Rising mixed martial artist Lito Adiwang said that fighting world’s pound-for-pound king Demetrius Johnson inside the ONE circle is his dream match, which he hopes will happen in the future.
“If you want to ask me about my dream match in ONE, that’s my dream match. I want to fight the pound-for-pound king. I just saw him fight, and I’m visualizing myself competing with him. I’ll work hard to make it happen one day,” Adiwang said in an interview with ABS-CBN.
The 26-year-old Adiwang is riding high on two impressive victories in ONE main roster and has established himself as one of the fighters to be reckoned with in Asia’s biggest and leading MMA promotion.
Adiwang currently fights in the strawweight division with teammate Joshua Pacio as the reigning champion. Adiwang ranked fifth in their division.
The American Johnson, on the other hand, is currently fighting in the flyweight division with Adriano Moraes as the division champion.
“Actually, I’m looking at a higher weight class. I think everyone wants to fight Demetrious Johnson, and actually, that’s my dream,” Adiwang added in the same interview.
Adiwang, a winner in previous ONE Warrior Series, earned the right to speak about possible future opponents when he made his presence felt following high-reel finishes.
The Igorot fighter who now has strong followers has debuted on the ONE main roster with a first-round technical knockout of Pancrase champion Senzo Ikeda in Japan in October last year.
He also defeated Pongsiri Mitsatit of Thailand via first-round kimura in Manila in January this year.
“We have a lot of tough and good opponents in the strawweight division, but for now I’ll just wait for ONE Championship to give me who’s next, but I will keep on improving and preparing myself,” Adiwang said. – Harley F. Palangchao
