SET to banner ONE Championship’s “Conquest of Champions” later this week here in Manila, reigning world heavyweight champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera and former lightweight champ Eduard “Landslide” Folayang are looking to defend home turf and give hometown fans much to celebrate about.
The main and co-main features of ONE Championship’s latest offering in the Philippines set to happen at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Nov. 23, Mr. Vera tries to defend his title against Italian challenger Mauro “The Hammer” Cerilli while Mr. Folayang attempts to reclaim the lightweight gold against Singaporean Amir Khan.
The two Filipino mixed martial arts stars said they are looking forward to returning to ONE action and are bent on emerging on top in front of local fans.
Mr. Vera (15-7) is making his ONE return after nearly two years of cage inactivity.
He last fought in December 2016 here where he successfully defended his belt against Japanese Hideki Sekine who he finished in the first round by way of technical knockout.
The Cerilli fight is the second title defense for the Filipino-American champion since he won the heavyweight title in December 2015 versus Paul Cheng of Chinese-Taipei.
While he has been out for an extensive period of time, Mr. Vera, who traces his Filipino roots to Quezon Province, underscores that it does not mean he is inactive in training.
“I’ve been away for a while, almost two years, but don’t think for a second that I haven’t been training and keeping sharp. I’m stronger, faster, smarter, and better now than ever before. My team has made sure that I will be at my best by the time I step back into the ONE Cage,” Mr. Vera said during the open workout for Conquest of Champions on Nov. 16 at Victoria Sports in Quezon City.
“This is home for me. I really missed this and I am excited to perform in front of you all … The belt is going to stay in the Philippines,” Mr. Vera added.
RETURN TO THE TOP
On the part of Mr. Folayang (20-6), a win over Mr. Khan will mark a successful comeback from his loss a little over a year ago at the hands of erstwhile two-division champion Martin Nguyen that saw him lose his lightweight title.
Since his loss to Mr. Nguyen, Team Lakay stalwart Folayang has won back-to-back fights in convincing fashion, defeating Russians Kharun Atlangeriev and Aziz Pahrudinov in that order.
He said he is very fortunate to be given another shot at making it back to the top and is looking to make full use of it.
“I am so happy for the opportunity to once again be fighting for the world title. As always, I feel motivated and encouraged to do my best. I want to prove to the world that I am not done yet in this sport, and that I can still be world champion,” Mr. Folayang said also at the open workout last week.
“Losing the title for the first time, it was a very painful feeling. But in defeat, I have discovered my weaknesses and made efforts to improve certain parts of my game. Now I am ready to showcase my championship form once again,” he added.
Seeing action as well at Conquest of Champions are lightweight Honorio Banario, strawweight Jeremy Miado and flyweight Rockie Bactol.
Meanwhile, Swede Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam is the new ONE world welterweight champion after defeating American Jeremy Tyler by knockout in the fifth round of their title clash at “ONE: Warrior’s Dream” in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Nov. 17. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
