ONE Championship pioneer Eduard Folayang ‘happy to still be here’ 10 years after headlining Asian promotion’s first event
- The 37-year-old Filpiino is set to meet ‘legend’ John Wayne Parr in a Muay Thai bout at 10th anniversary showcase ONE X on March 26
- ‘When I headlined the first ONE Championship I envisioned this promotion would go this far – but I never expected in this way,’ he says
In the late summer of 2011, Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang left his Baguio home in the Philippines and boarded a flight to Singapore to compete for a brand new mixed martial arts promotion called ONE Fighting Championship. The Filipino lightweight, then 27 years old, was slated to headline the promotion’s first show opposite South Korea’s Kwon A-sol.
After three rounds under the unfamiliar lights of the Singapore Indoor Stadium, Folayang was announced as the winner by unanimous decision.
Ten years, 22 fights and dozens of international flights later, the 37-year-old is still competing for that promotion, which has since rebranded as ONE Championship, and is now the biggest MMA promotion in Asia.
“I’m excited to be part of a decade of fights for ONE Championship,” Folayang, who has more fights in the organisation than any other athlete, told the Post on Wednesday. “I’m happy I am able to still be here, still healthy, still competing. It’s a very rare opportunity spend a decade in the same promotion.”
Folayang has accomplished a lot since he first visited Singapore to fight for ONE, twice winning the promotion’s lightweight title and battling legends like Shinya Aoki, Eddie Alvarez and Martin Nguyen.
ONE has also changed in that time, notably adding Muay Thai and kick-boxing bouts to its menu through the creation of ONE Super Series.
“When I headlined the first ONE Championship I already envisioned this promotion would go this far – but I never expected in this way,” Folayang said. “They’ve been able to do the Super Series, and it really made a huge difference in the martial arts community.