After his successful run in the maiden season of Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series, Rockie Bactol is now ready to open the next chapter of his promising mixed martial arts career.
The 19-year-old Bangkok-based Filipino is set to duke it out with fellow ONE Warrior Series alumnus Akihiro “Superjap” Fujisawa of Japan on the undercard of ONE: CONQUEST OF CHAMPIONS, which emanates from the Mall of Asia Arena on Friday, 23 November.
Bactol was among the three athletes offered a six-figure ONE Championship contract after he impressively defeated his compatriot Mark Cuizon by first-round submission in the finale of the first season of the reality online series.
After a flourishing career in the amateur ranks and his ONE Warrior Series success, Bactol is now excited to carry over his outstanding credentials to the big stage as he looks to secure his second consecutive victory as a pro.
“Ever since I was young, I have always wanted to be a world champion in mixed martial arts. Now, I am going to work my way up, work hard, and fight, fight, fight, until I get my chance at a world title,” he told onefc.com.
“All my hard work has led me here. I’m very excited, this is another huge step on my way to reaching my dreams,” Bactol added.
Bactol, who had an immaculate record of six wins without a loss during his days as an amateur competitor, believes that his hard work was the key to a successful run.
Now plying his trade in the world’s largest martial arts organization, Bactol plans to maintain the same amount of dedication that he sported before ONE Championship took notice of him.
“If you want something, you need to work hard for it. It doesn’t matter if you have talent, talent won’t be enough. Hard work beats talent,” he stated.
“Whatever I have right now it is because of my hard work and will to succeed. My hunger to learn and to improve is always part of my system,” Bactol explained further
Bactol also revealed that the difficult training he went through when he started in the sport was pivotal in transforming him into a fearless competitor.
“At first, training was hard – my training partners were champions, and had, like, 150 fights. I was the only foreigner that they didn’t go easy on. Every time I was there for training, they always gave me 100 percent,” he recalled. “And it paid off.”
Although he expects that many will keep a watchful eye on him in his debut on the main roster, Bactol embraces the challenge and looks forward to having a fruitful career under the ONE Championship banner.
“I can’t wait to display my skills in front of my fellow Filipinos. This is what I trained for, and this is the path for me to reach my dreams. I will go all-out on Friday and show the world that I’m ready to the challenge,” he ended.
