Aung La N Sang dusts off his loss to Vitaly Bigdash with a smile

Aung La N Sang came out on the wrong end of a decision in his rubber match against Vitaly Bigdash at ONE: Full Circle. While some may wallow in despair following a loss with such high stakes, ‘The Burmese Python’ took a different approach – smiling.

In his latest Instagram post, the former two-division world champion shared some photos of his epic battle with a caption saying:

“Sometimes you’ve got to just smile and keep going.”

Aung La found himself playing to the beat that Vitaly Bigdash drummed throughout their fight. The hulking Russian took Myanmar’s hero to the ground almost at will and controlled the fight from there.

After the final bell rang, it was clear just how much both fighters respected each other as they shared a moment inside the Circle. Bigdash could be heard saying that it was fun because they have a huge history together. Aung La could be seen smiling as he agreed with his opponent’s sentiments.

Once it was made official, Aung La graciously accepted his defeat. The former double champion also offered a smile to his opponent. The pair even hugged it out to close their epic rivalry that lasted 13 rounds over five years.

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Aung La N Sang and Vitaly Bigdash could diverge once again

Following their second bout, Aung La N Sang and Vitaly Bigdash took different paths.

Aung La captured the middleweight crown and stopped his next six opponents, cementing his place among the legends of ONE Championship. Meanwhile, Bigdash suffered a second straight defeat after losing his world title and battled multiple injuries that kept him out of the Circle for quite some time.

Ahead of their trilogy, both fighters were starting to get their groove back in their hunt to get the world title. Now that they’ve closed this chapter, the paths ahead look similar to the ones they took five years ago.

With his victory, Bigdash paved his road to glory by calling out the man who snapped his rival’s win streak, Reinier de Ridder. ‘The Dutch Knight’ earlier claimed that he’d prefer to defend his title against Bigdash instead of Aung La.

Meanwhile, Aung La N Sang’s next move is still a mystery. His road back to the world title got a little bit rougher with this latest setback.

If there’s one thing that Aung La has shown over the past few years though, it’s that he’s a warrior. Should Bigdash be the first man to defeat Reinier de Ridder, don’t be surprised if we eventually see him cross paths with Aung La in the future.