ONE Fight Night 16: Lito Adiwang Refuses To Let Knee Injury Hinder His Progress

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In March 2022 at ONE X, Lito Adiwang suffered a debilitating knee injury against Jeremy Miado. And after 18 months of setbacks, patience, and hard work, "Thunder Kid" is on a mission to make up for lost time.

After a sensational return last month, the Filipino shooting star will look to make it two in a row when he rematches Miado inside Bangkok, Thailand's Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on Saturday, 4 November, at ONE Fight Night 16: Haggerty vs. Andrade.

Adiwang's demolition of Adrian Mattheis at ONE Friday Fights 34: Rodtang vs. Superlek last month took him just 23 seconds to seal the knockout. But his journey back to that moment was anything but quick.

"Thunder Kid" landed awkwardly at ONE X, causing his ACL to tear. And if fighting isn't hard enough, Adiwang learned the true value of hard work and patience in battling back to full health.

There were glimmers of hope for the Filipino strawweight to return much sooner. Adiwang was given the green light at the beginning of the year to begin preparing for action. But his body had other plans.

The 30-year-old was forced to redesign and rebuild once again. The experience kept him grounded, reminding Adiwang to take each day as it comes. Reflecting on the 18-month whirlwind, he said:

"We were super positive psychologically, but physically, it gave out. From there, I really had to surround myself with the proper advice and people, like the doctors and those with expert knowledge about this injury.

"I needed to balance out my positivity and eagerness since there really is a process that needs to happen. That's what I went through for this recovery."

After overcoming his knee injury and toppling Mattheis, Adiwang is ready to look to the future. He wants to climb the ladder again. But the same man who took no sympathy on his injury in Miado will be the same man standing in his way on 4 November.

And while he's had to make adjustments to his style since his knee injury, Adiwang firmly believes he's back to his best. ONE Friday Fights 34 was an example of that. But ONE Fight Night 16 will be the ultimate test.

"I can be honest here and say that nothing beats the original (knee). One thing I noticed is that my knee right now is, kind of, deformed," Adiwang said.

"The other would be [that] my mobility feels a little bit off in the sense that before, I could stretch my knee with no problems, but now, there is a slight limitation to it. But the power and everything, I truly believe I'm back."