Jenelyn Olsim will lick her wounds and take everything as a learning experience after dropping a unanimous decision to Ritu “The Indian Tigress” Phogat in their ONE Women’s Atomweight World Grand Prix Semifinals match at ONE: NextGen last Friday.
The Team Lakay star, who came in as a late replacement, succumbed to her first loss in the ONE Championship main roster as Phogat utilized her world-class wrestling to the fullest en route to a breezy decision win at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
While losing isn’t a good feeling for anyone, the 24-year-old is charging this loss to experience, saying that she doesn’t regret accepting the match on short notice even with the setback.
Photo from ONEFC.com
“I feel great. I am very happy to be part of this historic moment. This is a life-changing bout for me because it shows that I have reached this far, and I have performed at my best even though I lost. It shows that I need to train more and gain more experience,” Olsim said.
“I am proud of my performance. It was like four days of notice. My opponent changed so some of our game plan changed, but I was very excited because this is the Grand Prix,” she added.
“I thought it’s a big opportunity for me so why not accept it even though I have to change an opponent.”
Despite the result, Olsim actually showcased her improvement – particularly in her aggression from the bottom against a very good ground and pound fighter in Phogat.
The Filipa threw one submission after another and looked lively on the feet – it just so happened that the Evolve MMA product’s wrestling was just too much to overcome for her.
“Her wrestling was really good and she was really strong. Watching her fight [in the past] I didn’t think that she was that strong. She’s a very experienced wrestler. I believe that I really need to gain more experience and I can be better than this,” Olsim shared. “I trained with the champions in the gym and they taught me a lot. I attempted submissions but I really need more strength and conditioning training to finish my attempts.
“There’s no doubt that Ritu is strong and experienced.”
While admitting that Phogat was better that night, Olsim isn’t selling herself short as she knows that with more preparation, the result would’ve been different.
Now it’s all about getting better for her matches moving forward.
“If I were given a longer time to prepare and train more, I could have beaten her cause it was quite close,” Olsim said.
“It’s just that she dominated me in the wrestling department, she was able to pin me down but I attempted a lot of submissions too and I got her on the striking, it’s just I needed more time to prepare.”
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