WHAT was probably the biggest night in Team Lakay’s history turned out to be its roughest as well as it lost the two remaining world titles it held in ONE Championship.
In successive fashion at “ONE: A New Era” on Sunday in Tokyo, the promotion’s first event in Japan, Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon and Eduard “Landslide” Folayang lost the bantamweight and lightweight titles, respectively, in succession.
Mr. Belingon lost his by disqualification after being red-carded in the third round of his title fight against Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil over illegal blows to the back the head while Mr. Folayang succumbed to an arm-triangle early in the opening round against Shinya Aoki of Japan.
But while it was a rough one for Baguio-based Team Laky at ONE: A New Era, it did not go home empty-handed as flyweight Danny “The King” Kingad, the third team member who was part of the stacked Tokyo card, churned out an impressive performance against Japanese veteran like Senzo Ikeda to move on to the semifinals of the flyweight grand prix.
Mr. Kingad’s standout showing, one local fight analyst, was worthy to be highlighted for soothing what was a painful hit for Team Lakay.
“It’s very unfortunate that two of the three Filipino fighters failed to emerge triumphant in their respective fights in Tokyo last Sunday. But Danny Kingad was outstanding in his bout against Ikeda,” said analyst Nissi Icasiano when sought for his comments post-A New Era by BusinessWorld.
“He stood toe-to-toe with a mixed martial artist with a decent boxing background, and he mixed it up with his grappling prowess when it was deemed necessary to take control. He did have troubles in closing the fight because he let his opponent latch on a late submission. But overall, it was a solid all-around performance for the young Baguio City native,” he added.
With the unanimous decision win, Mr. Kingad set up a semifinal encounter in the flyweight grand prix with Kazakhstan’s Kairat Akhmetov, who beat Australian Reece McLaren in an earlier match by way of unanimous decision as well.
Mr. Icasiano went on to share that fans have not seen the last of Messrs. Folayang and Belingon as they should continue to figure in the mix in their respective divisions.
“It was heartbreaking to see Eduard Folayang succumb to a submission loss at the hands of Shinya Aoki. It was a vintage performance by Aoki. But I am expecting a trilogy bout between these two. This could happen later this year. It makes sense, especially that the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix is in the semifinal round,” he said.
“For Kevin Belingon’s fight, I was quite surprised that officials ruled it as a disqualification. It was unintentional, and it should have been a no contest. We cannot do anything about it. But I commend ONE for giving Kevin an automatic rematch,” Mr. Icasiano added.
Interestingly, Team Lakay may find itself with another ONE world title in its hands in a week’s time as former strawweight champion Joshua Pacio, who lost his belt in January, fights in a rematch with current champion Yosuke Saruta of Japan at “ONE: Roots of Honor” here Manila on April 12. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
