FILIPINO veteran mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Eduard “Landslide” Folayang fell to Japanese Shinya Aoki once again in their third ONE Championship encounter on Thursday in Singapore.
Mr. Folayang, 36, of Team Lakay was submitted by Mr. Aoki in the opening round by way of armbar in their battle of former lightweight champions in the final leg of the “ONE on TNT” series.
It was the second straight win for Mr. Aoki over Mr. Folayang, taking a 2-1 lead in their trilogy.
Also winning was middleweight champ “The Dutch Knight” Reinier De Ridder of the Netherlands, becoming a two-division world champion by beating erstwhile light heavyweight champion Aung La N Sang of Myanmar by unanimous decision in the headlining fight.
Mr. Aoki was dominant against his familiar foe right at the onset.
Mr. Folayang tried hard in the early goings to avoid going to the ground, the strong suit of the Japanese, but eventually succumbed to the pressure.
On the ground, the Japanese legend triangled the Filipino’s legs and then slid up to mount before firing solid elbows. Mr. Folayang scrambled to escape, but Mr. Aoki was unrelenting, hooking his opponent’s left arm and spinning off for an armbar. No sooner, the referee stepped in to stop the fight after Mr. Folayang tapped at the 4:20 mark.
The loss was the third straight for Mr. Folayang in ONE and dropped him to 11 losses in his pro career as opposed to 22 wins.
Mr. Aoki, for his part, won his fourth straight in the promotion and improved to 47-9 in his career.
Despite another tough loss, Mr. Folayang’s Team Lakay said it is not yet over for its stalwart in MMA, highlighting the defeat was a continuation of the fighter’s growth.
“Positively, not the end for Eduard Folayang,” the team wrote on its official Facebook page.
Adding, “The match was not the end for Eduard, but an experience. There’s still a vision for the future. We learn, we continue for another. There’s still a lot of competition for the face of Philippines’ MMA… He will rise back again soon!”
DOUBLE CHAMP
Meanwhile, Mr. De Ridder doubled up on Aung La, also seizing the latter’s light heavyweight title.
The two previously met in October last year where the Dutch fighter snatched the Myanmar star’s middleweight belt in the opening round by submission (rear-naked choke).
While their recent title fight lasted the whole of five rounds, it was the same story with Mr. De Ridder dominating the contest on the ground.
Aung La tried to make things happen in the last round, but his opponent was not to give in en route to the title-clinching victory.
After the fight, Mr. De Ridder made it known his desire to be a three-division ONE world champion, calling out Filipino-American heavyweight champ Brandon “The Truth” Vera.
Also victorious at “ONE on TNT IV” was Filipino-American Jackie Buntan, who defeated Belarusian Ekaterina Vandaryeva by majority decision in their muay thai fight.
Winning, too, were American Colbey Northcutt in a catchweight MMA fight with Australian Courtney Martin by submission (armbar) in the opening round; Italian Kirill Grishenko over Nigerian Oumar Kane by TKO in the second round; and South Korean Ok Rae Yoon over American legend Eddie Alvarez by unanimous decision.
The “ONE on TNT” series was a four-part offering of ONE Championship for the whole month of April where its fights were broadcast across various platforms in the United States on prime time. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo