Korean tapped to replace Folayang's foe

By Roderick Osis

EITHER they get injured inside the ring or while training.

This seems to be the fad for Team Lakay's opponents in their upcoming matches. The latest casualty is Ole Laursen, Eduard Folayang's supposed foe in the upcoming One Fighting Championship in Singapore on September 3.

Larry Fabian photo

But Laursen will no longer test the mettle of the country's best MMA fighter in Folayang after suffering a serious knee injury as Korean champion A Sol Kwon picked up the slack to compete against the Filipino champion.

Earlier, lightweight Honorio Banario's challenger, Angelito Manguray, a former champion himself also had an injury during training prior to their Universal Reality Combat Championship lightweight match recently.

But even with another opponent, Folayang's camp has picked up the phase of their training and in fact, has wrapped up their sparring sessions Thursday morning here in the Summer Capital as they move to Manila Sunday and arrive in Singapore by Monday morning.

"After we learned na iba na yung makakalaban nya, mas lalo pa naming pinagbutihan ang training ni Eduard," said Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao.

But Sangiao is a little bit worried of the condition of Folayang, who has now peaked at around 85 percent, almost a week before the fight.

"He's already reaching his peak slowly and that's my worry because he might peak before the fight," added Sangiao.

Sparring session for the URCC welterweight champion started two months ago, and Sangiao said they have lodged at least twice a week lasting for two six minuters.

It will be Folayang's first return to the ring after almost a year of absence in competitive fighting. He last saw action in Martial Combat in October of 2010 when he defeated Vuyisile Colossa in a grueling three round unanimous decision.

Although Folayang may be a bit rusty as he steps into the ring, he has been keeping his condition in check as he supervised the training of Banario who fought recently in Davao and retained his lightweight title.

"So far, ok naman yung condition ng katawan natin at susubukan nating manalo," said Folayang.

Although they are not also taking the Korean lightly who has an impressive record of 17 wins, nine of which came by knock out and six losses in his MMA career, Folayang's camp will try to set the tempo of the bout.

"Subukan namin kunin sa ground and pound pero kung hindi kaya we will be ready for any attack nung kalaban," added Sangiao.


Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on August 27, 2011.