Jhanlo Sangiao couldn’t deny that the disheartening outcome of his most recent assignment was a bitter pill to swallow.
“It is what it is,” he told Tiebreaker Times right after the bout.
Stepping into the ring with a then-immaculate 6-0 record, expectations were high for the Team Lakay prospect. He faced off against a formidable foe in Mongolia’s Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu at ONE Fight Night 13 on Saturday.
Initially, it seemed that Sangiao had everything under control. He staggered the Mongolian bruiser with a combination of hard right hands and a thunderous high kick to draw first blood.
Unfortunately for “The Machine,” Baatarkhuu gradually found his groove, returning fire with a crisp elbow shot early in round two. Then he employed his wrestling-heavy offense to contain his opponent’s firepower in the standup.
On the ground, the protégé of former ONE featherweight titleholder Narantungalag Jadamba applied relentless pressure on Sangiao. That created the opening to grab hold of the Filipino’s arm for a wrenching Kimura lock.
Sangiao held out as long as he could, but the Team Tungaa representative leveraged much greater force to crank the right arm and force the tap at the 2:53 mark of the second stanza.
Instead of dwelling on the setback, the 21-year-old phenom from La Trinidad, Benguet, chose to focus on the silver lining and the valuable lessons he gained from his first career loss.
(C) ONEFC.com
“As an athlete, there is still a lot to learn. I still need to work harder in my training. These are the realizations I had after the fight,” Sangiao said.
Rather than recognizing Baatarkhuu as the first real test in his burgeoning mixed martial arts career, Sangiao leaned more toward viewing it as a learning curve.
“I expected him to be strong, but I was more surprised that he was able to get up and recover quickly after receiving heavy blows. Honestly, I wasn’t,” he shared.
“It’s a lesson, a significant lesson for me to improve and refine the skills that need honing.”
Moreover, the youngster emphasized the importance of working on his mental toughness and durability for his future assignments.
While Sangiao is eager to return to training once he’s fully healed, he has decided to leave the decision about his next outing in the capable hands of ONE Championship’s matchmakers.
“For me, I want to fight again and redeem myself. Of course, everything depends on ONE Championship. I’ll let them decide,” he concluded.
