Folayang, Adiwang face UFC fighters
Eduard Folayang and Lito Adiwang, the latest Team Lakay warriors included in the ONE on TNT series, are set to clash with former UFC fighters at the Singapore Indoor Stadium next month.
Folayang hopes to return to the winning column when he faces seasoned Japanese-Korean fighter Yoshihiro Akiyama in their lightweight clash in ONE on TNT IV on April 29 while Adiwang hopes to continue his winning ways against ONE Championship debutant Jarred Brooks of the United States in ONE on TNT II on April 14.
Folayang, 36, last saw action in ONE Championship last October, suffering a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Aussie opponent Antonio Caruso in ONE: Inside the Matrix.
Since March 2019, victory remained elusive for the Team Lakay veteran, winning only one of his last five fights with the last victory coming against Mongolian Tsogookhuu Amarsanaa for an overall 22-10 record.
In that span, he lost to Shinya Aoki of Japan, Eddie Alvarez of the US, Pieter Buist of the Netherlands and Caruso.
Against Akiyama, who will scale down from the welterweight division, Folayang will be facing a 45-year-old UFC veteran who holds a 15-7 record.
Akiyama, a Japanese of Korean descent, had spent a four-year hiatus from mixed martial arts before jumping ship to ONE in 2019. He has a 1-1 card in the Singapore-based promotion, the latest coming from a first-round knockout victory over Egyptian Sherif Mohamed.
The 27-year-old Adiwang, for his part, is completely moving on from an unlikely rematch against Hiroba Minowa of Japan when he steps up in the Circle anew against Brooks.
The former No. 5 strawweight contender from Team Lakay, who last saw action in ONE: Unbreakable in January, scored a second-round knockout win against Japanese foe Namiki Kawahara to improve at 12-3 record, weeks after overcoming the death of his mother Leticia in late December.