ONE FC: Rise to Power may not have been Baguio-based Team Lakay’s best night with five fighters suffering losses, but the team is confident it will rise again.
Team founder and coach Mark Sangiao said on his Facebook account that failure and success are part of the fight game and that all the team can do is to move on. “We have done our best, but there are a lot of things to be learned. (We should) apply the lessons that we learned from these experiences,” he said.
Sangiao, who said in a Combat-Asia.com interview before the fight that Team Lakay’s fighters were underdogs, said the team will “rise to be stronger and do better next time.”
Honorio “The Rock” Banario, inaugural ONE FC featherweight champion, told reporters after the fight last Friday that he was not disappointed at losing the belt to Pancrase veteran Koji Oishi. “I knew I won the fight in the first round,” he said.
Banario dominated Oishi in the first round, flooring his opponent with a flurry of kicks and punches. Oishi knocked him out in Round Two, however, ending the fight and the hopes of Filipino fight fans that a Pinoy would win a match that night.
Banario said he would rest a bit before going back to training. He also said it may take some time for him to get another title shot. “That’s normal for a fighter,” he said.
Banario was the last Filipino fighter to get in the ring that night. He said knowing four of his teammates had already lost put pressure on him to do well. “I took that as a challenge for me to improve in the fight,” he said.
He said he did his best.
Despite the losses, Team Lakay put up a good fight. One highlight of the night was Rey “The Punisher” Docyogen rushing at his opponent Yasuhiro Urushitani from across the ring and leaping into the air with a kick that would have brought him down if it had connected.
Geje Eustaquio, who lost to Andrew Leone by unanimous decision early that night, thanked fight fans for the support.
“To all Igorots and Filipinos who once again cheer and proved what patriotism is. Thank you very much. We might not have been able to conquer the odds tonight, but on behalf of Team Lakay, I believe it was done for a greater purpose,” he said.
Also on the card from Team Lakay that night were Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, defeated by Kamal Shalorus by unanimous decision, and Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon who lost to Masakatsu Ueda also by unanimous decision.
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Photo: New ONE FC lightweight champion Koji Oishi
