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Agilan Thani will return to action at ONE: NextGen II on November 12 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. He will face Hiroyuki Tetsuka and look to bounce back from his recent loss.
The last time the Malaysian fighter stepped inside the cage was in December 2020 at ONE Championship: Big Bang 2. He lost to Tyler McGuire via unanimous decision.
It has been an up-and-down ride for Thani in his last six fights in ONE Championship, with losses already outweighing the wins 4-2. Nonetheless, 'The Alligator' still sees a silver lining.
"I’m here today trying to compete again," said Thani during an online press conference. "I think that’s one of the reasons, I think that’s one of the blessings my losses have given me, to not give up. I’m here trying to compete again and I’m going to push myself until I get to my goal."
Tetsuka will also look to return to winning ways after losing his most recent matchup in ONE Championship. The Japanese fighter lost a unanimous decision to Murad Ramazanov a year ago.
Agilan Thani claims he has learnt his lesson following recent losses in ONE Championship
Thani made his debut in ONE Championship debut in March 2015 as a 20-year-old. He became one of the most promising prospects after winning his first six fights in the organization.
Thani debuted for ONE Championship in 2015 at just 20 years old. Going 6-0 in the promotion, he was considered among ONE's most promising prospects.
He earned the right to fight Ben Askren at ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes in May 2017. He lost the bout via an arm-triangle choke in the second round. Even with the loss, Thani's future looked bright.
However, he tasted his second career loss against Zebastian Kadestam and then followed up with another defeat at the hands of Kiamrian Abbasov. He also lost his fight with Yushin Okami before losing to Tyler McGuire.
The once-promising fighter has fallen out of title contention but remains optimistic about turning his career around. With the losses came great lessons that Thani would like to improve upon. One key learning point was that he had to finish his fights earlier, according to Thani.
"I think pretty much my last 3 fights motivated me to finish fights because it’s been either going to split-decision or I lose the fight so I’m not so happy with that but you’ve got to roll with whatever comes your way, right? So that’s what’s up."
Thani is 11-5 in his MMA career heading into the matchup against Tetsuka. Five of his wins have come via submission, while the rest are evenly split between knockouts and decisions.
