One FC chief eyes Team Lakay

IMPRESSED by Eduard Folayang’s performance in his One Fighting Championship debut, chief executive officer Victor Cui is eyeing more fighters for their upcoming events.

Fresh from a plane ride from Singapore and at least a six-hour drive from Manila, Cui traveled all the way to the Summer Capital to meet with members of Team Lakay for possible fight contracts in the future.

“These fighters are probably some of the best in the Asian region and we hope to bring in more Team Lakay fighters in the near future,” said Cui at the Team Lakay gym in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Folayang came in aggressive against Korean A Sol Kwon at the launch of Singapore’s One Fighting Championship: Champion vs Champion last September 3.

Fellow Filipino and another Baguio-based fighter Eric Kelly also saw success, choking out American Mitch Chilson in 3 minutes.

One Fighting Championship is Asia’s largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts (MMA) event. One FC features the best Asian fighters and the largest pan-Asian media broadcast.

MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world today.

In true Darwinian fashion, the sport of MMA allows for any martial arts style to compete against any martial arts style in the most free of artistic expressions for martial artists. MMA athletes utilize the best techniques from any and all martial arts in order to compete standing up or on the ground.

Coach Mark Sangiao is even delightful with his fighters getting the much-needed international exposure.

“We will be making arrangements and at the same time have partnership with One F,” quipped Sangiao, who also received training gears for Team Lakay from the One FC top honcho.

Cui added the partnership with Team Lakay will be one of their priorities within this year, as they eye more fights outside Singapore, which include Malaysia, Macau, and even in Manila.

Once the partnership will be formalized, however, Sangiao said Team Lakay will still be fighting in the Universal Reality Combat Challenge and in fact, will be included in the URCC 20 event to be staged in November this year.

Cui, at the same time, said the partnership is eyed to develop a career for mix martial arts fighter in the country in a long span of time.

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on October 04, 2011.