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https://scmp.com/sport/mixed-martial-arts/article/3014190/one-championship-eddie-alvarez-warns-eduard-folayang-king Mixed Martial Arts
One Championship: Eddie Alvarez warns Eduard Folayang the ‘King’ isn’t dead as he rounds on critics
- ‘You didn’t kill a King, you p***** off an empire,’ Alvarez writes on Instagram
- ‘The Underground King’ says ‘see you all in Manila’ – but Eduard Folayang warns it’ll be East versus West
Eddie Alvarez walks out in Tokyo. He’ll be hoping for a better result in his second fight. Photos: One Championship
Eddie Alvarez has sent a defiant message to the critics who counted him out after his shock One Championship debut loss.
“The Underground King” picks himself up and goes again on August 2 in Manila – but he’ll be stepping into the lion’s den against Filipino Eduard “Landslide” Folayang.
A former lightweight champion in One, Folayang is the furthest thing from the walkover many expected Alvarez to be pitted againstfollowing that shock first-round KO by Timofey Nastyukhin in Tokyo back in March.
“Oh, you thought a loss would discourage me?” the former UFC star wrote on Instagram. “You see I am from a place where losing and failure was a common practice.
“My chances were very small to ever be called a winner. I learned to lose, fail, be told no, and was rejected way before I ever understood how to win.
“You didn’t kill a King, you p***** off an empire. I’ll see you all Aug 2 in Manila.”
A former UFC and Bellator lightweight champion, the 35-year-old Alvarez was looking to be the first fighter to win championships in all three organisations after signing to One late last year.
Things didn’t go to plan when he fell at the first hurdle or the lightweight grand prix at Ryogoku Sumo Hall, but a win against Folayang would put him right back in the title picture.
Folayang has plenty to prove, too, having lost in Tokyo, where he surrendered the lightweight title to Japan’s Shinya Aoki – who then dropped the belt to Christian Lee in Singapore.
Eduard Folayang walks out to face Shinya Aoki in Tokyo. He’s also looking to bounce back from a Tokyo loss.
“I expect to get another shot at the One lightweight world title if I win here, and that’s my goal,” Folayang told Filipino newspaper Tempo.
“This is a huge opportunity for me because knowing Eddie, he has an amazing resume,” Folayang added. “This is also a great chance for me to redeem myself because I did not exactly have a good outing the last time.
“This is one of the biggest fights of my career. It’s like East versus West knowing that he has made a name for himself out West and even here in Asia. I know this is a highly anticipated bout. This is very important because the stakes are really high. I’ve been in the sport for the longest time and it’s very rare to get an opportunity to face someone in that calibre.”