Former ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang expects an exciting match-up in the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Championship Final.
Saygid “Dagi” Guseyn Arslanaliev takes on ONE Lightweight World Champion Christian “The Warrior” Lee in the finale of the prestigious tournament at ONE: Century Part I on October 13 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan.
Lee took the bout on short notice after Eddie “The Underground King” Alvarez pulled out due to an injury.
Folayang sees “Dagi” holding a slight advantage because he has had more time to train. Nonetheless, he sees fireworks in this clash.
“All I can say is ‘Dagi’ is slightly ahead because of his size and full training camp,” Folayang said.
“But this will be a very good match because they’re both aggressive.”
Arslanaliev tore through the competition in the tournament, scoring quick first-round knockout wins over Ev Ting and Amir Khan to advance to the finale. And that is what Lee has to be careful of — at least, according to “Landslide.”
“[Arslanaliev’s] advantages are his size and power. I’m not exaggerating when I say that he’s finished the who’s who of the lightweight division,” Folayang said.
While the 21-year-old Evolve MMA star is certainly coming in as an underdog, the Filipino hero believes “The Warrior” has what it takes to pull off the upset against the Turkish powerhouse.
“We cannot look past Lee,” Folayang said. “He also went through a lot to become a World Champion.
“There’s no such thing as a clear-cut favorite because this is MMA, anything can happen.”
Catch ONE: CENTURY, the biggest World Championship martial arts event in history. No organization has ever promoted two full-scale World Championship events in one day, with 28 World Champions competing in multiple World Title bouts.
PART I airs live on Cignal TV at 11:00am Philippine Standard Time (PHT) on Sunday, 13 October. TV5 will cut-in to live broadcast 10:30 am.
PART II airs live on ABS-CBN S+A or Cignal TV at 6:30pm Philippine Standard Time (PHT). TV5 will show the special delay live at 9:30pm PHT.
All preliminary matches air on ONE’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts.
