Antonio Mammarella moved across the globe to pursue his passion for MMA, and now the leap of faith has landed him in the biggest fight of his young career. The 24-year-old is tasked with facing Hawaiian prodigy Adrian Lee at ONE 167: Tawanchai vs.
Nattawut II on Prime Video on June 7, where he will look to steal the show in his opponent’s highly anticipated professional debut at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.The MMA prospect admittedly had a great life and upbringing in rural Italy but made the move to Australia to further his fighting career.
“My parents worked really hard, and still continue to do so, to provide a great childhood for me and my brother and sister. They taught us proper education and principles,” he said.
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“My father works both as a car mechanic and farmer, and as long as I’ve been there, I have always helped him in the countryside. My mother is an excellent tailor, and I had the chance to help her as well.
“I moved because in Italy the MMA world is strongly growing, we have lots of great athletes, but it’s not easy to be a professional fighter, because you need to work a lot to cover the expenses.”
After starting his training at age 11, Mammarella moved to Sydney last year to train under respected coach Renato Subotic at the Family Fight Team.
Antonio Mammarella plans to spoil Adrian Lee’s debut at ONE 167
Australian-Italian MMA fighter Antonio Mammarella has big plans to spoil the ONE Championship debut of Adrian Lee and take all the hype that the 18-year-old has behind him. Mammarella signed a deal with ONE earlier this year and had no hesitation in getting straight to work against Lee.
“The chance was there, and we took it. I will show everyone the hard work I put in every single day,” he said.
“My goal right now is to take this win on June 7, I like to see things step by step, but obviously the goal is to reach the top of the mountain being the ONE Lightweight Champion.”
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Mammarella made his professional debut in December, where he scored a TKO victory and drew the attention of ONE.
Lee, for his part, comes from the famous fighting family that has produced former ONE Women’s Atomweight MMA World Champion Angela “Unstoppable” Lee, two-division MMA king Christian Lee, and late ONE star Victoria Lee.