The stars of Team Lakay have their hands full as Eduard Folayang, Lito Adiwang and Stephen Loman draw high-profile opponents in returning to action for ONE Championship this month of April.
First to hit the Circle will be the rising phenom who is up against a daunting opponent, at least on paper.
“The Thunder Kid” will face American Jarred Brooks at “ONE on TNT II” scheduled on Wednesday, April 14 where Christian Lee defends his ONE Lightweight World Championship against Timofey Nastyukhin.
Brooks, also known as “The Monkey God”, owns a stellar 16 win – 2 loss – 1 no contest professional fight record. Six of his wins come via submissions while two came by knockouts.
He appeared under the UFC banner in 2017-2018, compiling a 2-2 record. He won his only fight under Bellator MMA on December, 2019.
Adiwang, who himself own an equally impressive 12-3 record with a startling 92 percent finishing rate, last performed at ONE: UNBREAKABLE in January, where he knocked out Team Alpha Male’s Namiki Kawahara..
If their records are to be the guide, this fight is going to be explosive with a high probability of ending before the final bell sounds.
Also appearing in the card are Martin Nguyen and Kim Jae Woong for a featherweight mixed martial arts bout and Janet Todd and Anne Line Hogstad, who will square off in a Muay Thai atomweight bout.
On deck is Loman who gets to see action a week later.
“The Sniper” gets to be tested right away, drawingtop-ranked bantamweight contender and former UFC veteran John “Hands of Stone” Lineker of Brazil in his ONE debut fight.
The face-off will happen in the main event of “ONE on TNT III,” the third of a four-part event series scheduled for broadcast on Wednesday, April 21 (Thursday, April 22 PH time).
Lineker owns a 33-9 career fight record, 15 of his wins are by kncokouts and 4 by submissions. He is a veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, compiling 12-4 record in 16 fights. He is 2-0 under the ONE banner, his last coming against Team lakay’s Kevin Belingon via a knock out.
He has yet to loss by knockout in his career, although he has tapped out already three times.
Loman is the former undisputed bantamweight champion of BRAVE Combat Federation. He was undefeated in six bouts with BRAVE since 2016 and accumulated a 14-2 career fight record before departing for ONE.
He last cage appearance came last November 2019 when he successfully defended his BRAVE title against Ilias Sanoudakis.
Fil-Australian Reece McLaren also appears in the card, taking on Japan’s Yuya Wakamatsu.
Finally, Folayang completes Team Lakay’s appearance at ONE on TNT by taking on Yoshihiro Akiyama, a Korean-Japanese superstar also known as “Sexyama” at “ONE on TNT IV” scheduled for Wednesday 28 April (Thursday, 29 April PH time)
Akiyama has 15 wins in 24 matches with 2 no contest. He has an impressive finishing rate, stopping six of his opponents by knockout and seven by submission.
He is also a veteran of the UFC, participating in seven bouts while with fighting in the promotion for a period spanning seven years. He, however, has a paltry 2-5 record, including losing four in a row. He is just 1-1 while fighting under the ONE banner.
ONE on TNT IV features the best lightweights of ONE.
Another Japanese legend, Shinya Aoki, takes on Sage Northcutt of the United States and Pieter Buist tries to rebound against American Lowen Tynanes.
All matches will take place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
“ONE on TNT IV” is the fourth installment of “ONE on TNT” event series, which is broadcast to American audiences on US prime time via B/R Live and TNT.
By Armando M. Bolislis
