Folayang ends Team Lakay’s title drought, becomes 5th homegrown MMA world champ

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino fighter Eduard Folayang broke the 3-year losing skid of Team Lakay in major mixed martial arts (MMA) title fights by pulling off an upset victory over highly-regarded submission prodigy Shinya Aoki. 

Team Lakay, which has been widely associated with the Philippine MMA scene due to the big number of notable homegrown talents that it has produced since its inception in 2003, struggled on a world championship stage on 7 different occasions. 

The 32-year-old Baguio City native ended the MMA group’s world title drought as he captured the ONE Championship lightweight belt by defeating Aoki in the main event of the organization’s “Defending Honor” card on Friday, November 11.

Folayang finished the job at the 0:44 mark of the third round with a solid knee to the temple and a barrage of heavy punches that coerced referee Yuji Shimada to step in and wave it off. 

Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao expressed his satisfaction with Folayang’s title-clinching performance. 

“I’m so happy for Eduard. He worked hard and sacrificed a lot for this moment. He truly deserves it. As a team, it’s a victory for everybody. Eduard won a world title. Meanwhile, Team Lakay finally won a title fight. Definitely, it’s a double celebration,” he told Rappler. 

Aside from handing Team Lakay its first championship victory since February 2013, Folayang became the fifth homegrown Filipino to win a world title in the sport, joining the likes of the late Ale Cali, teammates Crisanto Pitpitunge and Honorio Banario as well as newly-signed UFC fighter Jenel Lausa. 

Despite the championship conquest of Folayang against Aoki, Sangiao knows that the real work for his valued pupil is just starting as there are other lightweight contenders lurking to get a shot. 

“We’ll keep doing our job. We shouldn’t be complacent. We’ve already shown the world that we can produce a world champion, so it’s another challenge that we have to meet.  In order to surpass that challenge, we’ll just keep doing what we need to do,” he said. – Rappler.com