TV5 will show the special delay live at 9:30pm PHT.