Lito Adiwang has "wrestler with wild striking" Gustavo Balart on his radar: "I really like that match-up"

Lito Adiwang has his eyes set on an interesting battle against No.4-ranked strawweight MMA contender Gustavo Balart.

Adiwang was on the cusp of climbing up the rankings before suffering back-to-back losses against Jarred Brooks and Jeremy Miado – the latter further derailing his plans to get things moving as he suffered an injury that kept him out of action over the past 18 months.

However, those hurdles did little to detract ‘Thunder Kid’ as he returned to action at ONE Friday Fights 34 on September 22 and made a statement by knocking out Adrian Mattheis in 23 seconds.

The 30-year-old now looks to potentially secure a battle against Balart, one that should give him an opportunity to break into the rankings in the hope of a rematch against Brooks.

During an exclusive interview with The MMA Superfan, Adiwang had this to say about who he wants next:

“I’m really [looking] forward to fighting Gustavo Balart, because I’ve been visualizing fighting him for a long time. I really like that match-up. He’s a wrestler with wild striking and I think I’ll improve my wrestling further by fighting him. Like, how can I defend and how can I counter [his grappling]? It will certainly level up my game.”

Check out the interview on YouTube:

Gustavo Balart won’t be an easy opponent, though. ‘El Gladiador’ started his promotional tenure with three consecutive losses before solidifying himself as a legitimate title contender by defeating Ryuto Sawada, Yosuke Saruta, and Alex Silva.

Meanwhile, Lito Adiwang has amassed eight wins under the ONE banner, with three coming from his time at ONE Warrior Series. ‘Thunder Kid’ began his promotional tenure with five consecutive wins before enduring significant rough patches.

That said, his last performance showed he has what it takes to become a world champion.

It’s unclear if ONE Championship plans to book Lito Adiwang vs. Gustavo Balart, but there’s no doubt the match-up would be action-packed.

Watch Lito Adiwang’s 23-second knockout win against Adrian Mattheis below: