Stephen Loman gave the Philippines and Team Lakay a rousing start in ONE: X at the expense of Shoko Sato while Eduard Folayang sent John Wayne Parr into retirement stunned with dominant unanimous decision victories on March 26, 2022 at Singapore.
Loman secured a second straight win in ONE and boosted his chances of improving his No. 3 bantamweight ranking and as well as having a crack at the title held by John Lineker.
Loman was having a difficult time getting his range and timing his attacks in the early parts of the match but a double yellow card issued by the referee to both fighters got his adrenalin going.
While there were doubts on who won the striking battle despite Loman seemingly landing the crispier and clearer hits but a couple of takedowns clearly gave the Team Lakay rising bantamweight star a big edge in the grappling department.
In the end, all three judges gave their nod to the Cordilleran who improved his career record to 15-2.
On the other hand, a whole lot viewed Folayang to have made an impressive Muay Thai debut by outclassing Parr at his own game in three explosive rounds but the Cordilleran fans who followed his career knew that this dangerous and lethal striking demon can routinely record victories whenever performing at Team Lakay’s bread and butter arena.
“The Landslide” won the exchanges early in the match, connecting a variety of kicks and combinations to make his legendary opponent wary of pushing forward with his attacks.
A series of spinning backfists and kicks by Folayang highlighted the early parts of the second round until a right hand from the Filipino send the Australian kneeling to the mat for an eight count became the key action of the round.
Folayang then punctuated his best round by landing a spinning kick to Parr’s head.
Knowing he was down on the scorecards, Parr went all in in the third resulting to a slugfest and furious exchanges between the two legends until the final bell sounded.
Highlighting the round was Folayang connecting more of his spinning attacks while Parr sneaked in flying knee that momentarily stunned his rival and send the pro-Australian crowd cheering wildly.
Folayang, looking more gassed than his rival at completion of the bout, put screeching halt to his horrible slump, a four-bout losing skid and and six of the last seven.
This was his first win in ONE Super Series. He sports a 22-12 in mixed martial arts.
He also deprived Parr from winning 100th victory of his kickboxing and Muay Thai career. Parr will close his career with a 99-35-1 record, something not to be ashamed of.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Miado emerged victorious in his All-Filipino bout against Lito Adiwang and Denice Zamboanga failed to exact revenge her controversial loss against Ham Seo Hee.
Adiwang was forced to absorb a TKO loss to compatriot Jeremy Miado after he suffered a freak injury in the second round.
Adiwang appeared to have twisted his right knee or ankle without any contact at 2:56 mark of the second round.
The highlander fans are holding their breath and hoping Adiwang escapes being sidelined for a long time due to serious injury as he was seen to require assistance while exiting The Circle and the aid of a wheelchair when he headed to the dugout.
Adiwang was seemingly winning the fight by being aggressive as he always does. He appeared to got the better of the exchanges and the wrestling until in an unfortunate ending of the all-Filipino bout happened.
Adiwang’s record slipped to 13-5 and suffered his first back-to-back losses in the promotion. The recently reinstalled No. 5 contender of the strawweight division cannot seem to move up the ladder as he is now again in danger of being thrown out of the list for a third time.
Miado clearly had mixed emotions, being excited that he improved his record to 10-4 and extend his winning streak to three bouts. He, however, felt sad it came at the expense of an injured Filipino.
Lastly, Denice Zamboanga succumbed to nemesis Ham Seo Hee by unanimous decision in their ONE X atomweight bout at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The South Korean fighter improved her career record to 25-8 and will most likely be in line for a title shot against Angela Lee, who defended her title by submitting Stamp Fairtex in the main event.
Zamboanga, ranked No. 2 in the rankings before the contest, saw her record dip to 8-2.
By Armando M. Bolislis
