After falling short in his most recent outing on the ONE Championship stage, Filipino prospect Rockie Bactol has vowed to come back stronger.
The 19-year-old Bangkok-based Filipino yielded to his fellow ONE Warrior Series alumnus Akihiro “Superjap” Fujisawa of Japan via third-round technical knockout at ONE: CONQUEST OF CHAMPIONS this past November
His loss to Fujisawa was his first defeat as a professional after an impressive career in the amateur ranks, which carried over into his ONE Warrior Series campaign.
Bactol was among the three athletes offered a six-figure ONE Championship contract in the maiden season of Rich Franklin’s reality online series.
Despite learning the lesson the hard way, Bactol remains determined to reinsert his name into the winner’s column.
“It was a tough loss, and it made me realize the things I still need to work on in my overall game,” he said. “The pressure was too much which was more than what I expected. I learned a lot and it will definitely help me grow as an athlete.”
“Losing in front of your countrymen is a hard pill to swallow, but it motivates me to step up my game further.”
Following his heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Fujisawa, Bactol went back to the drawing board to reassess himself and review what went wrong.
After being outworked by his Japanese foe for the majority of their bout, Bactol is making sure that he will handle the situation better the next time he enters the famed ONE Championship cage.
“I lost for a reason, and I know God has his reasons why I lost that match,” Bactol expressed. “There are a lot of things that can be learned from my bout with Fujisawa. It’s one of the good sides of losing.”
Bactol stressed that he is planning to make some major adjustments in preparation for his future matches.
“When I resume my training this January, I will focus more on developing my mixed martial arts tools instead of other stuff,” he stated.
“This sport is a continuous learning process, and I will do anything that is needed to always take my game to the next level.”
In high spirits at the moment, Bactol assured his fans that they will be seeing a better version of him in his next cage outing.
“I know that there is a lot of work to do, and I’m up for it,” he declared. “Losing is disappointing, but it is part of the game. I am motivated to become better and always have the urgency to improve. I will come back stronger.”
