Kevin Belingon. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
TOKYO—The picture of a particular scene in their last fight sums up everything.
In it, Kevin Belingon stands with his arms in the air while Bibiano Fernandes is caught mid-shrug, disbelief clearly showing. It was an image frozen from the pair’s meeting last year, and it’s among the driving forces behind enduring plot between the two prolific bantamweights.
The Filipino striker and the Brazilian grappler figure in a bantamweight title clash for the third time in ONE’s massive maiden showpiece this Sunday at Ryogoku Kokugikan here.
“I don’t think he was convinced with how our previous meeting turned out. He couldn’t accept his defeat,” Belingon, a senior member of the famed Team Lakay, said in Filipino.
“Maybe because his run in our division was so long. Perhaps that’s why he reacted that way,” added Belingon (20-5-0).
The two had split their previous two bouts with Fernandes (22-4-0) winning in 2016 and Belingon evening the score last year.
Belingon’s split decision victory snapped Fernandes’ unopposed reign in the bantamweight division—one that spanned for eight years, the longest in the promotion.
Having fought in the circuit for quite some time, the Team Lakay striker knows what exactly needs to be done.
“To finish him at any round, I think that’s the best way to do it,” Belingon said. “I think it would be better to not leave the fight’s outcome to the judges.”
Such approach has stemmed from a short-lived reign by Joshua Pacio, Belingon’s teammate who was a strawweight champion before a Japanese replacement dethroned him via split decision in January. The fight drew strong opinions from both fighters, fans and even ONE’s top honcho Chatri Sityodtong that eventually led to a rematch in Manila set this April.
It’s one of the the things Team Lakay ringmaster Mark Sangio kept on harping about in myriad interviews he has done between then and now: Swift victories. Convincing results.
Belingon knows the former champion is “hungrier than ever” and that he will be enjoying a sense of familiarity going into the tussle, having fought in Tokyo before.
But he is unfazed.
“It doesn’t matter to me wherever we fight,” said Belingon who will be joined by Danny Kingad and skipper Eduard Folayang in the main card. “That has no effect on me, whatsoever. I am keeping my focus.”
“From striking to Brazilian Jujitsu, down to wrestling,” he said when asked specifically what he worked on during the camp.
“So wherever the fight may go—on the ground or standing up—I’d be able to match him,” Belingon added.
“Or dominate him, even.”