Folayang unfazed despite another ONE Championship loss

MANILA, Philippines – Eduard “Landslide” Folayang looked on track of another title run, but unfortunately failed to walk past a giant standing his way.

The Filipino MMA icon got slapped with a split decision loss against his last-minute opponent Pieter “The Archangel” Buist in the ONE Championship: Fire and Fury on Friday, January 31 at Mall of Asia Arena.

“I’m disappointed,” Folayang said. “I think my adjustment, my calculation is not that good.”

“His reach advantage and his height advantage [allowed him to] to adjust in that short period of time,” he added. “But I know I was able to give my best and push [boundaries].”

Both fighters figured in a back-and forth duel in the first two rounds as Folayang managed to impose his striking and neutralize his foe’s height advantage.

But after his failed spinning back fist, Folayang caught a solid kick to his face from Buist in the 3rd round that momentarily put the Filipino veteran to his dreams.

“Doon ko narealize na talagang matangkad pala siya,” Folayang jokingly said.

(That’s when I realized that Buist is really tall.)

The former lightweight champion, although unsure what awaits his career, will go back to the drawing board and determine what went wrong.

“Ang kagandahan noon nasa split [decision] naman, so it means hindi malayo,” said the 35-year-old fighter.

“Nasa atin na lang siguro kung ‘yung puso natin o susuko, pero sa tingin ko hindi tayo susuko.”

(The good thing is that it’s a split decision, so it means that the fight was close. It depends on me if I’ll follow my heart or just give up. But I’ll never give up.) – Rappler.com