Filipino MMA icon Eduard Folayang will be back in the ONE Championship cage and take on Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama in ONE on TNT IV on April 29, 2021 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
Folayang, once the poster boy of Philippine MMA, is currently on a two-fight losing slump and is in dire need of a win. He fought twice in 2020 and lost both of his fights — a split decision to Pieter Buist and a unanimous decision against Tony Caruso.
The 36-year-old Folayang is no stranger to fighting huge names. The former ONE lightweight champion pulled off a huge upset back in 2016 after he knocked out Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki in the third round of a championship bout. Folayang has also fought the likes of former UFC fighters Eddie Alvarez and Kamal Shalorus.
The 41-year-old Akiyama has fought in K1 and the UFC before signing with ONE Championship in 2019. He dropped his ONE debut with a unanimous decision loss to Agilan Thani but bounced back with a first round knockout win over Sherif Mohamed.
Akiyama has fought the likes of Japanese hall-of-famer Kazushi Sakuraba, Melvin Manhoef, Alan Belcher, Chris Leben, Michael Bisping Vitor Belfort and Jakes Shields.
Folayang is 22-10, while Akiyama is 15-7.
Folayang’s Team Lakay teammate Stephen Loman (14-2) is also seeing action on the same show against No. 1 ranked bantamweight John Lineker (33-9).
The main event features a title defense of ONE light heavyweight king Aung La N Sang (26-11) against former champion Vitaly Bigdash (10-2) in a rematch.
Meanwhile, Aoki (46-9) takes on young up-and-comer Sage Northcutt (11-3) in the co-main event. (EKA)