MANILA, Philippines — The last remaining Filipino title-holder at ONE Championship is heavyweight Brandon Vera.
Filipinos Eduard Folayang and Kevin Belingon suffered painful defeats to Japanese Shinya Aoki and Braziian Bibiano Fernandes, respectively, and lost their respective belts in ONE: New Era at the Ryogou Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan Sunday night.
Aoki, a legendary submission artist, lived up to his reputation and choked out Folayang at the 2:34-minute mark of the first round to reclaim the lightweight title the former lost to the latter following a third-round TKO (knees and punches) in ONE: Defending Honor in Sentosa, Singapore two years ago.
It came moments after Belingon, another Team Lakay standout, lost his bantamweight crown to Fernandes after being disqualified for landing some illegal strikes in the third round of what could be their third and final showdown.
Folayang and Belingon thus joined countrymen Geje Eustaquio and Joshua Pacio as former ONE champions who lost their belts this year.
Eustaquio ceded his flyweight title to Brazilian Adriano Moraes in ONE: Hero’s Ascent on Jan. 26 at the MOA Arena in Pasay City while Pacio lost his strawweight belt to Japanese Yosuke Sarutain in ONE: Eternal Glory in Jakarta, Japan the week before.
With all four of Folayang, Belingon, Eustaquio and Pacio gone in the ONE’s list of champions, it will be up to Vera to carry the fight for the Filipinos, being the current heavyweight king.
Phl bet Danny Kingad eased some of the pain from the heartbreaking defeats by Folayang and Belingon by besting Japan’s Senzo Ikeda via unanimous decision to qualify for the semifinals of the flyweight World Grand Prix.
Myanmar’s Aung La N Sang kept his middleweight title by knocking out Japan’s Ken Hasegawa in the second round while Angela Lee lost her women’s strawweight crown to China’s Xiong Jing Nan via a fifth-round TKO.