Two Filipino warriors from Team Lakay in Eduard Folayang and Kevin Belingon lost their ONE world titles in a night of shock and heartbreak at the ONE: A New Era in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday. Night.
First to fall was Belingon, who yielded his ONE World Bantamweight crown after he was disqualified during his match with former champion Bibiano Fernandes at the iconic Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena.
Belingon and Fernades grappled on the floor in the third round, with the Filipino connecting with a few elbows to the back of the head of the Brazilian.
Fernandes winced in pain, forcing the referee to initially slap the champ with a yellow card.
Fernandes' continued prostestations had the referee elevating the penalty to a red card, thereby disqualifying Belingon and stripping him off his ONE crown.
It was the third match between the two, with Fernandes winning the first, before Belingon bounced back with a split decision win in November in Singapore last year.
Two matches later, Folayang lost grip of his ONE World Lightweight title after tapping out just 55 seconds into the first round of his bout with Japanese hometown hero Shinya Aoki.
Their teammate, former ONE Flyweight World Title contender Danny "The King" Kingad on the other hand, averted a shutout for Team Lakay as he pulled off a unanimous-decision win in his ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix match-up with Pancrase Flyweight World Champion Senzo Ikeda.
With the win, Kingad punched a ticket to the ONE Flyweight Grand Prix Semifinals. "Danny has really worked hard for this.
You can see it in training. His conditioning is top-notch,” said Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao.
