Under the Lights of the Casino Rooms in Rochester, ECMMA 12 gave us some explosive wars, one in particular was the 3 round war between Fightzone London’s Luca Ciobanu and Evolution Combat Academy’s Aftab Lalldin.
A fight which had everything you could have expected from a MMA rule-set.
I caught up with the victorious Luca Ciobanu shortly after, to grab some words on just what the night meant to him and his team.
Luca ‘The Italian Way’ Ciobanu (3-1-0) is an Italian amateur Mixed Martial Artist currently competing in the Flyweight division, representing Fightzone London. Luca has competed for Contenders, Fightstar Championship and made his debut for ECMMA in Rochester at ECMMA 12.
Congratulations on that incredible performance Luca, how are you feeling after your victory?
“I feel amazing, I was trying for the finish, I expected a win via KO or submission. But it felt good, because after 3 rounds, I felt like I could keep going.”
I saw your many attempts to finish, Aftab was a very resilient opponent. Withstanding your vast skill-set, submission attempts, wrestling, and many KO attempts.
“Yeah, I tried everything, it was a great MMA bout. I’m a striker so I tried my boxing skills out there, but it wasn’t good enough for the finish. I’m a natural Jiu-jitsu/wrestling, so i felt confident against him. I did what I do best which was wrestling, take-downs, trying for the ground and pound and submissions. He was a great opponent, a very tough fighter.”
I couldn’t agree more, what a fight.
Have you given any thought as to what’s next for you on your MMA journey?
“My goal is to become a professional fighter, so I’m going to stick to training hard and get back out there as soon as I can. There’s no job like fighting, I used to want to be a footballer growing up, but this is my true calling, I’ll fight until I can’t any more, it’s the best way to express myself.”
You seemed very different from the last time I saw you competing at Fightstar Championship 22.
“Yeah, that was a tough fight against a great practitioner Of Wrestling and Jiu-jitsu. I wasn’t myself that night, I was insecure and unconfident with myself, I didn’t believe in myself that night.”
I’m to see your confidence return mate, congratulations once again.
Thank you so much.
Before you go and celebrate with your team, is there anybody you’d like to give a shout-out to?
“Thanks of course to my team, they support me and have given me a lot. Before the pandemic, I came to London to change my life, and they have made me into a better person.”
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