Eduard Folayang raring to make MMA world champions with Lions Nation MMA

Former ONE lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang wants to make his team Lions Nation MMA a breeding ground for future world champions in mixed martial arts.

After parting ways with his longtime stable Team Lakay earlier this year, Folayang established his own and was joined by former world champions Honorio Banario, Kevin Belingon, and Joshua Pacio. He is looking to tap those with potential moving forward.

"'Yung goal natin is to create more champions especially sa Pilipinas na palaki nang palaki 'yung market sa MMA," Folayang said.

"Ang daming nagkakainteres na bata and sayang naman kung 'di natin sila matuturuan. Luckily naman, we got teammates to join our mission and ito na, start na yung mission and representation namin."

(Our goal is to create more champions especially in the Philippines where the MMA market is getting bigger. More children are showing interest and luckily, we got teammates to join our mission and this is the start of it and our representation.)

Touted as the face of Philippine MMA, the 39-year-old Folayang is slated to get back into action this Saturday when he takes on Amir Khan in a rematch on the undercard of ONE Fight Night 14 in Singapore. For Folayang, fighting means inspiring people some more.

"We’re hoping na maibigay namin yung best namin sa upcoming fight ng Lions Nation dito sa ONE," Folayang stated.

"Sa akin, normal naman 'yung pressure lalo na gusto kong makabawi and ipakita na there’s still more in me. At the end of the day, 'yung gusto natin ipakita dito yung best natin sa upcoming fight natin."

(We're hoping we can give our best in the upcoming fight of Lions Nation in ONE. For me, pressure is normal especially I want to bounce back and show I still have more in me. At the end of the day, we want to show the best in our upcoming fight.)

—JKC, GMA Integrated News