"Nothing matters more" - Former double champ Aung La N Sang says beating Shamil Erdogan is his top priority
A shot at the ONE middleweight MMA belt is all Aung La N Sang wants and deserves. But he's got to get past Shamil Erdogan at ONE 168: Denver before getting a chance to reclaim ONE Championship gold.
'The Burmese Python' needs no introduction. He's one of the last MMA fighters of his generation who is still attempting to climb the mountaintop once more. It seems likely that the 39-year-old will have his chance to fight the middleweight MMA king, Anatoly Malykhin, if he succeeds in putting away Shamil Erdogan.
While Aung La is on a three-fight winning streak with three straight finishes, he admitted that not fighting Malykhin is the least of his concerns right now.
Speaking to ONE this week, Aung La explained:
"The longest-reigning champ, the most title defenses, and on a four-winning streak should get the title [shot], but really nothing matters more than Shamil."
The Myanmar icon has never once denied a fight since losing both his middleweight and light heavyweight MMA belts to Reiner de Ridder a few years ago.
Aung La has been as active and as dominant as ever after bouncing back from a defeated loss to Vitaly Bigdash in 2022.
Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.
Aung La N Sang thanks former foe Reinier de Ridder for helping him level up in his grappling
Many MMA fighters are not as well versed in grappling as they are in striking, or vice versa. But Aung La N Sang, has made it a priority to be agile in both after losing to one of the most dominant grapplers in ONE, 'The Dutch Knight' Reinier de Ridder.
Aung La has a tough fight ahead, and if there's anything that De Ridder did to help him, it's to prepare for a guy like Shamil Erdogan. The Turkish fighter is a wrestler by trade, but he can also be a dangerous striker. In his last outing, Erdogan destroyed Fan Rong with a front kick to the body, which means he can end fights on the feet as well.
But Aung La is well-equipped to fight a guy like Erdogan. Speaking to SCMP MMA, he said:
"The jiu-jitsu part, I've been working a lot on it. I even told [de Ridder] backstage, 'You made me a better fighter man, so thank you.' Low key, nobody knows it, but I've been working on my jiu-jitsu."