MANILA – Filipino mixed martial arts fighter Eduard Folayang failed to capitalize on his strong start and was beaten by American Eddie Alvarez via submission in the ONE: Dawn of Heroes card at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
With the victory, Alvarez advanced into the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Finals and will battle Turkish knockout artist Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev at ONE: Century in Tokyo, Japan this coming October.
Folayang appeared to be on course to pull off an upset early in the round on Friday evening after dropping Alvarez with a massive leg kick. He then pounced Alvarez but the latter was able to reverse the position.
Alvarez quickly took Folayang’s back and then locked in a rear naked choke, forcing Folayang to tap out at the 2:16 mark of the opening round.
“I pictured this in my head. We’ve seen this and we persevered, dealt with adversity, and pulled off the W,” said Alvarez, who is a former UFC star before moving to ONE Championship.
With the victory, Alvarez has improved his MMA record to 30-7 win-loss while also notching his first win since 2017.
Folayang absorbed his second straight loss to drop to 21-8.
Meanwhile, Filipino MMA’er Danny Kingad escaped with a split decision victory over veteran Reece McLaren.
MANILA – Filipino mixed martial arts fighter Eduard Folayang failed to capitalize on his strong start and was beaten by American Eddie Alvarez via submission in the ONE: Dawn of Heroes card at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
With the victory, Alvarez advanced into the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Finals and will battle Turkish knockout artist Saygid Guseyn Arslanaliev at ONE: Century in Tokyo, Japan this coming October.
Folayang appeared to be on course to pull off an upset early in the round on Friday evening after dropping Alvarez with a massive leg kick. He then pounced Alvarez but the latter was able to reverse the position.
Alvarez quickly took Folayang’s back and then locked in a rear naked choke, forcing Folayang to tap out at the 2:16 mark of the opening round.
“I pictured this in my head. We’ve seen this and we persevered, dealt with adversity, and pulled off the W,” said Alvarez, who is a former UFC star before moving to ONE Championship.
With the victory, Alvarez has improved his MMA record to 30-7 win-loss while also notching his first win since 2017.
Folayang absorbed his second straight
loss to drop to 21-8.
Meanwhile, Filipino MMA’er Danny Kingad escaped with a split decision victory
over veteran Reece McLaren.
Kingad moved on ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Finals against Demetrious Johnson./PN
