Without question, Miao Li Tao is treating his upcoming match against Jeremy “The Jaguar” Miado of the Philippines at ONE: NEXTGEN on Oct. 29 in Singapore like his life depended on it.
And he has every reason to.
It’s been two years since he suffered a shock first round knockout loss to the Filipino at ONE: AGE OF DRAGONS and it was a defeat that never really sat well with the Chinese grappler.
That’s why Miao cannot be blamed for being razor-sharp in his focus in the leadup to this bout, a clash he treats as the most important one in his MMA career.
“For me personally, this fight is probably bigger than any other fights I’ve ever had before,” he said.
“As a fighter, I want to get my revenge especially after my heartbreaking loss. And doing so is the most important thing for me right now, so I’m 100% focused on this fight and nothing and no one could stop me from avenging my defeat to Jeremy.”
So driven is Miao to exact revenge from Miado that if given a chance for a title shot or a rematch, he was firm in choosing this match without any second thoughts.
“If you’ll let me choose between a title shot or this fight, I wouldn’t even say no. That‘s how much this fight means to me,” he said.
Miao acknowledges that with both of them outside of the official rankings, this fight won’t really matter much in boosting their cases to crack the top five.
But this match means the world to him as he looks at this battle as his chance to redeem himself and show that the first match was really nothing more but a fluke win.
“I don’t think beating Miado would help me getting any higher at the rankings, but it would definitely help me with my heart and spirit,” the Chinese fighter, who found himself at the wrong end of a flying knee that connected straight to his chin and knocked him out cold, said.
“I never believed that Miado is the better fighter between the two of us. I was just going too rough and I wasn’t careful enough in that first match and that’s why he caught me. This time I’ll just stick to my game plan and do my thing and I believe that I will be the winner without a doubt.”
And he’s not going to be satisfied by just having his arms raised, as Miao truly wants to return the favor on Miado and be the one to score the knockout win.
“I got finished last time, so there’s no excuse for me to not finish him this time,” he said. “I will put on a show and knock him unconscious for good.” (ONE Championship) – bny
