Belingon battles Viet-Aussie in ONE FC championship

SINGAPORE – Kevin Belingon tries to become only the second Team Lakay fighter to win a ONE FC (Fighting Championship) crown as he slugs it out with Vietnamese-Australian Vu Thanh in the ONE FC: Kings and Champions at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kellang here.

Honorio Banario earned the distinction when he beat compatriot Eric Kelly in ONE FC:Return of Warriors and several fighters in the other rival fight organizations to capture the lightweight crown last Feb. 2 in Kuala Lumpur with Team Lakay founder Marquez Sangiao confident of Belingon’s chances against Thanh.

“I have focused everything on winning this fight because I really want to be a champion,” said Belingon, one of the two Filipinos lined up in the Singapore card which is actually being held at presstime.

The other Filipino fighter is SEA and Asian Games wushu gold medal winner Rene Catalan, who went up against Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Alex Silva in a flyweight bout.

“It’s an interesting fight,” said Sangiao.

Founded in 2003, Team Lakay is a Baguio-based martial arts group known merely for wushu before it became a mixed martial arts outfit.

“We started as a martial arts group in 2003 that teaches and spreads the word of wushu but we’ve evolved by embracing other martial arts events like kickboxing, taekwondo and now wrestling, jiu-jitsu and even boxing,” said Sangiao.

The 33-year-old Sangiao, a gold medal winner in wushu’s sanshou in the 1991 SEA Games in Manila, said a fighter must be well-rounded to succeed in ONE FC and other fight organizations.

“In MMA, you have to be well-rounded not just a good striker or a good wrestler or grappler. You have to be good at both for you to succeed,” said Sangiao. “That’s why we’re getting coaches and trainers to help us train in other martial arts like jiu-jitsu and wrestling.

“We’re also asking a boxing coach to help us for the footwork and cardio,” he added.

In 12 fights, Belingon has won 10, including three from submission, which according to Sangiao underscored Team Lakay’s big improvement on the mat.

Belingon said during Thursday night’s official weigh-in at The Grand Cathay in Handy Road that he is eyeing no less than a win that will put him a couple of fights away from gaining a crack at the bantamweight title.

Interestingly, the bantamweight title-holder is Soo Chul Kim of South Korea, who dealt Belingon one of his only two setbacks in a unanimous decision win in ONE FC: Pride of Nation at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum last year.