Baguio City is under a 24 hour curfew. People are only allowed to leave their homes to buy groceries which means that the city’s mixed martial artists are being forced to make alternative training arrangements.
That isn’t a problem for undefeated prospect Jhanlo Sangiao. His father is the founder of Team Lakay and one of the most revered and respected coaches in Asia.
Yesterday the teenager posted a video of him training with his father on Facebook:
Jhanlo came to the attention of Rich Franklin when the former UFC middleweight champion made a trip to Baguio. He was scouting for talent as part of the ONE Warrior Series.
Franklin was very impressed by what he saw of Sangiao,
“Jhanlo is young, this was almost two years ago, so he was just 15 years old. Jhanlo is the next generation of athlete, he will be the next generation of Team Lakay and the next big thing in this area. He will be the standard for everything else following him.”
Franklin knows there will be a lot of pressure on the teenager because his father is so famous,
“Because he is the son of Mark Sangiao, he has big shoes to fill. There’s going to be a lot of eyeballs and pressure on him to perform at a level that’s to be expected but I grappled with him the last time I went up here and make no mistake about it, this is a talented kid.”
At the time Sangiao was still too young to be offered a ONE Championship contract. But Franklin knew right away this was someone he eventually wanted to sign,
“This is somebody I want to have in my organization. Regardless of whose kid that is, I would have taken him anyway. I am expecting a lot out of him.”
