Eduard Folayang Thinks a Win Over Adrian Pang Could Lead to ONE Championship Title Shot

Coming off a loss in his last fight in 2014, lightweight veteran Eduard Folayang rebounded in his return to the ONE Championship cage this past January with a unanimous decision win over Tetsuya Yamada.

“Tetsuya Yamada was one of my toughest opponents, but I believe because I trained very hard for the fight that I was able to handle his style very well,” Folayang said to MMAWeekly.com.

“I think it was one of my best performances inside ONE Championship. I think my cage control and striking was enough for the judges to see the fight in my favor.”

During his over year-long layoff, Folayang worked hard to develop his game and believes he’s a better fighter for it now.

“I am always trying to improve in all areas,” he said. “With my brothers at Team Lakay, we always learn from each other and try our best to make each other better fighters.

“I worked on my wrestling a lot. Being able to use my size and strength as an advantage is something that I am working on every day.”

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Next up for Folayang (15-5) is one of his tougher tests to date, Adrian Pang (22-8-2), in a main card 155-pound bout at ONE: Heroes of the World on Saturday in Macau, China.

“Adrian Pang is a very strong fighter,” Folayang said. “I think it’s going to be a good challenge for me.

“I like his strength. I like his power. It motivates me to train hard so that I am ready to handle whatever he brings to the table. I have a few strengths of mine that I want to show him too. It should be an interesting fight.”

With three wins in his last four fights for ONE Championship, Folayang feels another victory on Aug. 13 could be just the thing he needs to challenge for the company’s lightweight title.

“Not to overlook Adrian Pang, but I think if I can beat him it would put me in a good position for a title shot,” said Folayang. “But more importantly, I just want to keep fighting as much as I can for as long as I can.

“This is a young man’s sport and fighters can’t fight forever, so it’s important for me to always be able to compete, while I still can.”

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