Gina Iniong

Training out of Team Lakay in Baguio City, Philippines, Gina “Conviction” Iniong, 29, will face Jihin “Shadow Cat” Radzuan, 20, of Johor Bahru, Malaysia at “ONE: Clash of Legends” at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand on February 16, 2019. The Filipino contender does not want to leave the bout in the hands of the judges following the recent losses of her two teammates.

Both training out of Team Lakay, Joshua “The Passion” Pacio, 23, and Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio recently lost via split decision and unanimous decision, respectively. Both results were controversial and highly debated in the mixed martial arts community.

On January 19, 2019, Pacio lost the ONE Strawweight World Championship title to Yosuke “Tobirazu” Saruta, 31, of Saitama, Japan at “ONE: Eternal Glory” at the Istora Senaya in Jakarta, Indonesia. On January 25, 2019, Eustaquio lost his ONE Flyweight World Championship title to Adriano “Mikinho” Moraes, 29, of Federal District, Brazil at “ONE: Hero’s Ascent” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Iniong will be the sixth Team Lakay fighter to compete in ONE Champion in 2019. She declared, “They can expect an aggressive and determined Gina Iniong.”

“Anything can happen in a fight,” Iniong added. “All I can say is I don’t want the fight to go to the judges’ scorecards.”

A six-time Philippine Wushu Champion, Iniong was regarded as one of the fastest rising stars in ONE Championship’s talent-rich atomweight division. But on July 7, 2018, she lost some momentum after succumbing to Istela Nunes, 26, of Parana, Brazil by way of unanimous decision at “ONE: Battle for the Heavens” at the Guangzhou Tianhe Gymnasium in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Despite the setback, Iniong has always kept her eyes on the prize in the hopes of one day becoming the first female MMA world champion to emerge from the Philippines. Reigning as ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion is Angela “Unstoppable” Lee, 22, of Singapore.

“I follow my coaches’ advice in every turn,” Iniong said. “We focused on my weaknesses in training and gave a lot of time on my ground game.”

Currently, Iniong holds a professional MMA record of 7 wins and 4 losses while Radzuan has 4 wins and 0 loss. Meanwhile, here is one of the Team Lakay fighter’s previous ONE Championship bouts: