Team Lakay's Honorio Banario not in a rush for a world title shot

MANILA — Former ONE featherweight champion Honorio Banario of Baguio City's Team Lakay is not in a hurry for another title run following his recent victory against Adrian Pang on the undercard of 'ONE: Heroes of Honor' on Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The 28-year-old Banario won his fifth consecutive fight against a grizzled mixed martial arts veteran in Pang in front of an adoring Filipino crowd.

He is quickly climbing up the ladder in the lightweight division, yet he's not in a rush for a shot at the title that his teammate, Eduard Folayang, used to possess.

"After my consecutive wins and if ONE Championship says that I'm now the contender for the lightweight title, I will let the promotion decide who to give the title shot to if it's me or Eduard Folayang," said Banario.

Banario said he would rather wait and continue to improve his overall game as he plans to stay on top of the mountain should his time for a title shot becomes a reality.

"I want to take my time to improve everything so I can stand at the top for a long time," said Banario. "Because when you get there and you have the belt only to lose it, that's just a waste. I want to be fully ready and become a complete fighter."

Team Lakay improvements

In another interview, renowned mixed martial arts trainer and Team Lakay's head coach Mark Sangiao thanked their fans and critics alike for helping the team grow to the powerhouse that it is today.

Shortly after Team Lakay's 3-0 sweep at the Mall of Asia Arena, Sangiao fondly recalled how the team was scrutinized for its performances years ago.

Instead of getting insulted by the comments, Team Lakay took the criticisms objectively and used it to improve their game.

"I would like to thank the fans, they were the ones who motivated and inspired us," revealed Sangiao.

"I remember about five or six years ago, we've experienced having zero win and five losses in one night. There were comments from fans saying we lack this and we lack that, we took it positively and that only inspired us. We are very thankful to them."

The criticisms that Sangiao were pertaining to were mainly about Team Lakay fighters' lack of ground game. A martial arts practitioner throughout his life, Sangiao humbly asked observers for patience as they needed time and training to work on the techniques they were lacking.

"I told the media two to three years ago, give us time to improve our weaknesses. And now we are looking at these athletes, we can see that now they're complete fighters," said Sangiao.

"We are showing that Filipinos can be competitive in international competitions like ONE Championship. I'm very glad as a coach to see them grow and win and become world champions." —ALG, GMA News