Eko Roni Saputra wants to face Thai fighters to avenge Indonesia’s AFF loss

Eko Roni Saputra represented Indonesia in multinational competitions as a wrestler and now as a fighter in ONE Championship. He also proudly cheers on his countrymen whenever they carry their flag in other sports.

Such was the case earlier this year, as Indonesia and Thailand faced each other in the finals of the region’s premier football tournament, the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship.

While Indonesia bravely fought to a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their matchup, they ultimately lost 6-2 on aggregate as they dropped the first leg to Thailand, 4-0.

In a recent interview, Saputra shared that while he can’t do anything about the AFF Championship result, he’ll look avenge that loss by defeating Thai fighters in the Circle:

“I am looking forward to that opportunity! My Thai friends in Evolve have been making fun of me because of that. I told them that Indonesia was going to win, but when we lost 0-4 in the first leg, Dejdamrong started to mock me [laughing]. The Thais here are mostly soccer fans, so when Indonesia lost, they kept yelling Thailand champion!”

While he didn’t mention any particular fighters, maybe Evolve’s Thai world champions can help him pick out a worthy opponent to defend the pride of their homeland.

Who knows, perhaps his desire to compete against the best Thai fighters in the world would be so strong that it could lead him all the way to the ONE Super Series. With a rich pool of talent available and all the martial arts competitions available in ONE Championship, the possibilities are endless for Saputra.

---

Eko Roni Saputra is riding a hot streak

Eko Roni Saputra lost his debut match on the global stage of ONE Championship against Singapore’s Niko Soe in April 2019’s ONE: Roots of Honor. However, it has since become the only blemish in his professional MMA record.

The multi-time Indonesian national wrestling champion has shown his mastery of the ground game by finishing three of his last five opponents by way of submission.

Meanwhile, his latest victory came last August at ONE: Battleground II. He scored an incredible 10-second knockout of Liu Peng Shuai, showing scary knockout power to pair with his already impressive ground game.

Since making the transition to MMA, the 29-year-old has barely broken a sweat, with none of his first six bouts reaching the end of the opening round.

As incredible as he has been through this hot streak, there’s reason to believe that we still haven’t seen the best of Eko Roni Saputra just yet.