Adiwang eyes to be among top ONE strawweight fighters with Pacio

Team Lakay’s Lito Adiwang. ONE CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Lito Adiwang has been on a tear in ONE Championship that a spot in the strawweight rankings is an achievable dream by the end of 2021.

Team Lakay’s prospect is headed to a match against Japan’s Namiki Kawahara  Friday and he hopes his first fight of 2021 is what he needs to ultimately propel him to division’s upper echelon.

“I see myself racking up a few wins this year. Hopefully, ONE will give us a lot of fights. If that happens, I’ll do my best to get all the wins I can so I can see myself being a top contender by the end of the year,” said Adiwang (11-3).

Though his split decision loss to Hiroba Minowa in November 2020 stopped his seven-fight winning streak, the defeat hardly affected his momentum.

Already looking at Namiki, Adiwang is eager to get back to the win column and ultimately become’s the division’s gatekeeper.

Adiwang’s Team Lakay stablemate Joshua Pacio currently the promotion’s strawweight champion and the former would end the year as the division’s no.1 contender.

“I’ll wait for my chances because Joshua is still the champion. I just want to put my name among the top and now, I’ll be building on it. By the end of 2021, I want to be there,” said Adiwang.

To achieve that feat, though, Adiwang first has to defeat Namiki at ONE: Unbreakable at Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday.

Adiwang hopes that a win over Namiki will lead to a rematch against Hiroba.

“I really wanted this. I am very hungry to come back and get a win. At least if I win this one, maybe I can ask for a rematch from Minowa. I have to prove that I only had an off-night against Minowa. I learned from that match, and I was able to see the things that I need to improve on,” said Adiwang.

“The pressure is on. Yes, I know I have to prove myself to the world and earn people’s respect. I’m working on that.”