Former ONE world champions Eduard Folayang and Joshua Pacio are back in the country and hope to execute and share the skills they learned from their two-month cross training in the United States.
Folayang and Pacio have trained with Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where some of their trainers see the potentials of Filipino mixed martial arts fighters to regain their respective belts.
It was at Jackson Wink MMA where Folayang trained se-veral years ago which also helped him acquire fight skills he used in clinching the ONE lightweight world championship belt.
The two Cordilleran fighters also trained with Bellator women’s featherweight world champion Cris Cyborg in Huntington Beach, California.
“They went to training, and they said they can come to the gym and do some training together… Eduard, you know, he’s an amazing athlete, and the champion, and for me it was a pleasure having him in the gym. He’s a Christian too, like me, so we did amazing training together with Joshua too,” Cyborg said.
The Brazilian American fighter was all praises to the two Filipino fighters, saying both can have better days inside the circle.
She also praised the fighters for continuously learning new skills and aiming to evolve as fighters as a way of preventing opponents from knowing what to expect during actual match.
Folayang and Pacio also had a brief training at the famous Wild Card Boxing Gym of future Hall of Famer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, California, where boxing legend Manny Pacquiao spent most of his trainings at the peak of his illustrious career.
There, they met Filipino boxing trainer Marvin Somodio who was pirated from a boxing gym in Baguio when Pacquiao trained in the Summer Capital for some of his world title bouts a decade ago.
Since announcing their departure from Team Lakay, Folayang has founded the Landslide MMA gym, which is located at the former Lakay gym at Km. 4, La Trinidad, Benguet.
It was not immediately known if Pacio and former world champions Kevin Belingon and Honorio Banario will be under Landslide MMA gym in their future bouts. – Harley F. Palangchao
