Eduard Folayang is coming off a win on his Muay Thai debut. He beat multiple time world champion John Wayne Parr at ONE: ‘X’ earlier this year and is understandably very confident in his striking skills as a result.
Folayang will be back to a more familiar sport at ONE 164 this Saturday. The Filipino takes on Edson Marques in an MMA fight but doesn’t expect to be doing much grappling,
“He comes from a Muay Thai background and I truly expect this fight to be settled on the feet. That’s good for me because that will bring me closer to where I truly want to be, back to the winning track.”
Folayang had been expected to take on Yoshihiro Akiyama at ONE on Prime 5 and and it’s he was surprised the Japanese veteran turned down the fight,
“All I wanted to do is compete again and join this card. It doesn’t matter who I face. Actually, I was waiting for Akiyama, but I think he turned down the offer to fight me.”
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Very confident
Folayang admits that going three rounds with John Wayne Parr before defeating the Australian and made him very confident in his striking,
“I’m really grateful that I faced John Wayne Parr the last time out. It was an all-striking battle and it helped me a lot. I think it only further motivates me to do better and be more confident for this fight, should it stay on the feet.”
Folayang has always been fairly reliant on his wushu based striking to win fights although he has been known to take opponents down. He says that the win over JWP was a major confidence boost,
“From that fight, my confidence grew a lot. I felt like my striking capabilities could be so much better as I was able to hang with John Wayne Parr. The fact that I stood toe-to-toe with him means I’m world-class. That’s a huge confidence booster.”
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Fantastic performance
But while Folayang has had more success in Muay Thai than MMA in recent months the Filipino says he has no interest in making a permanent switch between the sports,
”“I missed competing in MMA, but I’m grateful with how I performed in Muay Thai the last time out. But now I’m back to doing what I’ve been doing, my bread and butter through these years.”
He managed to give JWP a ten count and Folayang feels he can go one better this Saturday and score what would be his first stoppage win since 2016,
“Expect a fantastic performance from me. I’m looking for a KO.”
