Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Team Lakay continues to make history.
ONE Championship is set for its first fight card in Japan on March 31 for ONE: A New Era, and three of the fighters that will set foot at Ryogoku Kokigukan hail from the stable based on Baguio City.
This kind of notoriety just had to make the soft-spoken team patriarch Mark Sangiao talk with joy since his stable has the potential to not just be part of history but make it.
“Of course I’m very proud and ecstatic that the first ONE card in Japan will feature three fighters from our team,” said Sangiao Thursday at Gloria Maris in Gateway for Team Lakay’s media lunch. “And I hope those three will win.”
ONE World lightweight champion Eduard Folayaing will defend his title against Japan’s Shinya Aoki in the card’s main event while Kevin Belingon will put his ONE World bantamweight championship on the line against Bibiano Fernandes.
Danny Kingad is also in the card as he takes on Andrew Leone in the quarterfinals of the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix.
Sangiao is relishing the chance for Team Lakay to create history in Japan if all of his fighters win in the land regarded as one of the origins of martial arts.
“If we can conquer Japan then it’ll certainly be part of history because Japan is one of the birthplaces of martial arts,” said Sangiao. “There are great martial artists there and they’re also technical.”
“We will prove to the world that we’re one of the best when it comes to martial arts.”