Jhanlo Sangiao, Denice Zamboanga to represent Phl at ONE Fight Night 9

 SPORTS 

 Carlo Quinto

Two homegrown mixed martial arts talents will try to hoist the Philippine aloft inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on April 22.
    Jhanlo “The Machine” Sangiao and Denice “The Menace” Zamboanga will be fighting side-by-side on the much-awaited ONE Fight Night 9: Nong-O vs. Haggerty card.
Sangiao is set to collide with Argentina’s Matias “El Rasta” Farinelli in a three-round bantamweight encounter, while Zamboanga is penciled to take on Brazil’s Julie Mezabarba in a women’s atomweight joust.
    The eldest son of Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao holds an immaculate professional record of 5-0 with four victories by submission and one via knockout.
    Moreover, “The Machine” is 2-0 under the ONE Championship banner. In his most recent outing last December, he forced ONE Warrior Series Philippines alum Anacleto “L.A.” Lauron to tap with a wrenching rear-naked choke in the first round.
    His scintillating performance also earned him a $50,000 bonus.
    The man standing in the way of Sangiao is Farinelli, an Argentinian standout from the world-recognized Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand.
    Like Sangiao, Farinelli also owns a spotless 5-0 record, but all of his career wins have come by way of submission.
    Both men were originally slated to face each other at ONE 164, but the latter withdrew from the bout after testing positive for Covid-19. As a result, Lauron filled in for him to square off with Sangiao.
    On the other hand, Zamboanga (9-2) rebounded from back-to-back losses with a razor-thin split decision win over China’s Lin Heqin at ONE Fight Night 5 this past December.
    Now, “The Menace” hopes to get back into the World Title conversation by defeating Mezabarba (9-4-1) at ONE Fight Night 9 in April.
    However, it will not be a walk in the park for Zamboanga as Mezabarba has been proven to be no slouch of an opponent.
    The Brazilian vixen first gained attention by scoring an upset against former World Title challenger Mei “V.V” Yamaguchi. 
    Although she lost her next two assignments opposite the likes of Stamp Fairtex and Jenelyn “The Graceful” Olsim, Mezabarba went the distance with them and made sure that they would have to earn the victory the hard way.
    ONE Fight Night 9: Nong-O vs. Haggerty will be available at watch.onefc.com, as well as at One Sports and One Sports+ on Philippine television.