"He's made me a better fighter" - Aung La N Sang says facing undefeated Shamil Erdogan has forced him to level up

Aung La N Sang is excited to get back to work when he returns on one of the biggest cards of the year for ONE Championship. The former two-weight world champion hasn't been in action for some time, but when the Ball Arena in Denver came calling, he was always going to answer.

At ONE 168, he faces one of his toughest challenges in some time when he goes up against the undefeated Shamil Erdogan.

Rather than backing down from this challenge, the middleweight MMA veteran has embraced it and, as a result, has pushed himself to the limit in this training camp.

During the press conference ahead of fight night, 'The Burmese Python' gave his thoughts on going up against Erdogan:

"Yeah, Shamil is an amazing opponent, and he's made me a better fighter. You know, very high-caliber wrestling from Dagestan. So we know what that kind of fighter brings to the table."

Aung La continued, adding that he's stoked to compete in Colorado for the second time in a row:

"And I'm just very happy to be here, being able to compete against him, we're going to put on a banger fight, that's for sure."

Watch the full ONE 168 press conference below:

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Aung La N Sang knows exactly what this fight means

Aung La N Sang has been around the fight game far too long not to understand what this upcoming match-up is all about. Having secured a debut win over Fan Rong, Shamil Erdogan is looking to make his name in this weight class by taking out the former champion.

That means that Aung La needs to defend his spot in the division by handing the rising contender the first loss of his pro career. If Erdogan thinks that he's catching his opponent at the right time, he may have another thing coming.

Tickets for ONE 168: Denver are available via Ticketmaster.