When 2018 ended, the Philippines had five reigning ONE Championship champions: Brandon Vera (heavyweight), Eduard Folayang (lightweight), Kevin Belingon (bantamweight), Geje Eustaquio (flyweight) and Joshua Pacio (strawweight). Except Vera, they were all Team Lakay fighters.
Based in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines, Team Lakay was founded by Mark Sangiao, who himself is a former mixed martial arts champion. Honorio Banario was a member of the team when he made history on December 6, 2013 as the first ever homegrown Filipino MMA world champion.
Fast forward to present. Vera has retired. Eustaquio is still with Team Lakay. Folayang, Belingon, Pacio and Banario are no longer with the team. Only Pacio is a reigning champion.
It has been 1 year and 3 months since the last time Eustaquio fought in ONE Championship. His fans can expect him to fight again five to six months from now.
“I am anticipating a July or August fight,” Eustaquio told me. “No final for now.”
After leaving Team Lakay, Folayang, Belingon, Pacio and Banario started a new team called Lions Nation MMA. Among their teammates are their fellow ONE Championship athletes Edward Kelly, Danny Kingad, Jeremy Pacatiw and Jenelyn Olsim, who are all former Team Lakay members.
On June 24, 2023, Folayang officially opened the Landslide Martial Arts Training Center in La Trinidad, which is Lions Nation MMA’s base of operations. As a Lions Nation MMA fighter, Pacio reclaimed the strawweight title on March 1, 2024 in the first ever ONE Championship event held in Qatar.
Sangiao took to social media to congratulate Pacio, which appears to contradict the speculations that Team Lakay and Lions Nation MMA are not on good terms. I asked Eustaquio, “How are you personally affected by these claims that there’s bad blood between the two teams?”
“Affected? No,” Eustaquio replied. He went on to imply that he and his fellow Team Lakay fighters, past and present, have nothing but positive words to say about the team.
“Team Lakay has been there for 19 years and nobody is complaining,” Eustaquio declared. “Each of our lives improved I guess.”
Eustaquio also assured his fans that there is no feud between him and the Lions Nation MMA fighters. The former ONE Flyweight World Champion said, “I am ok with them.”
“We are grown ups for hatred siguro (I guess),” Eustaquio continued. “I believe I can go and cross-train in their gym if I want to. I am also communicating with them up to this time.”
CONAN Daily 