ONE Championship marks its return to Manila with a mega-fightcard headlined by five Filipinos in “Dawn of Heroes” which will air LIVE on ABS-CBN S+A, S+A HD, iWant, and the ABS-CBN Sports Facebook page at 8:30 pm from the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Team Lakay warriors will take to the cage to lead the Manila event with Eduard “Landslide” Folayang at the forefront in the biggest fight of his MMA career against former world champion Eddie Alvarez in the lightweight world grand prix of ONE Championship.
Joining Folayang in the fight for Philippine pride is teammate Danny Kingad who will be figuring in the flyweight world grand prix against Fil-Australian submission star Reece McLaren. Other Lakay fighters trooping to the cage are former ONE flyweight champion Geje Eustaquio, erstwhile ONE featherweight king Honorio Banario, and Edward Kelly. They will be fighting Yuya Wakamatsu, Dae Sung Park, and Xie Bin respectively.
Apart from a stellar fight card, “Dawn of Heroes” will also go down in history as the first ONE event that will feature local commentary in a special telecast of the fight card on ABS-CBN Sunday’s Best on August 11. Set to take the cudgels from Mike Schiavello and Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson for the Filipino viewers will be ONE Championship heavyweight titlist Brandon Vera, veteran sports anchor Anton Roxas, and Theo Castillo.
ABS-CBN Sports head Dino Laurena said having the event on the Philippines’ number one channel with Filipino commentators only shows how far the sport of MMA has gone in the country.
“With the success of our local fighters in the international arena and our strong partnership with ONE, we are seeing more and more Filipinos taking notice of MMA. ABS-CBN strongly believes this is a sport that can showcase the Filipino’s pusong palaban and hopefully we get to inspire more Pinoys out there to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Eduard Folayang and Danny Kingad who have defied the odds to bring honor to the country,” he said.
Aside from the Filipino fighters, Pinoy MMA fans can also look forward to the ONE featherweight world title match main event featuring defending champ Martin “Situ-Asian” Nguyen against challenger Koyomi Matsushima. Former world champion Demetrious Johnson will also be fighting on Philippine soil for the first time opposite Tatsumitsu Wada in the other flyweight world grand-prix semifinal match.
Calling his first-ever ONE Championship card, Anton Roxas is as excited as every other Pinoy MMA fan. “We’re very honored to have been given the opportunity to serve the Filipino sports fan by presenting ONE Championship in our local dialect. It’s the first time in the history of the organization that we are doing this and I believe it will further increase the knowledge and awareness of our countrymen about what martial arts is truly all about,” he shared.
Don’t miss the chance to witness our five Filipino warriors staking the pride and honor of our country in the explosive ONE Championship fightcard airing on S+A, S+A HD, and streaming LIVE on iWant and Facebook with “Dawn of Heroes” this Friday (August 2) starting 8:30 pm. Catch the special telecast with local commentary with Brandon Vera, Anton Roxas, and Theo Castillo on ABS-CBN Sunday’s Best after “GGV” on August 11.
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