Representing Team Lakay, Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, 35, of Baguio City, Philippines is defending his ONE Lightweight World Championship belt after recently redeeming it in his home country. The most awaited rematch between him Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki, 35, of Shizuoka, Japan has been scheduled.
A former ONE Lightweight World Champion, Aoki will challenge Folayang at “ONE: New Era” at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on March 31, 2019. It will be the first ever ONE Championship event in Japan.
On November 11, 2016, Folayang captured the title from Aoki via a third-round technical knockout. They headlined “ONE: Defending Honor” at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore.
On April 21, 2017, Folayang successfully defended his title from Ev “E.T.” Ting, 29, of New Zealand and Malaysia. Their five-round match in the main event of “ONE: Kings of Destiny” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines ended in unanimous decision in favor of the Filipino defending champion.
At the same venue, Folayang faced Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen, 29, of Australia and Vietnam in the main event of “ONE: Legends of the World” on November 10, 2017. The Vietnamese-Australian challenger won via second-round knockout making himself the first ever two-division world champion of ONE Championship.
Without a single title defense, Nguyen vacated the ONE Lightweight World Championship title on September 28, 2018. He is still the reigning ONE Featherweight World Champion.
On November 23, 2018, Folayang reclaimed the ONE Lightweight World Championship belt with a dominant five-round unanimous decision over knockout artist Amir Khan, 24, of Singapore. They headlined “ONE: Conquest of Champions” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Meanwhile, Aoki is riding a three-bout win streak, having finished Rasul Yakhyaev, 27, of Grozny, Chechnya, Russia and Ting by submission and knocking out Shannon “One Shin” Wiratchai, 30, of Bangkok, Thailand. These three wins have elevated the Japanese icon to another shot at the ONE Lightweight World Championship and a chance to avenge himself against Folayang.
Here is Folayang and his fellow ONE Championship champions training out of Team Lakay:
Tickets for ONE: A NEW ERA go on sale December 20, 2018 at 6PM JST and is available on LINE Ticket at https://ticket.line.me/sp/ONEChampionship, Kyodo Tokyo, Ticket Pia, Lawson Ticket, and E-plus from January 27, 2019.
For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.
Categories: Asia, Japan, MMA, Philippines, Sports
CONAN Daily 