Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao admits that ring rust may have played a role in their struggles during the recent Inside The Matrix series in Singapore.
The biggest names of the stable flew to The Lion City for a series of matches, but of the four athletes who competed, only one came out on top.
Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio earned a convincing unanimous decision win over “The Running Man” Song Min Jong at ONE: Inside The Matrix III.
Sangiao did praise Eustaquio for staying ready, but ultimately, he believes the long layoff affected the team.
“Ring rust? I haven’t seen that from Geje. He was impressive. He KO’d Tauru in his last fight, and in this one, he showed his technical side. He was really impressive — I didn’t see any ring rust from him,” Sangiao said.
“As for the others, I thought I really saw those effects. I thought we lacked in adjustment, and that really affected them.”
During Inside The Matrix I, Eduard Folayang suffered a unanimous decision loss to Tony Caruso.
Then in Part III, Lito Adiwang was handed a controversial split decision defeat by Hiroba Minowa. Meanwhile, Kevin Belingon suffered his first knockout loss by John Lineker.
Sangiao is not about to make excuses, though, knowing that Team Lakay’s opponents experienced the same problems, the same pandemic, the same layoff — and that they simply came in more prepared.
“It’s not just our athletes who went through [the same challenges]. Maybe their opponents adjusted better and got better results. That’s just one reason the results were like that,” Sangiao said.
Despite the setbacks, the squad will have another chance for redemption at the upcoming ONE: Big Bang next Friday, December 4.
Number-two rankled flyweight Danny “The King” Kingad takes on Kairat “The Kazakh” Akhmetov in a crucial tussle in the division, and Sangiao promises fans that things will go differently this time around.
“We’re just asking for your support, patience, and prayers. We will be back, and we will be better.”
Catch ONE: BIG BANG live next Friday, December 4, for free by downloading the ONE Super App.
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