MANILA, Philippines — Eduard “Landslide” Folayang’s return to Manila took a huge blow as he dropped a second-round TKO loss to Edson Marques in the lead card of ONE Fight Night 5: De Ridder vs. Malykhin yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The former ONE lightweight world champion actually looked fluid on his feet, landing beautiful body punches and leg kicks to frustrate the Brazilian striker for most of the first round.
However, all it took was just one solid punch from Marques in the second round to put down Folayang and end the fight for good for the Filipino in the 2:53 mark of the second round.
While he did recover quickly, referee Olivier Coste felt that Folayang falling flat was enough for him to stop the bout.
Fortunately for the hosts, the Filipinas took care of business in their respective bouts.
Third-ranked atomweight Denice Zamboanga made her Philippine debut with ONE in style after a hard-earned split decision victory over dangerous Chinese striker Lin Heqin.
Filipino-American striking sensation Jackie Buntan also had her moment at the MOA Arena as she outpointed Amber Kitchen in a catchweight Muay Thai bout to regain her winning ways