The answer to Team Lakay’s void in the strawweight MMA division could reveal itself when Estrada Dongga-as debuts in the ONE Friday Fights circuit.
Dongga-as looks to be the next man up in the division for the proud squad when he takes on Pham Van Nam in a three-round MMA bout at ONE Friday Fights 76 on August 23 at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Strawweight has always been a division that Team Lakay’s has dominated, especially during the reign of ONE Strawweight MMA World Champion Joshua Pacio and the always-exciting Lito Adiwang.
But the departure of the pair from the squad left a gap that needed to be filled, and that’s where Dongga-as comes in.
The 29-year-old brings his hard-hitting ways to ONE Championship, and he’ll have his hands full against the unbeaten Vietnamese man who comes in boasting of a versatile skill set.
Like Filipinos, Vietnamese fighters love to strike. But Pham might be a bit different from his compatriots.
Pham grinds out his opponents with his wrestling and submission game, and he’s the type to not give an inch when given an opening, evident in his back-to-back submission wins that earned him a shot in Lumpinee.
All in all, Pham comes in with a 5-0 record and wants nothing more than to put the Filipino on his list of victims.
Should Dongga-as win in his debut, though, he’ll continue Team Lakay’s brilliant run in the ONE Friday Fights circuit, with guys like Carlo Bumina-ang and Carlos Alvarez all having great performances on the weekly show.
Bumina-ang won a US$100,000 contract to compete in ONE following five straight wins at Lumpinee, while Alvarez looks poised to follow suit as he carries a 3-1 slate.
Dongga-as and Pham will join exciting flyweights Puengluang Baanramba and Samingdam Looksuan when the two compete in a three-round flyweight Muay Thai bout in a sizzling main event.
