Eduard Folayang KOs Amir Khan to snap losing skid

Former ONE lightweight world champion Eduard Folayang of Lions Nation MMA ended his five-fight losing skid with a third-round knockout over Amir Khan on the undercard of ONE Fight Night 14 this Saturday morning at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Khan came out jabbing, landing two right away in the opening seconds of the fight. Folayang took his time, throwing punches and leg kicks to keep his foe at bay. He went to the body in round two while Khan was calm, allowing Folayang to come forward to land his stiff jab and counterpunches.

Folayang pressed the action in the final round. Khan fought moving back but was eventually caught with a big left hook that sent him crashing to the canvas. Out and defenseless on the mat, Folayang followed up with a right hand on top which prompted the referee to halt the contest at the 1:57 of round three.

Touted as the face of Philippine mixed martial arts, Folayang improved his record 23-13.

The main event of the card saw Thailand's Stamp Fairtex knock out Korea's Ham Seo Hee to win the ONE Interim Women's Atomweight world title.

The night also featured title fights for the ONE Strawweight Muay Thai World Championship and the Atomweight Submission Grappling World Championship, which were won by Smilla Sundell and Danielle Kelly.

Another Filipino fighter, Stephen Loman, was defeated by unanimous decision by John Lineker.

Eduard Folayang's history

It was Folayang's first fight since leaving Team Lakay and starting his own team, Lions Nation MMA.

Before that, he was coming off a second-round TKO loss against Edson Marques at ONE on Prime Video 5 last December.

In 2021, he was submitted by rival Shinya Aoki in a rubber match that decided their trilogy in April. He then fell short to Chinese newcomer Zhang Lipeng in a unanimous decision loss in August of the same year.

In 2020, he also had two losses, one a split decision loss to Pieter Buist in Manila in January and another to Australian Antonio Caruso by unanimous decision in October.

Prior to that, he twice held the ONE Lightweight world title. He won it for the first time back in November of 2016 with a TKO of Aoki to open the rivalry between the two. He also beat Khan for the lightweight belt in November of 2018 in a clash for the vacant title.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News