“I definitely needed some closure” - Lito Adiwang says victory against Jeremy Miado fueled his inspirational return from injury

At ONE Fight Night 16 last Friday, Filipino MMA star Lito Adiwang finally got the redemption he's been hunting for over a year. Against fellow Filipino ONE strawweight MMA star Jeremy 'The Jaguar' Miado, 'Thunder Kid' pulled off a much-deserved unanimous decision win after a nail-biting three-round brawl.

The bout was a rematch of their fight at ONE X last year, where Lito Adiwang lost the bout due to a freak knee injury. After going through surgery and recovering for over a year, Adiwang made a blazing return to action at ONE Friday Fights 34 last September.

'Thunder Kid' KO'd Indonesian bad boy Adrien Matheis in just 23 seconds. Though it was a satisfying win, it wasn't the one that Adiwang was ultimately looking for. Barely over a month later, the Filipino rising star finally got to face and defeat his rival and fellow countryman, Miado.

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In an interview with MMA Superfan on YouTube, Adiwang spoke about what winning the rematch meant to him:

"To my followers and fans thank you. We all won. I think I can say this completes my comeback now. I had a great return fight [against Adrian Mattheis], where I won in just 23 seconds. I definitely needed some closure, especially since my injury happened in that first match with Miado. I think I showed that [I’m the better fighter]."

Watch the full interview here:

Lito Adiwang has always been a well-spoken athlete and his assessment of the bout and what it meant to him was quite eloquent. In the bout, Adiwang rocked Miado early and knocked him down with his signature leaping left hook.

After swarming 'The Jaguar' with the hopes of putting him away, Lito Adiwang eventually calmed down and went back to methodically dismantling his opponent. Miado was resilient as ever as he was connecting with a lot of straight shots despite getting walloped by Adiwang's power punches.

In the end, 'Thunder Kid' did enough with his power and striking accuracy to earn the unanimous nod of the judges. ONE Fight Night 16 is available to watch back in its entirety for free via Prime Video for North American viewers with an active subscription.

About the author

Duane is an expert MMA writer at Sportskeeda with over 10 years of experience working for the likes of Philippine Star, Esquire Philippines, Playboy Philippines, etc. A major in English, he has written over 2000 articles for Sportskeeda section, extensively covering UFC and boxing fights.

Duane is a practicing MMA fighter with a 11-7 record. He is also a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt and trains Muay Thai. His connection with MMA dates back to 2005, when he turned into a fan after watching Fedor Emelianenko defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic at Pride FC - Final Conflict 2005.

Emelianenko finds himself right at the top of Duane’s Mt. Rushmore of MMA fighters, alongside other big names like Demetrious Johnson, Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, and Anderson Silva.

Duane’s love for the sport is reflected in his writings, where he believes in speculating but not insinuating. He uses his intensive knowledge and skills in MMA to provide unique insights to the readers, along with sourcing information only from reliable sources.

Outside of work, Duane enjoys martial arts training, visual arts, film criticism, video games, and creative writing.

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Edited by C. Naik