“I’m confident enough that I’ve improved and changed so much” – Vitaly Bigdash promises massive upgrades against Fan Rong

After a little over two years, Vitaly Bigdash will finally make his way back to the Circle on December 17, when he faces Fan Rong at ONE: Winter Warriors II.

A series of unforeseen events that included the global pandemic in 2020 prevented the 37-year-old from competing. In an interview with ONE Championship, Vitaly Bigdash shared that despite the unwanted time off, he kept himself in shape.

“I feel great, I feel re-energized. So hungry to come back to the fight and to the cage as well. Yes, of course, I didn’t fight for two years…But yeah, I didn’t waste my time, I was going through a couple of training camps so I’m fully ready.”

Vitaly Bigdash absorbed the first defeat of his career when he lost the middleweight world title to Aung La N Sang in 2017’s ONE: Light of a Nation. After almost a year, he returned, only to suffer his first TKO loss at the hands of Leandro Ataides at ONE: Grit and Glory.

He quickly bounced back from it though, closing 2018 with an amazing first-round submission win against Yuki Niimura. However, he couldn’t keep the momentum going inside the Circle as events unraveled in the coming years.

He now promises to be a better fighter when fans get a chance to see him back in action.

“I was fully focused on my strengths as well as my weaknesses and I was going through the training camps with one of the best fighters in the world. I’m confident enough that I’ve improved and changed so much.”

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Fan Rong is eager to get a rematch against Reinier de Ridder after date with Vitaly Bigdash

While Vitaly Bigdash looks to prove that he’s still one of the best, his opponent, Fan Rong, is looking to beat the best.

The 28-year-old from China has been hungry to avenge his loss against ONE middleweight world champion Reinier de Ridder in his debut match. He has since proven to be a worthy challenger to De Ridder, having won his last two bouts.

He hopes that a win against Vitaly Bigdash will make it difficult to ignore his case to challenge the champion. Fan Rong was in high spirits when he spoke to ONE Championship about his upcoming match, stating:

“If we keep the standing game until the end, I probably can knock him out because I’ve been preparing for my striking game for a very long time. But for this fight, I’ve been preparing very well-rounded so I’m ready to do striking or grappling, everything.”