“I’m glad it became reality” - Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu says he long envisioned victory over Fabricio Andrade

Mongolian MMA star Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu is proud and happy to have realized his world title goals in his last match. It was something he envisioned doing, and just thankful that things fell into place the way he wanted to.

The 36-year-old Khovd native seized the ONE bantamweight MMA world title from erstwhile champion Fabricio Andrade by way of submission (rear-naked choke) in the fourth round of their headlining title clash at ONE Fight Night 38 on December 5 at the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.

In an interview with combat sports journalist Nick Atkin following his win, Baatarkhuu shared that what went down at ONE Fight Night 38 was in line with how he saw his match turning out.

The Shandas MMA/Team Tungaa affiliate said:

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"I’m the kind of person who really follows my inner voice and I talk to myself to hype myself up. So just before the fight, I felt I knew I could beat him. I carefully observed my thoughts and I created the image of this particular fight in my head and the fight I wanted. I’m glad it became reality, it was kinda like manifesting my win."

Check out what he had to say below:

At ONE Fight Night 38, Baatarkhuu bucked early trouble against Andrade. He stayed the course and steadily willed his way in, making strides as the contest progressed.

In the fourth round, he found the opening he was looking for to go for a finish. He pushed 'Wonder Boy' to the corner of the ring and from there took him down to the canvas. Andrade tried to stand up but, in the process, exposed his back, which Baatarkhuu took advantage of, landing strikes before proceeding to take his opponent's back to execute a rear-naked choke, forcing the former champion to tap out moments later.

North American fans can catch the replay of all the action at ONE Fight Night 38 on demand via Amazon Prime Video.

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Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu says ONE Fight Night 38 win also a product of hard work

While he manifested the win over Fabricio Andrade at ONE Fight Night 38, Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu highlighted that it was also a result of the hard work he put in during training and fight night itself.

He shared it in the same interview with Nick Atkin, pointing out that he was fully aware of how huge the Andrade fight was for his career, and he made sure he came into the showdown at his best.

Baatarkhuu said:

"Not everybody can have this kind of a great opportunity to fight against the best in the world for the title. It was a great opportunity, so I pushed myself so hard and I did everything I could to get the win."

Apart from becoming the new ONE bantamweight MMA world champion, the win at ONE Fight Night 38 also earned him a $50,000 performance bonus from ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

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Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim