Alex Silva Expects Yet Another Submission At ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS

Alex “Little Rock” Silva (7-2) is itching to get back and compete under the lights in ONE Championship.

The former ONE Strawweight World Champion has been out of action since May and has hungrily waited to begin his journey back to the top of his division.

That will begin this Friday, 7 December at ONE: DESTINY OF CHAMPIONS in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the Axiata Arena.

The Brazilian will compete on the main card of the final event of 2018 from the world’s largest mixed martial arts organization against Shooto Strawweight World Champion Yosuke “Tobizaru” Saruta (17-8-3).

“I am very excited to be back. I can’t wait to get back in the cage,” he says.

The Evolve representative may have been on the sidelines for more than six months, but that has not stopped him from working as hard as ever to improve every aspect of his game.

In his last contest, he relinquished his World Title in the second chapter of his rivalry with Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito, who evened the score in their series with a unanimous decision win after five rounds.

The story of their first match was Silva’s superior striking, but the Japanese star came back with improved offensive wrestling at ONE: GRIT & GLORY, which has influenced Silva’s focus ahead of his next assignment.

“I have been training my whole game, especially a lot of my wrestling. I feel I’ve improved every part of my game since my last bout,” he says.

“I always try to look at the positive. I’ve taken the time to enjoy getting better and working on my game. There are always positives you can take from any situation.”

Since that rematch, Naito went on to lose the belt to Team Lakay’s Joshua “The Passion” Pacio. Silva describes the World Champion as “a good kid with a bright future,” but sees a path to victory against him.

“Little Rock” should be one of the frontrunners to face the new titleholder. He is one of only three World Champions in the weight class’ history, he has first-round victories over two of the other top contenders – Rene “The Challenger” Catalan and Hayato Suzuki – and his defeat to Naito was his first in more than six years.

A victory against Saruta should put Silva in the conversation for a World Championship match in 2019, but he says he is happy to face whoever is put in front of him.

“I want to win my title belt back as soon as possible, but it’s up to ONE,” he adds.

It is unlikely the 36-year-old will have an easy job in getting past his next Japanese opponent.

“Tobizaru” has serious power in his hands when he is standing, and a slick ground game that sees him use smooth transitions to switch from strikes to submission attempts.

He won his Shooto title with an impressive fourth-round TKO of Ryuto “Dragon Boy” Sawada, who has gone on to make waves in Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series this year with two first-round victories.

Silva recognizes the challenge posed by his opponent, but seems unfazed. Although he is hesitant to make a prediction on the outcome, he eventually says he expects to use his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion skills to leave Kuala Lumpur with the seventh submission win of his career.

“I’ve seen a few of his fights. He is a good opponent. I’m looking forward to the fight,” he says.

“I don’t focus too much on my opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. I focus on my strengths and concentrate on how I’m going to implement my game and get the win.

“Let’s see how the fight goes, but if I had to pick, I think I’ll finish him in the second round.”