Shinya Aoki hails Eduard Folayang as 'No. 1' among his opponents, reveals desire for one more fight

Former ONE lightweight world champion Shinya Aoki has fought some of the best mixed martial artists in the world. But of all the warriors he has fought, he ranks Eduard Folayang as the best he has ever faced.

Aoki, 47-11 as a professional mixed martial artist, is renowned for his grappling wizardry with 30 of his wins coming by way of submission. He first fought Folayang in 2016 where he lost by technical knockout before avenging that defeat by submitting the Filipino twice.

According to Aoki, who paid his fellow former ONE lightweight world champion Folayang a visit last month, they both said after their last fight that they should give it one more go inside the cage.

“Definitely, he's number one on my list. I spent five years fighting him. For me, Eduard is special because he's the only guy I've fought three times. The words we exchanged in the circle right after the last match we had two years ago was ‘one more,’” Aoki revealed.

“We’ve done it twice in Singapore and once in Japan, so I think it’s fair to do it in the Philippines. I think it makes sense from a business standpoint. More than anything else, I feel that way as well.”

Earlier this month, Folayang shook the local mixed martial arts landscape to its core when he announced his departure from the fabled Team Lakay — an exodus that was followed by former world champions Kevin Belingon, Honorio Banario, and Joshua Pacio.

Though without an official team at the moment, Folayang is nevertheless eager to fight the Japanese superstar one last time.

“I will be down to do it if there’s an opportunity to fight him again,” Folayang said.

—JM Siasat/JMB, GMA Integrated News