MANILA, Philippines—Eduard Folayang knows a thing or two about Japanese legend Shinya Aoki, and this knowledge of the former ONE World lightweight champion is helping in the preps of Team Lakay senior stablemate Honorio Banario.
Banario, ONE’s inaugural featherweight champion, will face Aoki in what would be the biggest fight of his career in ONE: Century on Oct. 13 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
The 35-year-old Folayang, already regarded as a legendary Filipino mixed martial artist, has split both his meetings against Aoki, which were both for the ONE World lightweight title.
“Honorio knows how dangerous Aoki is on the ground,” said Folayang. “We worked together on his takedown defense, escaping from holds, the movement inside the cage, and reminding him not to commit any mistakes as much as possible.”
Folayang knocked out Aoki in November of 2016 for his first title reign and he told Banario (14-9) to use his own striking abilities to its maximum level.
Aoki has a 43-9 record, and seven of those losses were knockouts.
“We know that he has been knocked out several times before and I think that is his weakness,” said Folayang. “Honorio’s striking is superior compared to Shinya so we told him to keep his distance and time his strikes.”
“As his partner in the lightweight division, I am doing what I can to help him out, but he is doing very well in training.”