Bangguigui, Bandiwan, and Albindo also victorious by explosive stoppages
Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang is a prospect no more! He now joins the ONE Championship as a legitimate strawweight campaigner.
Adiwang cooked a masterful unanimous decision victory against Anthony “The Antidote” Do Tuesday, August 6, 2019, in Singapore during the ONE Warrior Series 7 to record his third consecutive ONE Championship win and earned a $100,000 contract that goes along with a spot in the ONE roster.
Adiwang showcased a brilliant well-rounded game, both excellent in offense and defense and provided the better shots and highlights in all three rounds.
The “Thunder Kid” kicked off the bout with an explosion. He delivered devastating punch and kick combinations while defending against repeated takedown attempts by Do. A right straight that send Do kneeling to the canvass and a takedown of his own was the highlight of the round.
Adiwang switched gears to start the second. He searched and found openings to connect blows and came up with some telling ones, more particularly a spinning elbow, a body kick and a closing ground and pound flurry. His defense against the submission was again evident in the round.
In fact, the highlights of the round were his successfully freeing himself from a locked armbar and a potential triangle, two submissions that could have easily ended the bout. The escape from the armbar could have easily been the point of the match for the judges to hand him the win.
Adiwang was still his explosive self in the third. He started the round with punch and kick combos, defended against a guillotine lock and a triangle, delivered devastating knees to the head while controlling the ground action. He pre-empted the final bell with an even more furious ground and pound for the final nail of Do’s coffin.
Team Lakay Head Coach Mark Sangiao reported that the contest was declared the Bout of the Night and the win did convinced Rich Paul to give Adiwang a contract to the big stage.
Do, a newcomer who trains out of American Kickboxing Academy in California, U.S.A., one of the most respected training camps in the world and home to multiple mixed martial arts World Champions, provided Adiwang the toughest challenge of his career so far.
Adiwang earlier stunned Manuel Huerta with a first-round knockout on October 2018 and followed it up with a knockout victory over Alberto Correia in just 45 seconds last February in previous Warrior Series appearances.
Adiwang improves his MMA fight record to 8-2 while dropping Do’s to 7-4.
Meanwhile, three other strawweight Filipino prospects also registered convincing stoppages during the event.
Dave Bangguigui stopped Alber Correia Da Silva with a submission finish in round two of their strawweight bout. Bangguigui was masterful in using his right overhand in earning this victory.
He made timely defense against kicks of Da Silva while used his right overhand to setup the grappling and submission moves. Eventually, he got to connect one that sent Da Silva to the mat, proceeded to take his back and lock in a rear-naked choke that forced the tapout.
He earlier has another abbreviated finish in his ONE debut, delivering a huge knockout against Susovan Ghosh. His MMA fight record climbed to 7-1.
Isamel Bandiwan finished Muhammad Adib Sulaiman by strikes early in the third round of their bout. Then end came when Bandiwan charged in a defending Sulaiman and rain right-left combinations that forced the referee to stop the fight.
Bandiwan always opened a round with an onslaught of strikes, both punches and kicks, before being forced to grappling jockeys by Sulaiman. The third round opening fury was, however, lethal enough to make Sulaiman do nothing but look for any kind of cover and sets the end of the fight.
Bandiwan was coming off a TKO win against Muhammad Arif Izzudin. He hikes his MMA fight record to 6-2.
Allan Albindo, from Cebu, stopped Izzudin by knockout in Round Three. Albindo fired the better shots in the first two rounds and had to overcame takedowns by delivering left hooks to the body of a gassed Izzudin for the explosive finish.
It was quick turnaround for Albindo after losing his debut just this May, dropping a unanimous decision loss to Indian Manthan Rane.
Unfortunately, Jenelyn Olsim could not complete the sweep for the Filipinos as she fell victim of a Caitlin McEwen armbar and lost via submission in round one of their women’s strawweight bout.
Olsim was coming of a unanimous decision victory against Claudia Diaz last October 2018. Her MMA fight record dips to 3-2 while hiking the Australian McEwen’s to 5-1.
By Armando M. Bolislis
Photo by One Championship