Lito Adiwang is keeping a close eye on the strawweight matchup between top contenders Hiroba Minowa and Bokang Masunyane at ONE 159: De Ridder vs. Bigdash on July 22 which will be broadcast live from the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Masunyane is the #2-ranked contender in the stacked strawweight division while Minowa sits as the #3-ranked fighter and is someone who has a lot of history with Adiwang.
Minowa made his ONE Championship debut against the Filipino and took a controversial split decision victory at ONE: Inside the Matrix III in November 2020.
“Thunder Kid” locked in a vicious Kimura midway through the first round that should’ve submitted practically anyone, and he believes that Minowa actually tapped out to the submission hold. That, however, wasn’t the case as Minowa held on to take the win.
With their first match ending in such a razor-thin finish, Adiwang said he wants Minowa to take the victory against Masunyane so that he and the Japanese grappler will have another go-around inside the Circle.
“If given a chance in facing one of them, I want to face the winner of their match and I’m really hoping that Minowa will win this one so that we will dance one more time and I can clear my record especially since he got a controversial win over me.”
Adiwang, however, favors Masunyane to get the win since the South African star has a better wrestling game than Minowa. But if his wishes are to be fulfilled, he hopes to see Minowa get the win and set up a rematch between them.
“I was excited to see the ONE 159 fight card because there’s a really great matchup between Bokang and Minowa. It’s a great fight because both are well-rounded but I’m giving the edge to Bokang for this one. He has better wrestling than Minowa and I see that as the key to victory here. He can defend the takedown and submission attacks of Minowa and use his wrestling skills to control Minowa in the clinch and on the ground,” said Adiwang.
“I saw how he improved his striking skills and he can use that to out-point Minowa. But, on the other hand, I am hoping that Minowa will win and build his name so that we’ll have a better build-up for a potential rematch in the coming years.”
Lito Adiwang recovering well after having surgery on his ACL
The 29-year-old assured his fans that he’s recovering well following his surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Adiwang suffered the injury during his fight against fellow Filipino Jeremy Miado at ONE X this past March.
Adiwang said that he’s solely focused on his rehabilitation so that he’ll be back inside the Circle as fit as possible.
“I’m doing great, I’m just focusing on getting better and on my rehab because I can’t wait to be back in the Circle and do what I love to do.”
