Angelie “D Explorer” Sabanal may have suffered her second consecutive defeat in ONE Championship, but she is going home knowing the things that she still needs to work on.
The Cagayan de Oro City native’s return to the ring left a lot to be desired, as she was submitted by the debuting Itsuki Hirata at ONE: LEGENDARY QUEST, which took place inside the Baoshan Arena in Shanghai, China on Saturday, 15 June.
Hirata needed just a single round to submit the Filipina via Americana to earn her first professional victory.
Now that Sabanal has experienced what it’s like dealing with a top-notch submission artist like Hirata, the 29-year-old knows the gap she needs to close in order to become a more polished mixed martial artist.
“Most of my previous opponents were strikers. Now we’re up against a grappler, and now we know what she is capable of,” Sabanal explained.
“So now we’re back to working on our submission game — the jiu-jitsu and the wrestling, which is essential. Hopefully, we get to work on that.”
Sabanal said that she did not lack preparation for this women’s atomweight contest, as she has worked cautiously on her game during her seven-month break from competition.
But unfortunately, she found out the hard way that, sometimes, things just do not go according to plan — especially with a top-caliber submission artist like Hirata.
“When I climbed into the ring, of course, there were nerves. But I got over it,” the Filipina continued.
“We prepared hard for this match, but you know, it’s different in there. I still followed our game plan, but of course, our opponent was that much stronger. “
Offering no excuses, Sabanal credited her 19-year-old rival for her dazzling ground game and now, she will take the lesson she learned in Shanghai back to the Philippines.
”We practiced how to defend on the ground, but she really knows what she’s doing in there,” the Filipina said. “But we’ll work on it.”
