Lito Adiwang says he won't have issues putting friendship with Joshua Pacio aside for all-Filipino war: "We can do it professionally"

Lito Adiwang believes that a fight between former training partner Joshua Pacio could be something for the future.

With Adiwang's quick rise to the top of the rankings, it's only a matter of time before he makes his bid for the ONE strawweight MMA world title.

Divisional champion Joshua Pacio is currently on leave due to a torn ACL, but upon his return, he will likely face interim title-holder Jarred Brooks in a hotly-contested unification bout next year.

Even if Pacio succeeds or fails, there's no doubt in Adiwang's mind that they'll eventually cross paths. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, the Filipino standout said:

"I think a while back he mentioned something like he wouldn't want to face me in a fight, but I told him that if he were given a contract to fight, let's just do it and honor the sport. We can do it professionally."

Lito Adiwang has won three straight fights to position himself in the top five rankings. So far, he's accomplished every goal he set out to do after suffering a long lay-off from fighting due to a bad injury.

Although he'd love to run things back again with 'The Monkey God' Jarred Brooks next, he may be pitted against either Gustavo Balart or even Mansur Malachiev.

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Lito Adiwang credits new team at SOMA for helping him become a well-rounded MMA fighter

We all know that Lito Adiwang is one of the finest MMA strikers in the game. However, being a great boxer doesn't always guarantee victories.

The competition has gotten tougher over the years due to a rise of MMA grapplers. If you don't have a good ground game, then you won't last very long inside the cage.

Adiwang saw this as a concern after he fought Greco-roman virtuoso Jarred Brooks back in 2021. So in order to strengthen his game, Adiwang left Team Lakay to join SOMO Fight Club. Crediting his new team after defeating MMA superstar Danial Williams at ONE Fight Night 19, 'Thunder Kid' told Sporskeeda MMA:

"They saw my striking capability, but they saw that I am also, I can develop and I can be good at the whole MMA game, so that's where we're working on."