ONE chairman open to more crossover fights
A GROUNDBREAKING event for ONE Championship was successfully held last Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena with Australian Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen becoming the company’s first-ever twodivision champion after knocking out Eduard “Landslide” Folayang of the Philippines in the second round of their crossover fight.
With his conquest of Mr. Folayang, Mr. Nguyen has added the lightweight title under his belt in addition to the featherweight world championship he already holds.
Seeing the interest the fight generated among fans and recognizing the potential of crossover fights to showcase the quality of fighters they have in their roster, ONE Chairman Chatri Sityodtong said these are something they are open to doing moving forward.
“Definitely it’s something we are open to doing. You pit the best with the best. World champion versus world champion,” he said to members of the media after their 11th event in the country.
“As we saw tonight, they showed tremendous skills but have great respect for one another. That’s martial arts in Asia and that’s what we are celebrating in ONE,” he added.
The ONE chairman went on to say that the company’s first-ever crossover fight produced a very deserving winner in Mr. Nguyen.
“Eduard was the slight favorite because he was the more diverse striker but Martin is a winner in his own right. He had a good strategy and he came in with that big right,” he said.
But he was quick to say that he is not counting out Mr. Folayang coming back stronger and better after the loss.
“I’m not counting Eduard coming back a better fighter after this. Yes he lost but he has proven himself capable of rising up to adversities. He has been a good champion and I expect him to be back doing what he does best,” Mr. Sityodtong said.
SECOND-ROUND KNOCKOUT
In winning his second world-division title, Mr. Nguyen, who won the featherweight belt just last August over erstwhile champion Marat Gafurov also by knockout, used his patented right hand to put the lights out on Mr. Folayang.
Following a very competitive first round where they exchanged strikes and counter- strikes the two champions picked up the level of intensity in the second round.
They traded huge blows early at the center of the cage. Moments later, Mr. Folayang went to his signature spinning back fist.
Unfortunately for Mr. Folayang his opponent was ready for it, countering with his signature right bomb that immediately sent the former down to the mat. For good measure, Mr. Nguyen followed it up with a couple of strikes before the referee stopped the fight at the 2:02 of round two to earn his second title.
“I timed it perfect with that right hand. It was meant to be a takedown but I threw the right hand out of instinct and landed it flush,” said Mr. Nguyen in the post-match press conference.
“Throughout this whole six weeks, the spinning back kicks and spinning back fist that come to my head, it was all up to me to adjust,” added Mr. Nguyen as he shared that he really studied Mr. Folayang’s game for their crossover fight.
With the win, Mr. Nguyen improved his record to 10-1 while Mr. Folayang dropped to 18-6.
Next for ONE Championship is “ONE: Immortal Pursuit” on Nov. 24 in Singapore that will feature the title fight between welterweight champion Ben “Funky” Askren and Shinya Aoki. —