By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
SO NEAR, yet so far.
Filipino Eduard “Landslide” Folayang was close to upsetting MMA legend Eddie “Underground King” Alvarez after sending the latter down to the canvass with a massive leg kick in their ONE lightweight World Grand Prix match on Friday.
Folayang was very loose and fluid as the bell rang, showing efficient leg striking as he connected numerous times, damaging Alvarez’s leg bit by bit.
The Wushu expertise of Folayang proved to be too good for Alvarez, as he surprised Alvarez with a hook and leg kick combination.
As Folayang continued to circle the ring searching for angles, he caught Alvarez with an enormous leg kick that quickly dropped the latter.
Folayang, with a chance to finish the match early on, grounded and pounded Alvarez with massive hammer punches.
But Folayang did not notice Alvarez’s left arm grabbing his right arm.
Then the tide turned pretty quickly for the Filipino slugger.
After the tight grab, Alvarez then used his knees to push Folayang’s body to the side and jumped right away on top.
In just a matter of seconds, Alvarez was the one who’s now grounding and pounding Folayang.
Folayang then committed his biggest mistake.
He turned around, then faced the ground to avoid further damage from the punches.
Alvarez smelled blood, as it was an opportunity for the best execution of a choke move.
Alvarez then used both hands to strangle Folayang, resulting in a submission win.
Folayang went crazy after he dropped Alvarez, which caused him to rush things and forget about the smaller details in the ring.
Alvarez proved why he is a veteran in the sport and should not be taken lightly.
