ONE: Adiwang expects barn burner vs Brooks

Team Lakay fighter Lito Adiwang. Photo from ONE Championship

MANILA, Philippines—It seems Lito Adiwang isn’t slowing down any time soon.

After knocking out Namiki Kawahara in January, the Thunder Kid will be back in the ONE Championship cage to welcome former Bellator and UFC combatant Jarred Brooks.

Adiwang (12-3) has won eight of his previous nine fights with just one of those victories heading to the scorecards.

Brooks (16-2), meanwhile, is carrying a three-fight winning streak with his last one a decision over Haruo Ochi in Bellator 237 in 2019.

Adiwang said that even though they have different styles, he’s sure that their fight would be an absolute firecracker.

“I expect that our fight will be a barnburner because he’s a wrestler and he’ll grind you down and try to dominate you on the ground so I have to try and deal with that, I’ll try to counter that,” said Adiwang in Filipino.

“From what I saw, since he has a wrestling base, he has a tight control and his takedown attempts are quick. And once he gets position, it’s hard to get away from it so I see that as his strength in the fight.”

While Adiwang is more of a striker and finisher, Brooks has a more methodical approach using his wrestling to dominate the ground game and use that base for submissions.

Brooks does have six submission wins under his name.

Aware of his opponent’s ground game, Adiwang said he’d prefer the fight to stay standing and he plans to make it that way once they go up against each other on April 14 in ONE on TNT II at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“I’m working on my takedown defense and how to escape ground control,” said Adiwang. “Those two are the main things that I see I have to improve on and once I stop those then I think I have the advantages.”