Eduard Folayang, Lions Nation MMA open to possible Team Lakay matchups
Published Jul 10, 2023 07:15 am
The formation of Lions Nation MMA has opened the door of possibilities for Philippine MMA, including a crosstown rivalry between the new squad and their old Team Lakay stablemates.
*Lions Nation MMA founder Eduard "Landslide" Folayang. (ONE Championships' photo)*
While crosstown intergym rivalries such as this one are normal, the Philippine MMA scene is a tad different. Squads such as Team Lakay focus on loyalty and familial bonds over all else. But for Lions Nation MMA founder Eduard "Landslide" Folayang, such things are inevitable. “The way I see it, I don’t have anyone on that side who’s in my weight class. [But] that’s just the nature of the sport. Sometimes, you can’t avoid that,” he said. “It’s a different team now, a different setting, so we always respect the main law of fighting: you really can’t avoid that possibility. We are always happy to accept challenges.” One guy who could face an old teammate is former ONE Featherweight World Champion Honorio "The Rock" Banario, who has been working extremely hard to kick off his crusade back to divisional relevance. Should he stay at featherweight, he could meet rising Team Lakay star Carlos Alvarez, who made quite a name for himself in his ONE Championship debut. Alvarez debuted at ONE Friday Fights 13, beating Reza Abasi handily in the second round, and should he face the young stud, Banario has no problems doing so. “We can’t avoid it, because if I have someone from our former side who’s in my division, we have to fight. That’s my job. I am hoping for any challenge to come my way. We’re just fighting,” he said. The move may have created some complications in an otherwise stable MMA ecosystem in the highlands, but such disruptions may be what the sport needs. “I’ve been thinking about creating my own gym [for quite some time] actually – a place for us to have our own facilities. You have free reign to implement what training program you want to use and see what weaknesses you need to work on,” he said. “It’s easier than joining another stable where you have to have that adjustment period instead of being able to change things immediately because you’re still just an athlete and a member of that team.”
*Lions Nation MMA founder Eduard "Landslide" Folayang. (ONE Championships' photo)*
While crosstown intergym rivalries such as this one are normal, the Philippine MMA scene is a tad different. Squads such as Team Lakay focus on loyalty and familial bonds over all else. But for Lions Nation MMA founder Eduard "Landslide" Folayang, such things are inevitable. “The way I see it, I don’t have anyone on that side who’s in my weight class. [But] that’s just the nature of the sport. Sometimes, you can’t avoid that,” he said. “It’s a different team now, a different setting, so we always respect the main law of fighting: you really can’t avoid that possibility. We are always happy to accept challenges.” One guy who could face an old teammate is former ONE Featherweight World Champion Honorio "The Rock" Banario, who has been working extremely hard to kick off his crusade back to divisional relevance. Should he stay at featherweight, he could meet rising Team Lakay star Carlos Alvarez, who made quite a name for himself in his ONE Championship debut. Alvarez debuted at ONE Friday Fights 13, beating Reza Abasi handily in the second round, and should he face the young stud, Banario has no problems doing so. “We can’t avoid it, because if I have someone from our former side who’s in my division, we have to fight. That’s my job. I am hoping for any challenge to come my way. We’re just fighting,” he said. The move may have created some complications in an otherwise stable MMA ecosystem in the highlands, but such disruptions may be what the sport needs. “I’ve been thinking about creating my own gym [for quite some time] actually – a place for us to have our own facilities. You have free reign to implement what training program you want to use and see what weaknesses you need to work on,” he said. “It’s easier than joining another stable where you have to have that adjustment period instead of being able to change things immediately because you’re still just an athlete and a member of that team.”