John “Zico” Dizon claimed that he was confident of winning the Mobile Legends Professional League Cambodia Autumn 2022 in his coaching debut with Burn X Flash.
Zico, the former coach of Nexplay EVOS, led Burn X Flash to a 3-1 over Logic Esports to win the championship earlier this month.
Together with two Filipino players in his roster Michael “MP the King” Endino and Jhonwin “Hesa” Vergara, Burn X Flash advanced to the grand finals with dominant wins over Team Max and See You Soon.
Zico’s team only lost three games in the Playoffs en route to winning the championship.
“MPL Cambodia is unlike MPL Philippines where everyone is strong. Here, truthfully, there are only a few that could match up with the top teams so something is lacking. Not to brag, but we expected to face Impunity in the finals but they got eliminated by Logic,” Zico said.
“When we learned that Impunity was eliminated it was like waiting for the awarding. That was the feeling because my basis was See You Soon and Impunity. Not to underestimate Logic but there was a huge gap in our experience.”
Zico made headlines when he decided to take his talent abroad after giving noticeable improvements to Nexplay EVOS in MPL Season 9.
While his move saddened the ever-hardcore Nexplay EVOS fanbase, Zico knew all along that transferring to another team would be the good of his career.
He, however, never imagined that it would only take him one try to become a champion in MPL Cambodia.
Much more, his win in MPL Cambodia Autumn 2022 qualified Burn X Flash to qualify for the M4 Mobile Legends World Championship in January 2023 in Jakarta, Indonesia, where teams would vie for their share of the $800,000 prize pool — or roughly P47.1 million.
“I am so happy, I cannot even talk. I am so speechless. I myself did not expect to win it that fast because I have only been in Cambodia for three months and one season with Burn X Flash,” Zico admitted.
“I am so speechless and it is hard for me to say anything to this day because it is yet to sink in that I am now a champion and there is now a title to my name.”