One Championship’s Lito Adiwang – inspired by Manny Pacquiao, forged by Team Lakay
- ‘I try to copy Manny’s style and finish everybody – I see that as my job,’ says Filipino MMA prospect Adiwang
- ‘Thunder Kid’ has never looked backed after watching Pacquiao fight as a child at home in Baguio City, and the Filipino MMA prospect is now 5-0 with One
Lito “Thunder Kid” Adiwang’s climb through One Championship’s strawweight ranks has been curtailed as the coronavirus crisis puts life on hold everywhere but that doesn’t mean the Filipino fighter has stopped plotting his next moves.
“I know where I want to go,” Adiwang says. “I am sitting here thinking about how I need to step up again, deliver what I have been working towards, and fight my way to the title.”
Last time the world saw Adiwang (11-2) it was on January 31 and he was taking apart Thailand’s Pongsiri “The Smiling Assassin” Mitsatit (10-5), making good on the talent that caught the eye of UFC Hall of Famer Rich Franklin and his team at the One Warrior Series (OWS) reality show. The American recently told the Post he thought Adiwang was among the most exciting prospects the organisation has, and so it has proved across three fights with OWS and two fights with the One organisation proper.
That makes for a 5-0 run with One for Adiwang as the hype builds back home in the Philippines and beyond.
In Baguio City, though, the 26-year-old Adiwang remains far removed from any weight of expectation. Day to day he remains focused more on things that really matter, such as attending to his 60-year-old mother Leticia, who has been through two strokes in recent years and remains bed-bound in the house Adiwang shares with her and a brother.