By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Gina Iniong, one of the fighters under the famous Team Lakay, chose to put her MMA career on hold and focus on her family as she is expecting her first child.
After taking a huge leap in ONE FC’s atomweight division, jumping to fifth place in the recent rankings, Iniong decided to sit for the rest of the year and return whenever the timing would be right.
Team Lakay’s head coach, Mark Sangiao, said that Iniong already consulted with him her plan and initially decided to retire but his coach said that her performance in the ring is far from that of a retiring athlete.
“She thought about retirement, but I told her, don’t think about it yet. I told her to focus on her pregnancy, and then maybe she can make decisions after if she really wants to stop,” Sangiao said.
With Iniong on top of her game, Sangiao said that now is the perfect time for her to take a shot for the atomweight belt and an early retirement could pull her away from their ultimate dream.
Last December 30, Iniong inked her name as one of the country’s most exciting MMA fighters as she nabbed the gold medal during the Southeast Asian Games for kickboxing.
“I told her that it is hard to decide right now. I’ve seen a lot of people retire then come out of retirement. It’s best for her to just focus on her well-being and pregnancy, and then worry about the next steps in her career later,” added Sangiao.
