In the post-fight press conference, Adiwang expressed his disappointment with the dirty tricks employed by Hexigetu in their bout.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 24) – Team Lakay fighter Lito Adiwang went past an unassertive Hexigetu to nail a unanimous decision victory in ONE: Revolution, Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Adiwang, who improved to a 13-3-0 win-loss-draw record, displayed a barrage of kicks that rocked his Chinese foe, including a powerful flying kick and a vicious jumping knee.
In the second round, Hexigetu clearly sensed the power of Adiwang as he remained elusive to engage against the Team Lakay fighter, which earned the ire of the referee.
Hexigetu then played dirty after landing two groin strikes against Adiwang towards the end of the second round. The Chinese’s second groin kick with 22 seconds remaining in the round earned him a yellow card.
In the third round, Hexigetu incurred another yellow card for his third groin strike against the Filipino.
Adiwang continued to punish Hexigetu with a couple of flying sidekicks – with one kick unfortunately hitting the Chinese’s groin in the final minute of the match.
The Chinese fighter fell to a 9-5 slate.
Adiwang was supposed to fight American fighter Jared Brooks, but the match got canceled after the Filipino contracted COVID-19.
Prior to the Hexigetu fight, Adiwang had a sensational second round technical knockout win against Namiki Kawahara in ONE: Unbreakable last January.
“I’m quite disappointed after the fight because I know I imagined a lot of scenarios that I can get a real highlight KO (knockout) in this match,” Adiwang said.
The Team Lakay strawweight bet said he imagined a flying knee that can knock out Hexigetu, but the Chinese fighter’s evasive style prevented him from executing such powerful trick.
“I just tried to make the fight as entertaining as possible,” said Adiwang.
