Perhaps the biggest question for Carlo “The Bull” Bumina-ang after he suffered his first loss in ONE Championship was how he would absorb the setback and recover from it.
Bumina-ang answered those questions in the only way he knew how.
Already back on track after scoring his first win as part of the ONE Championship main roster, Bumina-ang looks to make it two in a row when he faces Mauro Mastromarini in a three-round bantamweight MMA bout at ONE Fight Night 30 this Saturday, April 5, at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
After receiving a challenging welcome to the main roster from Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu last year, “The Bull” bounced back impressively when he finished Song Min Jong in just 53 seconds to get the rebound win.
“He definitely learned a lot in the Baatarkhuu fight. He got controlled badly by Baatarkhuu in that fight and we learned a lot from it. Baatarkhuu really utilized his wrestling and controlled him. In the striking department, I really didn’t see a problem, but he simply got controlled by Baatarkhuu on the ground,” Sangiao said.
“Those are the things that we really focused on and tried to improve on. We put Carlo in a situation where he’s at the bottom getting controlled again, and we devised a plan on how he’ll escape from those said situations,” he added.
“We’ve been doing a lot of drills on that, working on techniques and what not, and through consistent training we were able to use that in his previous fight.”
That improvement gives Sangiao confidence that Bumina-ang can overcome Mastromarini, expecting the Argentinian to follow Baatarkhuu’s game plan.
If that’s the case, then Sangiao believes Bumina-ang will be ready for him.
“Carlo’s weakness was exposed against Baatarkhuu, and I think his opponent will try to use that to his advantage. Now what I want to see is how Carlo is the one turning the tables and controlling people on the ground,” he said.
“His opponent is also pretty good on the ground. He went to Brazil to train for this fight, but I saw that he was merely focusing on his striking to match up with Carlo’s. I do believe that Carlo’s ready wherever the fight ends up, be it a wrestling grind or a striking matchup.”
Regardless of where the bout ends up, Sangiao believes this fight will be exciting and will end with Bumina-ang getting his hand raised.
“This will be such an exciting match. It’s going to be a war. He’s got a very good opponent with a very good record. Surely he’ll be protecting that, so I expect this to be a really good match,” Sangiao said.
“But I’m confident that if Carlo doesn’t finish it on the feet, he can finish his opponent on the ground.”
