SEEING how one of their own made waves recently on the world mixed martial arts stage, Team Lakay fighters seeing action later this week in ONE Championship’s Manila event are coming out inspired and angling for success of their own on home soil.
Lightweight Honorio “The Rock” Banario, bantamweight Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio, flyweight Danny Kingad, featherweight Edward “The Ferocious” Kelly and women’s atomweight April Osenio are all competing at “ONE: Age of Domination” on Friday, Dec. 2, at the Mall of Asia Arena, with the inspiring title conquest of senior teammate Eduard “Landslide” Folayang very much in their minds.
Mr. Folayang, 32, is the newly minted ONE lightweight champion after dethroning longtime champion and legend Shinya Aoki of Japan by technical knockout early this month in their title fight in Singapore.
While he was considered an underdog against the erstwhile champion, Mr. Folayang (17-5) bucked the odds and took the title away convincingly.
The win made Mr. Folayang the fifth homegrown fighter to become world champion in MMA, joining Team Lakay teammates Crisanto Pitpitunge and Banario, the late Ale Cali and now-Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Jenel Lausa.
“It was such a joy to watch my friend and brother win the title. I am happy for him. It is an amazing feeling because I know I was able to help him achieve his goals. We always try to help each other in training, and we have improved a lot together,” said Mr. Banario, the former ONE featherweight champion, who is set to face Rajinder Singh Meena.
Mr. Banario (10-6) is on a two-fight winning streak after losing five straight previously.
“I was watching the fight online. The moment that we observed Aoki’s spirit was subdued, we screamed at the referee to stop the fight. Then when he stopped the fight, it was all crazy from there,” said Mr. Eustaquio (8-4), for his part, as he recalled the moment when Mr. Folayang won over Mr. Aoki.
“Everybody was jumping. It was so hard to contain our happiness at that time. We all went to bed past two in the morning, celebrating. We just couldn’t contain ourselves. We know Eduard deserves that title. He has been in ONE Championship since the beginning until now. He really deserves that belt. It’s the best feeling in the world, when you reap what you sow. Now is the time for him. It’s harvest period,” he added.
Mr. Eustaquio, who has won back-to-back, is to face Toni “Dynamite” Tauru (10-4-1) of Finland on Friday.
For Ms. Osenio (2-1), who is coming off an impressive win over Malaysia’s Ann Osman, Mr. Folayang’s victory only inspired her more to continue developing her game.
“The next day, I felt so inspired. I trained three times the next day. I had so much energy,” said Ms. Osenio, who is set to clash with the undefeated Jenny Huang (4-0) of Taiwan.
Also inspired by Mr. Folayang’s victory and out to get wins are Messrs. Kingad (3-0) and Kelly (8-3), who are to face Filipino Eugene Tuquero and Su Noto of Indonesia, respectively.
ONE: Age of Domination is to be headlined by the title fights between heavyweight champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera (14-7) and Japanese challenger Hideki Sekine (7-0), and bantamweight champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes (19-3) and Filipino-Australian challenger Reece “Lightning” McLaren (9-3).