By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
BAGUIO-based Team Lakay finished what was a crazy 2019 for the team in ONE Championship with a solid performance at “ONE: Masters of Fate” on Nov. 8 at the Mall of Asia Arena, the promotion’s last live event in the country for the year.
Paraded three of its top stars in ONE’s most recent Manila event, Team Lakay went 3-of-3, which it said in the post-event press conference was a welcome sea change following the tough results it had to endure of late in Asia’s largest sports media property.
Winners last Friday were reigning ONE world strawweight champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio, Eduard “Landslide” Folayang and Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio.
Mr. Pacio successfully defended his title over compatriot Rene “D’Challenger” Catalan to improve his record to 15 wins with only three losses.
The Team Lakay champion survived an early submission scare from Mr. Catalan to impose his will on the ground. In the second round, Mr. Pacio stuffed a takedown from his opponent and worked his way into a mount, before securing a masterful arm-triangle choke, leaving Mr. Catalan with no choice but to tap out.
Also fashioning out an impressive victory was Mr. Eustaquio, the former ONE world flyweight champion.
Mr. Eustaquio barged back into the win column with a thrilling knockout victory over Finland’s Toni “Dynamite” Tauru.
In the first round, it looked as if Mr. Tauru was going to pick up an early submission win, but Mr. Eustaquio survived getting his back taken and proceeded to turn the tide in his favor. After a rocky opening stanza, Mr. Eustaquio rallied back in the second round by using his superior striking to do heaps of damage.
The former flyweight king finished things off in the third round with a spinning back kick to the midsection that sent Mr. Tauru crashing to the mat for the highlight-reel stoppage win.
Former lightweight champion Folayang, for his part, won via unconventional manner — technical decision — after absorbing an unintentional headbutt from Mongolia’s Amarsanaa “Spear” Tsogookhuu that abruptly ended the contest in the second round.
The turn of events led to the officials going to the score cards, which went to the Filipino martial arts star.
The 3-0 outing was the first for Team Lakay in a while, leaving the whole team very happy and relieved.
“I cannot explain the feeling. I’m just very happy. We aimed to close 2019 on a high note and we needed to win these three fights to bounce back,” said Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao, whose team lost all four world titles it held at the start of 2019 in successive fashion early in the year.
Mr. Pacio though eventually regained his in April after defeating Yosuke Saruta in their title rematch.
Last month in Japan, former champions Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon and Honorio “The Rock” Banario both lost their respective fights.
Also falling short was Danny “The King” Kingad, who bowed to American Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in the flyweight grand prix final.
Considering the kind of year they have had, Mr. Sangiao said they will try to build on their recent victories, improving their game to have a far better year in 2020.
Meanwhile, despite missing out on the top prize with Mr. Catalan falling to Mr. Pacio, Catalan Fighting System did not go empty-handed at Masters of Fate, with Robin Catalan providing one of the highlights of the night with a knockout win over Cuban Gustavo Balart in their strawweight contest.
Robin was on point with his striking throughout the bout, and was able to hold his own against the high-level grappling of the Olympian wrestler Balart.
Late in the second round, Robin uncorked a well-timed right high kick that connected and took Mr. Balart out instantly.
