“I’m super excited, you know. It’s been a long time. I can’t wait to get back in the cage, you know,” he said. “After fighting Rahul Raju I had plans to go abroad so I went to the US, I went to AKA, American Kickboxing Academy. I camped there for four and a half months and it went really well. I’ve learned a lot of great things. It was one of the best camps I’ve ever been to.
“After that I went back to Pakistan and continued my training and I feel like there is a big difference in my training, that’s what I’ll deliver on fight night. People are going to see the new Wolverine with different abilities, with a different mindset and with a different power, you know.
Standing in the way of a dream return is Brazilian Abraao Amorin, who has lost just once in his last five bouts and made a successful ONE debut in April this year when he clinched a second-round TKO win over Dae Song Park. Mujtaba is aware of his opponent’s skills with his hands, but also feels he has seen enough to go into the fight with confidence.
“Abraao is a good fighter overall,” he said. “He just tries to swing a lot of punches. In his last fight, the first round didn’t quite go according to plan. But in the second round he got the opportunity and he won the fight even though it’s a third degree black belt but for me I’ve trained with black belts and with the Russian team so I’m ready for that.
“I don’t care who is in front of me. I go in the cage and I have to smash and I’m going to win you know.”
Mujtaba thinks his balanced play will provide answers to all of Abraao’s questions and says he’s up for any kind of challenge this weekend.
“I don’t care if he wants to wrestle, I wrestle with him,” he explains. “If he wants to hit, I’ll hit with him, if he wants to BJJ, I’ll BJJ. I’m ready in every aspect of this art, you know, because I’ve been training for a long time and I feel this energy inside and I can’t wait for the fight date, you know. ”
And a message for all his fans?
“All I want to say is the Wolverine is back and I’m going to go and put on the show. And I want to say to the fans in Singapore where people love me too, I want to say I’m coming to Singapore and it’s going to be fireworks. just be ready And mark your calendars.”
ONE 163: Akimoto vs Petchtanong: takes place on Saturday 19th November at 14:00 GST at the Singapore Indoor Stadium Arena in Singapore. This is a night not to be missed, so mark your calendars, download the ONE Super App and go to watch.onefc.com now!
