AFTER Kevin Belingon won Team Lakay’s fourth One Championship belt, chairman and Evolve MMA owner Chatri Sityodtong believes the Baguio City based MMA camp is the best in Asia.
Belingon defeated two-division champion Martin Nguyen to claim the ONE interim bantamweight title.
"A fan just asked me who I think is the best fight team in Asia. I have massive respect for all fight teams, but I believe there is no question that Team Lakay is now the #1 fight team in Asia today," Sityodtong wrote on a social media post.
Team Lakay, which started as a wushu club inched slowly to the MMA scene earning titles after titles in the Philippines before making a name in Asia.
"Despite a very modest budget and limited resources, Mark Sangiao (Team Lakay head coach) has produced one of the best fight teams in the world. Every fighter on Team Lakay is a genuine monster with outstanding skills, unlimited cardio, and extraordinary gameness. Also, equally important, all of their fighters are constantly improving and upgrading their skills," Sityodtong added.
Although Sityotdtong’s Evolve MMA is regarded as one of the top MMA gyms in the world, he believes Team Lakay has become the top MMA team in Asia.
"It is amazing to see how much Eduard Folayang, Kevin Belingon, Geje Eustaquio, Honorio Banario, Edward Kelly, Joshua Felix Pacio, Danny Kingad, and the rest of the team have evolved over the years. Team Lakay is a scary learning machine. I also love the fact that Team Lakay is a close-knit family that sticks together in good, bad, and ugly times," said Sityodtong.
Evolve produced world champions in Muay Thai, UFC and ONE, including the likes of Rafael Dos Anjos, Shinya Aoki, and Angela Lee.
"It reminds me of my favorite African proverb. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Above all though, Team Lakay fighters are true martial artists and wonderful human beings who live and exemplify the deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion. They are real-life superheroes," he closed.
Earlier this year, Eustaquio unseated Adriano Moraes for the undisputed flyweight world championship.
Banario earned the first world title for Team Lakay when he defeated fellow Baguio based fighter Eric Kelly for the inaugural featherweight title in 2013.
And in 2016, Folayang surprised the world when he scored an upset against MMA legend Shinya Aoki to win the promotion’s lightweight world title via a third round technical knockout. (Roderick Osis)