Three members of Team Lakay and Catalan Fighting System’s Rene Catalan are expected to see action during ONE: Reign of Kings to be held this Friday, July 27, 2018, 7:00PM, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Knockout artist Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon is set to take on two-division ONE World Champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen of Sidney, Australia while Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, Joshua “The Passion” Pacio and “D’Challenger” Catalan all take on dangerous unbeaten opponents.
Belingon, the top contender for the bantamweight championship, has somehow momentarily forget his match with Bibiano Fernades due to the latter’s injury and have to content facing Nguyen with result having serious implications.
It will be recalled that that Belingon got a nice big surprise moments before he obliterated Andrew Leone in his last fight in the form of having a standing offer of a rematch against reigning ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes that was all but guaranteed before that bout.
All Belingon had to do was wait for Fernandes to recover from injury for the bout to happen.
ONE, however, announced earlier in June that Fernandes is still unable to defend his title due to injury and that the Kiangan, Ifugao native will go up against Nguyen.
Nguyen is the ONE Featherweight & Lightweight World Champion and neither belts are at stake in this fight. The ONE Interim Bantamweight World Championship is instead what they will fight for.
Nguyen became the first-ever two-division titleholder in ONE Championship history, having knocked out both Marat Gafurov and Folayang. He is hoping to become the world’s first three-division mixed martial arts world champion when he goes for the Interim Bantamweight Championship.
Many Cordillera fight fans opined that this fight is putting Nguyen at a favorable situation and Belingon having to take majority of the risk but Belingon agreed in a Facebook post to the Herald Express’ stand that this fight is an opportunity for Belingon raise his stock up by showing he can take on all comers in a fair fight, regardless of what is at stake.
“The Silencer” made his professional cage debut in 2007, winning his first nine bouts while capturing a flyweight title.
After joining ONE Championship in 2012, Belingon put together a series of tremendous performances, including several highlight-reel finishes, to earn a shot at ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano Fernandes in early 2016.
Belingon failed to capture the title but has since been on a warpath back to world title contention, putting together a sensational five-win streak over former world title challengers and knocking three of them.
He is hoping to include Nguyen among his victims. Belingon carries n 18-5 record coming to the fight.
Folayang, the former ONE Lightweight World Champion, returns to action to take on Aziz Pahrudinov.
Pahrudinov is a NAGA Champion and an undefeated professional mixed martial artist who hails from Buynaksk, Russia. The 29-year-old represents the K-Dojo Warrior Tribe and is an exciting lightweight proponent that has now joined ONE Championship’s elite lightweight ranks.
He is an extremely high-level grappler and explosive striker who has built a reputation as a bonafide finisher, featuring close to a 95% finishing rate in competition, whether by submission or by knockout.
Pahrudinov is now looking to test his skills against the world’s best MMA artists on one of the biggest global stage of martial arts competition starting with Folayang.
Folayang is fresh from outpointing another formerly unbeaten Russian, Kharun Atlangeriev on May 18 at Singapore to make a successful return since going down by a brutal knockout against Nguyen late last year that cost him his lightweight crown.
Folayang is an alumni of the Philippine Wushu Team, winning 11 medals including three golds at the SEA Games to become a national hero.
Not long after his amateur martial arts career, the Team Lakay veteran took up mixed martial arts and became a professional athlete under the guidance of Filipino martial arts pioneer Mark Sangiao. Folayang captured a Filipino Welterweight Championship in his 2007 debut, and helped ONE Championship kick off its inaugural show in 2011.
Five years later, he took on then-lightweight titleholder Shinya Aoki, shocking the Japanese legend with a third round knockout to capture the title. Folayang’s childhood hero Manny Pacquiao called him “one of the legends of mixed martial arts in the Philippines,” elevating the Filipino to superstar status.
Former ONE Strawweight World Title challenger Pacio takes on surging Thai superstar Pongsiri Mitsatit.
Mitsatit, known as “The Smiling Assassin”, is a Chiang Mai Muay Thai Champion who hails from the North East of Thailand and was raised in humble surroundings, just like many of the Cordilleran fighters.
After repeated encounters with childhood bullying, Mitsatit decided to pick up Muay Thai to learn how to protect himself. Through his hard work and talent, he soon ran up an impressive 72-17 record, and even won a Muay Thai championship in the process.
Mitsatit then made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2014, and has since rapidly emerged as one of Thailand’s most exciting talents. At just 22 years of age, Mitsatit already holds a perfect 9-0 professional record, including TKO wins in ONE Championship. He is now training at the prestigious Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket.
Pacio MMA story, meanwhile, is just as impressive.
He was inspired to take up martial arts ever since he was 12 years old. After an undefeated amateur career, Pacio soon made his professional debut, where he went 6-0 before making it to the global stage of ONE Championship.
He is inspired by Folayang, whom he trains with every day at Team Lakay.
In 2016, he got his chance against reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito, falling just short of victory.
Pacio, however, did not let the setback stopped him from continuing to chase his dream of becoming a world champion and has put together three solid victories in his last four outings.
Lastly, Catalan is set to take on rising Indonesian martial arts star Stefer Rahardian.
Rahardian is the ONE Indonesia Flyweight Tournament Champion. He has been on a tear ever since he debuted on the global stage of ONE Championship and quickly became Indonesia’s foremost martial arts star with a perfect 8-0 professional record.
An elite BJJ specialist under the lineage of the legendary Carlson Gracie, Rahardian has claimed gold in various BJJ tournaments around the region. He has utilized his grappling wizardry to sterling success in the ONE cage, running up an impressive professional record with the majority of his victories coming by way of submission.
The glowing credentials of Rahardian, by no means, faze the Filipino multiple-time Wushu World Champion.
Catalan is one of the most decorated wushu artists ever to make the transition to mixed martial arts. Having won both the Wushu World Championship and Wushu World Cup two times each, Catalan is undoubtedly one of the very best in the world to have taken up the discipline.
He has also won gold medals for wushu at the Asian Games, SEA Games, and Asian Championships. Catalan inevitably joined ONE Championship in 2013, gaining valuable experience by taking on some top strawweight talents.
The veteran is currently riding an impressive four-bout win streak, two of which have ended in exciting finishes. He is coming into this bout with a 4-2 win-loss record with one no decision.
By: ARMANDO BOLISLIS
