Eduard Folayang successfully defended his ONE Lightweight World Championship to led four other stablemates in giving Team Lakay a sweep of their matches during the ONE: Kings of Destiny held last night, April 21, 2017 at the Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City.
Team Lakay mainstays Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon, Honorio “The Rock” Banario, Danny “The King” Kingad, and Gina “Conviction” Iniong also waylay their respective opponents as Team Lakay brought the broom with them to Metro Manila.
The Landslide retained his ONE Lightweight World Championship with a masterful display of striking prowess to defeat top Malaysian lightweight Ev “E.T.” Ting in the card’s main event.
Operating behind his world-class wushu stance, Folayang dazzled the crowd with his trademark strikes variety of kicks, knee attacks and lightning quick and powerful spinning punches, pouncing on Ting with side kicks and back fists.
Folayang masterfully came prepared for this bout, opting to control the action from the outside with the intent to counter, even allowing Ting to come forward with his attacks which were few and far between.
In the end, all three judges agreed on Folayang winning a unanimous decision to remain champion after five thrilling rounds of intense action.
Eight-division boxing champion and current senator Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao handed Folayang his award.
“I would like to thank Ev Ting, he really came prepared for this fight. We came to give the fans a good fight, and that’s what we have done,” said Folayang. “This is the essence of martial arts, five rounds to show how much we’ve prepared for a long time. [This fight] means a lot. A lot of you [fans] were discouraged the last time I was here, I slept on that mat. I rose up from my circumstances. I needed to train a lot to improve a lot. This is it on my shoulder. Thank you for your support”, said Folayang.
In the co-main event of the evening, Team Lakay top bantamweight Belingon swarmed Finnish kickboxing sensation Toni “Dynamite” Tauru with a relentless barrage of attacks to earn a scintillating striking victory.
Tauru, the taller fighter by over 10cm, used his length to keep Belingon at bay but it was only a matter of time before the Filipino would come looking for the stoppage. While Tauru tried his best to keep the distance, Belingon launched a furious offensive to close the gap, pounding Tauru with thunderous lefts and rights.
In the end, Tauru had no choice but to bow out of the contest, ending the match by a verbal tapout at 2:27 minutes of the first round.
Banario, the Former ONE Featherweight World Champion, continued his resurgence as a lightweight contender with another spectacular performance. He stopped newcomer Jaroslav Jartim with a monstrous left hook at the 1:31 minutes of round 2, marching to victory once more.
After spending the first round on the mat with Jartim in technical grappling exchanges, Banario showcased his incredible power in the second round. Catching a kick to the body, Banario uncorked a devastating left hand counter that knocked Jartim out cold, effectively ending the bout in an instant.
Team Lakay top flyweight prospect Danny “The King” Kingad out-muscled Malaysian opponent Muhammad Aiman to win by unanimous decision after three fierce back-and-forth rounds.
Kingad enjoyed most of the fight with successful takedowns of his Malaysian foe. He punished Aiman with elbows and knees from dominant positions with an astounding display of gargantuan strength.
In the third round, Aiman caught Kingad in a triangle but the Filipino powered himself out of it and earned the judges’ nod.
Team Lakay lady striker Gina “Conviction” Iniong made her successful ONE Championship debut, besting Filipino-English fighter Natalie “The Kilapino” Gonzales Hills by unanimous decision with a solid display of striking superiority.
Looking to play the role of counterpuncher, Iniong laid back and allowed Hills to press most of the action. Iniong dominated in the clinch with knees to the lower body and scored on a handful of takedowns.
She then found a home for her powerful right hand which landed with great accuracy throughout the fight. After three rounds, judges saw the bout in favor of Iniong.
In an entertaining flyweight contest, Indonesian standout Stefer Rahardian dominated unorthodox Filipino striker Eugene Toquero with his effective chain wrestling skills, winning by unanimous decision after three rounds of action.
For the majority of the bout, Rahardian took Toquero down seemingly at will, and the Filipino spent most of the fight defending off his back. In the third round, Toquero made things interesting by landing a couple of telling blows but it was not enough to offset Rahardian’s superior ground control.
Filipino strawweight fighters Robin Catalan and Jeremy Miado kicked off the night with wild striking and wrestling exchanges to get the crowd ready for an exciting night of fights.
After three gruelling rounds, Catalan emerged victorious by split decision, impressing with a series of emphatic slams while controlling the action on the mat.
Other results of the card are:
Christian Lee defeats Wan Jian Ping by TKO (Strikes) at 4:50 minutes of round 1 in a Featherweight bout.
Xie Bin defeats Chan Rothana by Submission (D’Arce Choke) at 1:46 minutes of round 2 of a bantamweight bout.
Michelle Nicolini defeats Irina Mazepa by Submission (Armbar) at 2:11 minutes of round 1 of a Women’s Catchweight bout (57.8kg).
Robin Catalan defeats Jeremy Miado by Split Decision (SD) after 3 rounds Strawweight bout.
By: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
