Drex Zamboanga feels his grappling is ready for the top athletes at ONE flyweight division

ONE Championship newcomer Drex Zamboanga has his eyes set on the ONE flyweight world title currently held by Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Adriano Moraes.

In a division filled with talented grapplers such as former UFC flyweight world champion Demetrious Johnson, Danny Kingad, Kairat Akhmetov, and the champ himself, it can easily be predicted that getting anywhere close to the strap would not be a walk in the park.

Now that he made it on the big stage, Zamboanga also believes that he is ready for the big names in his weight class thanks to the hard work he has been putting in on training.

“I’ve been training with world-class jiu-jitsu black belts since, world-class wrestlers and strikers since February. I think that’s going to be my weapon against the best in the flyweight division,” said Zamboanga.

“My preparation for ONE Championship has not been easy. Even before I got here I knew that I’m going to face top fighters. What I do is prepare myself mentally and physically. I’m on the big stage now so I have to train hard like a world-class fighter.”

Zamboanga is set to make his ONE Championship debut against Detchadin “Detchpool” Sornsirisuphathin on the undercard of ONE: A New Breed on Friday, Aug. 28 at a closed-door event in Bangkok, Thailand.

He made it clear that he is not looking past his first fight on Asia’s premier martial arts organization, but he is convinced that he has become well-rounded enough to win fights and take on the best that ONE Championship has to offer.

“What we do at Fairtex [Training Center] is we drill and roll with black belts. Coach DJ Jackson has a mindset for MMA, not just for jiu-jitsu,” he shared.

“When I study and apply it in sparring it is really different. Jiu-jitsu in MMA is different so having trained with coach DJ was a huge improvement to my ground game and I can say that it’s truly effective.”

It remains to be seen how Zamboanga would fare against competition that is levels above from what he is accustomed to. Needless to say, he is looking forward to shaking things up at ONE Championship.

“The ONE flyweight division is stacked with amazing talent, including my idol Demetrious Johnson, so I’m inspired by the possibilities. I welcome whatever challenges may come.” – RC, GMA News