Lito Adiwang reveals he had a bout with depression following loss of his parents and knee injury

Lito Adiwang is a fighter in every sense of the word.

The Filipino standout is one of the most exciting fighters in the ONE Championship roster, but it's his fights outside the cage that truly built his character.

Adiwang suffered through the unimaginable grief of losing both his parents and went on a lengthy recovery process to fix his injured knee.

Sitting out for almost 18 months due to injury, Adiwang bounced back in one of the most electrifying returns when he knocked out Adrian Mattheis in just 23 seconds in the opening bout of ONE Friday Fights 34.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post after the bout, Adiwang detailed how he battled through depression following his parents’ death and the grueling recovery from injury.

He said:

“Mentally, it put me down. That’s why I wanted to shout out also to our fans and everyone there, who has depression because, for me honestly, you know what happened to me. It’s like my mom passed, and it was my first time to have two consecutive losses, and after that, my dad passed.”

Adiwang added:

“After that, another ACL injury so from that, depression came, and I needed to find real true friends who could kick back my motivation. To motivate me [and tell me] that I still have a purpose in this world. So, for this one purpose, I’m back. I'll try to chase and get to the peak of my high here in ONE Championship.”

‘Thunder Kid’ tore his ACL in March 2022 when he fought fellow Filipino star Jeremy Miado at ONE X in Singapore. Adiwang was then scheduled to return this January against Mansur Malachiev, but he re-aggravated his injury which led to his comeback getting pushed back to this past week.

A former ranked strawweight MMA contender, Adiwang wants nothing more than to get back to the division’s top five rankings and push for a potential shot at ONE strawweight MMA world champion Jarred Brooks.