MMA star Ev Ting relishes playing on home soil

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s mixed martial arts (MMA) exponent Ev Ting is banking on home comfort to take down Australia’s Rob Lisita in the main event of ONE: Unbreakable Warriors at Stadium Negara on Sept 2.

The 26-year-old Malaysian featherweight fighter, who is based in Auckland, New Zealand, has won all five matches he fought on home ground while the 33-year-old Lisita, with a 14-8 record, hopes to end his three-match losing streak.

“Rob won’t be an easy opponent ... he’s ruthless. He may be under pressure, but I don’t think that’ll give me an edge in the fight,” said Ting after a press conference on Wednesday.

Both men have lost to reigning ONE featherweight champion Marat Gafurov. The undefeated Russian finished off Lisita with a rear naked choke in 2014 and forced Ting into submission with the same move in the ONE: Warrior’s Quest in Singapore in 2015.

Ting, who has won two bouts since his loss to Gafurov, believes that a triumph over Lisita would get him closer to a rematch against the reigning champion.

“I’ve learned a lot from the Gafurov fight ... it exposed a lot of holes in my ground game. I’ve improved a lot since then,” said Ting, who holds an 11-3 record.

“I’ve won two fights after that defeat ... if I win this fight convincingly, I’ll deserve a title shot.”

The other Malaysians on the fight card include Peter Davis, Ann Osman, Agilan Thani and the Subba brothers of Gianni and Keanu.

The 35-year-old Peter, who has not fought since losing to Australian Adrian Pang last October, takes on Thai fighter Shannon Wiratchai in the lightweight bout as Ann faces Filipina April Osenio (flyweight); Agilan meets hard-hitting Filipino Trestle Tan (middleweight); Gianni tackles Brazilian Yago Bryan (flyweight); Keanu is up against Pakistan’s Waqar Umar (featherweight); and Muhd Aiman Raziz Affindi clashes with compatriot Hisyam Shamsudin (featherweight).

Source: The Star Online

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