“He needs to be aware and active” - Lito Adiwang outlines Gustavo Balart’s best path to victory at ONE Fight Night 24
Lito Adiwang provided advice to Gustavo Balart ahead of the latter's upcoming world title fight.
At ONE Fight Night 24, the strawweight MMA division will crown an interim champion while Joshua Pacio recovers from a torn ACL. The August 2 main event features former undisputed title-holder Jarred Brooks and number three-ranked Balart, who is riding a four-fight winning streak, all decisions.
One of Jarred Brook's former opponents, Adiwang, joined Sportskeeda for an interview and discussed Brooks vs Gustavo Balart. The hard-hitting Filipino, who is an active contender in ONE's strawweight MMA division, had this to say about the grappling-heavyweight matchup taking place next week:
"Balart has a tendency to relax once he can stop a takedown and the fight gets in the clinch. He sometimes slows down before trying to push off his opponents for a haymaker. I think he needs to be aware and active in this fight."
ONE Fight Night 24 goes down inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Next Friday's event can be seen live and for free by North American and Canadian viewers with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.
Gustavo Balart plans to complete ultimate comeback story by winning ONE gold
Gustavo Balart made his ONE Championship debut in April 2019. Things didn't go as planned for the Cuban strawweight's promotional start, as he endured consecutive losses against Tatsumitsu Wada, Chan Rothana, and Robin Catalan.
Since then, 'El Gladiator' has defied the odds and secured a four-fight winning streak against Ryuto Sawada, Yosuke Saruta, Alex Silva, and Hiroba Minowa. The 37-year-old looks to end his comeback story by defeating Jarred Brooks at ONE Fight Night 24 to secure an undisputed title shot against Joshua Pacio.
Brooks has a similar plan in mind due to his history with Pacio. 'The Monkey God' dethroned Pacio to become the ONE strawweight MMA world champion before returning the title due to a disqualification in their rematch earlier this year. With a win against Balart, Brooks would book the trilogy bout for later 2024 or early 2025.