Pinoy pride will be all over town this Friday as homegrown MMA warriors from the Team Lakay Wushu as they headline ONE FC: Rise to Power at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Hometown mixed martial arts heroes Honorio Banario, Kevin Belingon, Geje Eustaquio, Rey Docyogen, and Eduard Folayang, all representing the Team Lakay Wushu, are all hoping to topple their opponents and take home the victory, not only for their mother team, but to send a message to the world that Pinoys have truly arrived on the mixed martial arts scene.
The main card will feature Team Lakay’s Honorio Banario defending his One FC Featherweight crown against former lightweight kingpin Koji Oishi. Banario will be fighting with added pressure on his shoulders as he tries to turn away a run of bad luck for Team Lakay’s fate. His comrades have met consecutive losses and he promises to deliver and turn Team Lakay’s ship around.
Oishi, on the other hand, who’s quite familiar to MMA fans because of his short stint at the UFC when he was still fighting for the welterweight division, considers Banario a legit threat and is wary of his reach. Yet, he believes he can outmaneuver Banario, hoping to evade his sizeable reach and nab the One FC Featherweight World Title Belt away from the Filipino.
Another favorite coming into the event is Edward Folayang who’s itching to avenge his loss at URCC 22: Dekada late last year. He will be facing a tough opponent in Kamal Shalorus. There are rumors that the winner will get a shot at the One FC lightweight crown against current champion Shinya Aoki.
Former URCC Pinweight champion Rey Docyogen will also try to bounce back as he suffered the first-ever loss of his MMA career at the hands of Shinichi Kojima earlier this year. In the said match, Docyogen was already dominating the Japanese when he made a lapse in judgment, giving Kojima the opening to execute a guillotine choke on him. Despite the loss, the match still impressed match makers that the Team Lakay warrior is not
just hype as he is pitted against Yasuhiro Urushitani.
Another Team Lakay Wushu hopeful is Kevin Belingon who’ll be facing Masakatsu Ueda. The latter is considered one of the top bantamweights on the MMA scene right now. And defeating a quality fighter like Belingon will only solidify that claim. However, Ueda is still aware that it won’t be a walk in the park and Belingon’s striking skills will play a huge role come fight night.
