“Creating scrambles” - Keito Yamakita says he’ll make Lito Adiwang work in strawweight MMA clash at ONE Fight Night 28

Japanese fighter Keito Yamakita said he already has a game plan against Filipino Lito Adiwang in their scheduled match this week. He looks to tap on it on his way to victory.

'Pocket Monk' will go up against 'Thunder Kid' in a strawweight MMA showdown at ONE Fight Night 28: Prajanchai vs. Barboza on Feb. 8. It is part of the event happening at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

In an interview with ONE Championship ahead of his showdown with Adiwang in a battle of streaking fighters, Yamakita shared that he intends to make use of his BJJ and wrestling background to steadily test his opponent on the ground and make him scramble.

The 28-year-old We affiliate said:

"Basically, I want to aim for submissions from top control, and if I end up on bottom, I’ll look for submissions while creating scrambles. I think this style fits ONE’s judging criteria better.”

Keito Yamakita enters ONE Fight Night 28 off back-to-back victories, the most recent over fellow Japanese fighter and former ONE strawweight king Yosuke Saruta back in August by split decision. He is out to get a third straight win to thrust him inside the top five in the rankings.

A place in the elite company of top strawweight contenders is what Adiwang, 31, is angling for in his showdown with Keito Yamakita. The Soma Fight Club affiliate has won three straight matches since returning from a knee injury that sidelined him for a year and a half.

ONE Fight Night 28 is available live and for free at U.S. primetime to North American fans with an active Amazon Prime Video subscription.

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Lito Adiwang expects a tough battle against Keito Yamakita

What Keito Yamakita plans to do to him at ONE Fight Night 28 is something that Lito Adiwang already anticipated and put the work in addressing in training.

He made this known in an interview with The MMA Superfan, highlighting that the Keito fight is going to be an exhausting one, saying:

"I'll admit that it's going to be an exhausting fight for me. So right now, half of my training is focused on how to play him on the ground and how to control him on the fight itself. The other half, we had to focus. I admit that in the first round I'm 100 percent, but it gradually goes down."

While expecting a tough challenge, Adiwang said the fire in him is already lit and cannot wait to get it going come ONE Fight Night 28.