Folayang picks Belingon to beat Martin Nguyen

Former ONE lightweight champion Eduard Folayang of Team Lakay is picking his teammate to emerge victorious when Kevin Belingon squares off against Martin Nguyen for the ONE interim bantamweight title in the main event of 'ONE: Reign of Kings' on July 27 at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Folayang and Nguyen met in November last year when the latter scored an upset in front of a hometown crowd to snatch the Filipino's then lightweight title.

Now a reigning two-division champion, Nguyen aims to make history by beating Belingon to become a champion in three weight classes.

"Kevin Belingon and I have been training together since our professional debuts back in the Philippines. We have a long history together as teammates, and it makes me happy to see him at this level," said Folayang.

"It’s a good test for Kevin and I know he can get the win. Martin is an intelligent martial artist however, so it will all come down to who wants it more. Whoever imposes his will is going to walk out of the arena with that belt."

The 34-year-old Folayang will also feature on the undercard when he takes on yet another unbeaten opponent in Aziz Pahrudinov (20-0-1) of Russia.

Also on the undercard is young phenom Joshua Pacio, who is set to fight the unbeaten and hard-hitting Pongsiri Mitsatit (9-0) of Thailand. — BAP, GMA News