Team Lakay won big at the 2018 Global Martial Arts Awards held on Thursday evening at the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach.
The Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony saw the most prolific martial arts personalities all come together under one roof.
And it was the members of Team Lakay who shone the brightest.
Filipino superstar Eduard Folayang took home the Martial Arts Hero of the Year award. Folayang is the former ONE Lightweight World Champion, and has long been considered the face of Philippine mixed martial arts. He bagged a pair of victories in 2018 against previously-unbeaten Russian adversaries Kharun Atlangeriev and Aziz Pahrudinov.
Reigning ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio bagged Submission of the Year honors with his modified keylock victory over Pongsiri Mitsatit in July. Pacio then fondly dubbed his submission maneuver “The Passion Lock”, a product of Team Lakay’s Baguio Jiu-Jitsu.
Gym of the Year award was bestowed to the Baguio City, Philippines-based Team Lakay. Team Lakay started off 2018 with zero world champions, but now has three in ONE Flyweight World Champion Geje Eustaquio, ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua Pacio, and ONE Interim Bantamweight World Champion Kevin Belingon.
A handful of ONE Championship athletes were bestowed prestigious recognition among many deserving awardees in the global martial arts industry as well.
ONE Middleweight and Light Heavyweight World Champion “The Burmese Python” Aung La N Sang copped Male Athlete of the Year honors.
Reigning ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee won Female Athlete of the Year.
Five-division Muay Thai World Champion Nong-O Gaiyanghadao of Evolve MMA in Singapore took home the Muay Thai Athlete of the Year citation.
The epic clash between Aung La N Sang and Ken Hasegawa at ONE: Spirit of a Warriors last June was hailed as Bout of the Year.
ONE: Kingdom of Heroes, which took place at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand on 6 October, was named Event of the Year. The stacked card featured world-class boxing in ONE Championship for the very first time, as WBC Super Flyweight World Champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai successfully defended his title against Iran Diaz of Mexico. The event garnered a record over 25 million viewers worldwide.
Lee Ji Na of Andong, South Korea won the Ring Girl of the Year award.
Breakthrough Athlete of the Year honors went to Thailand’s Stamp Fairtex, a talent who emerged from Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series and is currently the ONE Kickboxing Atomweight World Champion.
Referee Olivier Coste was honored with the Referee of the Year award.
