Give And Go
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
The year 2018 was a stellar one for Baguio’s Team Lakay that saw four of its stalwarts being crowned as champions in ONE Championship.
Flyweight Geje Eustaquio, strawweight Joshua Pacio, bantamweight Kevin Belingon and lightweight Eduard Folayang made last year a stretch to remember for their team as they ascended to the top of their respective divisions, with prospects of further soaring high.
This year though it has been a rough one for the popular mixed martial arts team as barely four months into 2019, said world titles are already out of its hands.
First to see his title go was Pacio, who lost by a narrow split decision to Japanese Yosuke Saruta on Jan. 19 in Jakarta. Then a week later it was Eustaquio who fell, losing to Adriano Moraes of Brazil by unanimous decision.
And just last Sunday in Japan, Belingon and Folayang followed suit, losing their titles by way of disqualification over illegal blows and technical knockout against Brazilian Bibiano Fernandes and Japanese Shinya Aoki, respectively.
While it saw its championships be taken away from them, one cannot go to Team Lakay and say it did not try hard to keep them.
Having a chance to track their performances this year, the Team Lakay champions competed against their challengers.
The Pacio and Eustaquio fight could have easily gone their way while Belingon just had it unfortunate to have been given a red card and thus the disqualification loss.
Folayang’s is a bit tricky as he never really got a chance to show what he was capable of, with Aoki going for the quick finish. But looking at how he trained and physically built himself up for the fight, he could have stand toe-to-toe with the Japanese legend had the fight did not go the route it did.
Sans a title right now in ONE, it is surely a not-so-familiar sight considering the year 2018 Team Lakay had.
It is by no means the end for it though, because if there is any team that could rise anew from such adversities it is them.
Built on hard work and insatiable appetite to learn, I am sure Team Lakay would use this rough start to the year as motivation in once again rising to the top.
The road back may be thorny along the way. Then again there is really no easy way in the world of mixed martial arts, something Team Lakay is very aware of.
It may be down right now but I am not counting it out. The year is still early and who knows, it may regain the title it lost and even add to them.
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
