VETERAN Eduard “Landslide” Folayang’s mixed martial arts journey continues as he makes his return to the ONE Championship Circle at “ONE: Battleground II” on Friday in Singapore.
Mr. Folayang, 36, will take on Chinese Zhang Lipeng in the headlining fight of the event where he hopes to end a skid that has seen him lose three straight fights.
While he admits that the losing streak is concerning, he still feels that he is not done in the sport and is more determined to keep going.
“What keeps me going is that I believe I haven’t reached my destination yet. I’m still in the journey, so there is a lot of potential that I need to unleash,” said the former two-time ONE world lightweight champion in a recent virtual media day for Battleground II.
“I think, for me, [one of the things I learned during this skid is] perseverance. I need to persevere so that I can be able to hit that break [to the skid] and eventually to continue to go,” he added.
The most recent of his defeats came at the hands of long-time rival Shinya Aoki of Japan in April this year where he lost in the opening round by arm bar.
It was the de facto rubber match in the trilogy between the two accomplished fighters, with Mr. Aoki taking the lead, 2-1.
Heading into his latest fight, Team Lakay’s Folayang (22-11) said he is expecting a solid challenge from Mr. Zhang, 31, who is making his ONE debut.
“He (Zhang) is a fighter. He is also a warrior because, you know, few people can have that kind of record, 30-11, I think? So he has been in the sport for a long time also, and I’m excited to face the same veteran with the same fighting style so let’s see how it will go,” said the Filipino bet of Mr. Zhang (30-11-2).
In the lead-up, Mr. Folayang shared they gave much focus to his ground game and wrestling as they expect the fight to go in that direction.
“In our training camp, I focused more on my wrestling. I need to do well in my wrestling and my ground because I know it will be the area where they want to put me again. So as much as possible, I want to be better prepared,” he said.
He declined to make a prediction on the fight and would rather take on the challenge as it is and let the chips fall where they may.
“This is mixed martial arts so sometimes it’s very unpredictable. Sometimes, the fight goes on to a finish, either by knockout or submission, but, you know, for me, in any way that I can be able to get the win, of course, legally, then I will go for it,” he said.
Apart from the Folayang-Zhang clash, also on tap at Battleground II is the collision between former ONE strawweight champion Alex Silva of Brazil and Miao Li Tao of China and the heavyweight battle of Thomas Narmo of Norway and Alain Ngalani of Hong Kong.
“ONE: Battleground II” can be seen live over ONE Sports at 9 p.m. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
