IT HAS been a challenging year for multiple-time ONE lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang, but the veteran and his Team Lakay stablemates ended it with a lot of promise.
The 36-year-old lost his belt to his old rival, Shinya Aoki, at ONE: A New Era in Tokyo, Japan in March, and then fell to Eddie Alvarez at ONE: Dawn of Heroes in Manila, Philippines in August.
However, things eventually started to turn around for him.
Folayang defeated Mongolian hard-hitter Amarsanaa Tsogookhuu via technical decision at ONE: Masters of Fate in the Philippine capital in November.
In addition to that, his teammates -- former ONE Flyweight World Champion Geje Eustaquio and reigning strawweight king Joshua Pacio -- won their respective bouts on the same card.
Folayang will try to build off the enormous momentum when he faces Pakistani grappler Ahmed Mujtaba at ONE: Fire and Fury, live from the Mall Of Asia Arena on January 31, 2020.
The former lightweight king reflects on 2019 as he looks forward to another fruitful 2020 hoping to get another crack at the world title.
“I would have wanted to perform better than I did, I can’t discount the fact that my opponents were no walks in the park. I had lapses that led to unfavorable outcomes, but I’m still happy that my career is far from over,” Folayang said, adding that despite the recent challenges, he remains thankful to close out the year well.
The former Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist quipped he learned to be calm when overwhelmed and to be relentless and persistent on how to play his strengths and execute his game plan in a better way.
“As I reflected on the year that passed by, I realized 2019 was really tight for me. However, like I said, there is still an opportunity for me to improve on my lapses and have a better performance in my next match,” he added.
Looking ahead to 2020, Folayang remains hungry for another ONE lightweight world title opportunity.
“I think reaching for a world title is still a goal. After all, why would I want to win if I wasn’t looking to challenge for the world title? I understand that I need to work my way back up again, but I want to prepare myself to have the best year of my life in the upcoming year,” Folayang added.