Folayang and Belingon fall short in ONE FC 3 – War of the Lions

Folayang lands a body kick on Laursen in their fight held in Singapore.

In a war of lions, two of the best homegrown mma fighters to ever come out of the Philippines fell short in their bid to extend their winning streaks stretching back to Martial Combat FC.

Last Saturday, March 31, 2012, at ONE FC 3 – War of the Lions held in Singapore, Team Lakay’s Eduard “Landslide” Folayang and Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon both lost to their rivals dealing Folayang his second professional loss and breaking Belingon’s undefeated record.

In a back to back brawl that saw the audience gasping and getting out of their seats, Eduard “Landslide” Folayang lost a split decision to Ole “Iron Fist” Laursen in what I and a lot of people predicted would be a classic fight.

Both came out swinging in the first round but everyone was surprised with Ole’s display of his much improved grappling skills. He practically took Folayang down at will and even threatened with a Kimura and a Rear Naked Choke. As expected, Ole’s striking was more technical and he would land punches, kicks and knees on Eduard. Although it was a close round, I gave the round slightly to Laursen for takedowns. During the second round, what in my mind doomed the fight for Eduard, aside from his takedowns and combinations, Ole Laursen threw a very stiff jab that knocked down Folayang exposing his back to Laursen for a few moments. Eduard would then throw wicked combinations that would end with either a spinning elbow or a spinning back kick but I guess due to the knockdown, judges gave the round to Laursen. I gave the 2nd round to Folayang. Although he was dropped early in the round, I believe his flurries and combinations were enough to steal it. The third round showcased the big similarity between the Energizer Bunny and Eduard, they just keep going. Eduard fired off so many punches and body kicks in this round that Ole looked ragged and worse for wear. Eduard just threw everything he had and a very game Laursen just stood there and returned with heavy leg kicks. In my eyes, round 3 goes to Folayang by landslide but then he would have to swallow this one as a split decision loss as the majority judges definitely saw it in a different way.

Laursen looked the more complete fighter that night and maybe a match with Zorobabel Moreira or a rematch with Felipe Enomoto would be interesting. It would also be great if his next fight is held in the Philippines so that “Iron Fist” would be better known by his countrymen. Maybe a rematch with Eduard in Manila? Eduard looked good even if defeat and maybe some mat time would be great for the “Landslide”. His boxing has improved but his Jiu-Jitsu needs a bit more polishing. There were a couple of times that Eduard could’ve won it from the ground and they would do well to take advantage of that next time.

In a one-round affair, Masakazu “Ashikan Judan” Imanari defeated Kevin Belingon with a Heel-Hook. Twenty seconds or more into the fight, just as they are circling each other and measuring each other’s range, Imanari threw a head kick that was very far off and resulted in a slip. Just as Imanari rolled onto his back, Kevin attacked a mistakenly threw a roundhouse to the “Ashikan Judan’s” leg which was caught by the Japanese who turned it into a leg-lock. Kevin would defend well for but after Imanari transitions into an inside heel-hook, Belingon had no choice but to tap at the 3:42 mark of the first round. If Kevin is to face another high-level Jiu-Jitsu fighter in the future, he needs to bring his BJJ to a higher level. I could say that he got caught with a leg-lock by the guy who is considered to be either #1 or #2 in the world with regards to leg-locks but the truth is, mma fighters need to be really well-rounded especially at the level where they are fighting.

Eduard Folayang vs. Ole Laursen Fight Video – just click the link below

http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/play?file=http://rd3.videos.sapo.pt/eKi3KvzBNlBYqngzkSPF/mov/1

Kevin Belingon vs. Masakazu Imanari:

You can watch the whole event here:

My name is Alfred Johannes T. Gealogo, an MMA journalist based in the Philippines. I’m a proud supporter of Filipino Martial Arts and Asian MMA. I’ve been involved in different Martial Arts since the age of six and is currently a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Blue Belt under Master Alvin Aguilar of Deftac/Ribeiro Jiu-Jitsu. For comments, suggestions, questions and violent reactions, add me up at http://facebook.com/alfredgealogo and follow me on twitter (@alfred_gealogo). Also, don’t forget to visit http://urccmma.com and www.onefc.com for breaking news regarding MMA in the Philippines and Asia.