Folayang, Belingon head Phl bid in One Fighting

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino warriors Eduard Folayang and Kevin Belingon exude confidence as they gear up for the biggest fights of their MMA careers in the “ONE Fighting Championship: Pride of a Nation” on Aug. 31 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Folayang, the URCC welterweight champion and multi-medalist in wushu in the Worlds and Asian and Southeast Asian Games, battles CFC Europe titlist Felipe Enomoto of Japan while Belingon, the URCC flyweight king, collides with RisingOn titlist Soo Chul Kim of Korea to headline the local bid in what’s billed as “Asia’s largest MMA event.”

“I’m more than ready for this fight,” Folayang said the other day in a mini presscon drumming up the event that will feature a host of international MMA superstars.

DREAM champion Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil and CFC ruler Gustavo Falciroli of Australia face off in a slambang bantamweight clash while Andre “The Pit Bull” Arlovski and Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia renew their rivalry in a battle of heavies. 

Also up are top-notch duels between Rolles Gracie and Tony Bonello, Igor Gracie and Jung Hwan Cha, Gregor Gracie and Nicholas Mann, Phil Baroni and Rodrigo Ribeiro, and Mitch Chilson and Shannon Wiratchai.

Three other Filipinos will climb the ring with Eric Kelly colliding with American UFC veteran Jens Pulver in a featherweight showdown, and Andre Benibe squaring off with Honorio Banario.

“This is the best fight card we’ve ever put together,” said ONE FC CEO and owner Victor Cui, a Fil-Canadian based in Singapore. “We’ve made sure that when we come to Manila, where there’s a high fan base, we’ll have fights that will blow people away.”

An accomplished fighter who brings aggression to the ring and has the stamina to keep coming at opponents for the whole three rounds, the Baguio-based Folayang has been training hard, priming up for an action-packed battle with Enomoto.

“He’s good. In fact, he’s beaten the Fil-Danish fighter (Ole Laursen) who defeated me via controversial split decision in the previous ONE FC event in Singapore,” said Folayang of Enomoto, described as “one of the toughest and most durable fighters in Asia who always leaves it all in the cage.”

“I’m hungry to win, especially coming off that loss to Laursen and I’m more motivated by the fact that this will be the biggest MMA event in Asia and it will be held on our home ground with an expected crowd 16,500,” added Folayang, 28.

Like Folayang, Enomoto will be looking to bounce back after a setback in the Singapore card last March. After his win over Laursen, Enomoto lost to Brazilian Zorobabel Moreira via submission, and a victory over the Pinoy warrior will further boost his stock.

“I’ll give it my 100 percent as I don’t want to disappoint my countrymen,” said Folayang, refusing to make a prediction on how the fight will end. “All I can say is this will be the fight of the night - exciting, action-packed.”

Fellow Team Lakay stalwart Belingon, known for being “powerful in his striking, swift in his submissions and driven with superb conditioning,” was more pronounced in talking about his chances against Kim, best remembered for submitting DEEP and Shooto veteran Yasuhiro Kanayama in his MMA debut in 2010.

“I think I can beat him. I have the advantage in skills and I feel I’m stronger than him,” said Belingon.

The 24-year-old Belingon lost to Japanese Masakazu Imanari in his ONE FC debut last March in Singapore and is eager to redeem himself.

“That made me more determined to bounce back,” he said.