Lito Adiwang embodies the spirit of the word “fighter” in all aspects of his life.
The Filipino phenom is one of the most intriguing fighters on the ONE Championship roster; nevertheless, it is the fights that he has had outside of the cage that have truly formed his character.
Adiwang endured the unfathomable anguish of losing both of his parents at the same time as he underwent a drawn-out healing process to treat an injury to his knee.
After being sidelined for about 18 months due to an injury, Adiwang made one of the most electric comeback when he knocked out Adrian Mattheis in just 23 seconds in the opening contest of ONE Friday Fights 34. Adiwang’s victory over Mattheis was the first fight of the night.
Following the fight, Adiwang gave an interview to the South China Morning Post in which he explained how he fought through depression in the wake of the deaths of both of his parents and the arduous recuperation from injuries.
In his words:
“In a mental sense, it knocked me down. Because of this, I wanted to give a shout-out to all of our followers and everyone else there who suffers from depression because, to tell you the truth, you are aware of what happened to me. It’s like my mom passed away, and it was the first time in my life that I had two losses in a row, and then shortly after that, my dad passed away.”
Adiwang continued, saying
“After that, I suffered another ACL injury, and as a result of that, I fell into a deep despair. As a result of that, I needed to find real friends who could help me get my motivation back. to inspire me and reassure me that despite everything, I do have a role to play in this world. As a result, I’m here for just this one reason. I’m going to make it my mission to seek and reach the pinnacle of my high here in ONE Championship.”
When “Thunder Kid” battled fellow Filipino star Jeremy Miado at ONE X in Singapore in March 2022, he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). After that, Adiwang was supposed to make his comeback in January against Mansur Malachiev, but he re-injured himself, which caused his comeback to be put out to this past week.
Adiwang, who was a contender in the strawweight division of MMA in the past, wants nothing more than to climb back into the top five of that division’s rankings and make a push for a possible fight against Jarred Brooks, who is the world champion in the strawweight division of MMA.
