Eyebrows were raised when former two-time ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang jumped to ONE Super Series, to become the first mixed martial arts fighter in the ONE roster to move to the promotion’s all-striking event.
But it’s an opportunity that he just can’t pass up.
Folayang will take on John Wayne “The Gunslinger” Parr in a three-round Muay Thai bout at ONE X on March 26, and he will get the distinction of being the legendary Aussie’s retirement bout.
“To be fighting a legend in his retirement bout is such a big opportunity for me. It’s a big honor,” Folayang stated.
“He’s won titles in different divisions, and now I’ll be competing in his territory with a different style so I have to offer my best.”
It’s not like Folayang is new to competing in all-striking competition though.
Before blazing the trail for Philippine mixed martial arts, Folayang was bannering the blue and red for the Philippines as part of the Wushu National Team.
As an amateur, “Landslide” emerged as one of the top bets in wushu, winning medals in World, Asian and Southeast Asian levels for the country.
That’s why Folayang is excited as not only will he compete in a “legend versus legend” bout against Parr, he’s effectively going back to his roots.
“Of course I’m excited cause you know when I was starting with the national team, it was all striking,” he shared.
“Now, I’m back at it again, this time in Muay Thai rules. There will be adjustments of course, but we’ve faced a lot of fighters with similar backgrounds in the past and that gave me a feel on how Muay Thai fighters compete.”
While he has no illusions of being the favored fighter here, that doesn’t mean that he’ll allow Parr to run over him and hand “The Gunslinger” the 100th win in his career.
Folayang won’t be happy just showing up, he plans to go all the way.
“At the end of the day, I have to prepare as hard as I can and I have to take this fight seriously. There are no giveaways here,” Folayang stated.
“I have to be at my best. I know there will be a lot of people watching, people who look up to me that’s why I have to use this match to further motivate them.”
Meanwhile, ONE returns to live action with ONE: LIGHTS OUT.
Watch the lead card live on One Sports+ at 7 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (PHT) while the main card broadcasts live on One Sports and One Sports+ at 8:30 p.m. PHT.
