Folayang reflects on win over Khan, says age is just a number

MANILA—Two-time ONE lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang of Baguio City's Team Lakay knew that Amir Khan had dynamite in his hands when he battled the young knockout artist in the co-main event of 'ONE: Conquest of Champions' Friday night at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

 

Folayang, now the fourth reigning champion from Team Lakay, says that avoiding Khan's power shots was key in his quest to regain the ONE lightweight title he lost to Martin Nguyen a year ago.

"Anyone can get knocked down if you get hit with an unexpected punch. I expected Khan to have a good knockout punch. The best thing to do was to avoid it and prevent yourself [from getting hit] by those attacks," said Folayang.

"My corner was always there to tell me to get my guard up and be careful when you're on offense. When I managed to hurt him I looked for a stoppage, but I was tense and there was time pressure to finish. He's well prepared because he was able to cope up in the later rounds."

Folayang, who is touted as the face of Philippine mixed martial arts, turned 35 years old on November 22, just a day before the fight. The Filipino striker however cited that age is merely a number in the world of MMA.

"I felt like 53," Folayang joked. "Age is just a number. Like our saying here in the Philippines, only a carabao gets old. I didn't slow down." —LBG, GMA News