The fight took place in Singapore as part of the ONE: NEXTGEN III event that comprised bouts in MMA, Muay Thai and Kickboxing. Despite both Lobo, 28, and Rodlek, 31, being Muay Thai fighters, their bout was fought under Kickboxing rules across three rounds.
Lobo, who trains at Revolution Gym in Phuket, told The Phuket News he went into the fight feeling strong after a good training camp in which he worked on his boxing, footwork and conditioning.
Despite COVID restrictions affecting his ability to train at the gym at times, Lobo’s discipline had him up at dawn everyday doing hill runs and hitting the bag as he prepared to be Rodlek’s 178th opponent, motivated by all those that believe in him, namely his family back in Brazil.
His dedication paid off as he produced an outstanding performance, winning each round with incredible timing, distance management and accuracy. He kept the Thai at bay with perfectly timed push-kicks and landed countless body shots.
“In the third round I felt Rodlek was tiring and getting frustrated so I picked up the pace and let my hands go,” Lobo told The Phuket News.
“He is very tough and has a lot of power so I had to maintain the distance. At one point I landed a heavy punch, which hurt my wrist, yet he didn’t flinch,” the Brazilian added.
After two impressive wins from two fights for the promotion, Lobo has his sights set on becoming either Muay Thai or Kickboxing champion in the ONE bantamweight division.
Starting out in boxing aged 14, Lobo switched to Muay Thai at 16 when he started to train at his cousin’s gym in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He spent much of his life living in the favelas before moving to Thailand in 2018 – his first trip abroad.
“In Brazil it wasn’t possible to live off fighting. I had to work two jobs to be able to move to Thailand to pursue a fighting career,” he said.
In his first year in the Kingdom, while based in Bangkok, he fought 18 times before moving to Phuket.
Following his recent triumph, the elusive Brazilian now returns to the island to continue on his path to becoming a world champion.