Eduard Folayang Vows To Bounce Back From ONE: Fire And Fury Loss
On Friday night, Filipino mixed martial arts icon Eduard Folayang made a return to the ONE Circle against Holland’s Pieter Buist, in the co-main event of ONE: Fire and Fury. Unfortunately though, the result didn’t go the way ‘The Landslide’ would have wanted, as he suffered a split decision loss in front of his home fans.
That setback though will hurt Folayang’s run to title contention and he expressed his disappointed in the post fight conference. Although he vowed to bounce back.
“Well, I’ll be lying if I said I’m [not] disappointed, you know. I think, my adjustment, my calculation with him is not that good you know. His reach advantage and height advantage, he was able to adjust in that short period of time but I know I was able to give my best and for sure I’ll be back,” Folayang stated.
When asked about his takeaway on the beginning of the year, he admitted that even though he lost, it wasn’t all bad.
“Luke warm,” Folayang said with a laugh. “We were tripped right away but the good thing about it is that was the decision was split so it was close and not decisive. I think it only depends on our heart if we will give up but we will not give up. We need to go home again to assess and review the miscalculations we had during the match.”
Despite seeing the positive side of the result, Folayang revealed that it was a hard pill to swallow, especially with how close the decision was.
“It’s painful but my original opponent was really a grappler, so I spent the time preparing for my defence and then I don’t have anyone in the camp with that kind of height and reach so it was not calculated well so maybe that is where I wasn’t able to adjust properly. Actually, it was his kick in the 3rd round that made it close,” Folayang said.
“That is when I realized that he is really tall. I know that he really wants to finish me but I was able to recover my mind quickly. It’s his night.”
While Eduard Folayang didn’t get the result he wanted aginst Pieter Buist, his four Team Lakay teammates on the card all scored impressive wins. Including Joshua Pacio, who defeated Alex Silva via a split decision, to defend his ONE strawweight world title.
You can see the full results from ONE: Fire And Fury here.
And if you missed any of the action, you can watch the full highlights (along with all our post fight videos) here:
See also: