“The momentum could have shifted” – Mark Sangiao points out where Lito Adiwang made a mistake against Jarred Brooks

Lito Adiwang suffered his second loss in ONE Championship at the hands of Jarred Brooks at ONE: NextGen III. The defeat came via an arm-triangle submission in the second round.

Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao saw how the momentum could have shifted to ‘The Thunder Kid’ and has identified what he believes was the turning point of the fight.

Brooks dominated Adiwang with his takedown attempts throughout the fight. The 28-year-old Filipino fighter has been known to win his matches with his striking in ONE Championship and ‘The Monkey God’ had to avoid tangling in the standup realm.

During the second round, Lito Adiwang did his best to avoid engaging Brooks on the ground and sticking to his striking to bounce back. At one point, the bout was stopped with Brooks complaining that he got hit in the groin. That was Adiwang’s biggest mistake in the bout, according to Sangiao. He told Sportskeeda MMA:

“We saw that Brooks was really strong but Lito made a mistake there and that is why we saw him trying to get away. Lito told me that he felt Brooks was getting tired, especially when he attempted a guillotine. Lito felt that he kicked Brooks in the shin, but his opponent complained about getting hit in the groin. It was not in the groin and Lito did not feel like he hit Brooks at that part, as he told me.”

The fight was halted for more than a minute-and-a-half before resuming. That gave Brooks the chance to catch his breath and Sangiao thinks that if there was no groin shot, the tide could have turned in the favor of Lito Adiwang.

“It was a long break for Brooks at the time. We cannot say but consider that he was fatigued and there is a possibility that the momentum could have shifted on the side of Lito.”

Sangiao hopes to improve Lito Adiwang’s weaknesses moving forward in his ONE Championship career

Old habits seem to die hard as Mark Sangiao sees the same mistakes Lito Adiwang made in his previous fights.

The Team Lakay mentor needs ‘The Thunder Kid’ to give more time to his wrestling defense to avoid getting another submission loss in ONE Championship.

“He really needs to improve his wrestling defense. We practiced a lot of that but I think we lacked time in preparing Lito for his wrestling defense to become part of his muscle memory. I saw a point in the fight where he didn’t extend the leg that much, that is what Brooks caught him and that is why he was taken down.”

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Lito Adiwang’s record has fallen to 13-4 and he is now 7-2 in ONE Championship. This was his second loss through submission and his first in Asia’s premier MMA promotion.

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