Folayang will face Alvarez at "ONE: Dawn of Heroes" on August 2, 2019 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It will be a semi-final bout of the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix.
Representing Team Lakay in Baguio City, Philippines, Folayang is a two-time ONE Lightweight World Champion. On March 31, 2019, he lost the title at "ONE: A New Era" at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan to Shinya "Tobikan Judan" Aoki, 36, who eventually lost the title to Christian "The Warrior" Lee, 21, of Singapore.
Also at "ONE: A New Era," Alvarez faced Timofey Nastyukhin, 29, of Russia in the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix quarter-finals. The Russian contender knocked out his American opponent, who previously competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA.
Aside from being an incredibly exciting martial artist, Alvarez is also the only man in history to have claimed world titles in both the UFC and Bellator MMA. Now that he is in ONE Championship, he is intent on cementing his status as an all-time great by capturing the ONE Lightweight World Championship to become the first man to conquer the three largest MMA organizations on the planet.
"ONE: Dawn of Heroes" marks Alvarez's second ONE Championship bout. On the other hand, it will be the 17th outing of Folayang in the promotion.
Before joining ONE Championship, Folayang was a member of the Philippines Wushu Team. He won several gold medals then transitioned to MMA under the tutelage of Mark Sangiao at Team Lakay and captured the Universal Reality Combat Championship Welterweight Championship in his professional MMA debut on June 30, 2007.
Folayang made his ONE Championship debut at "ONE: Champion vs Champion," the promotion's inaugural event that took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore on September 3, 2011. In the main event, the Team Lakay fighter defeated Kwon A Sol, 32, of South Korea.
Aside from Aoki, four other ONE Championship athletes defeated Folayang. from 2012 to 2017. They are Nastyukhin, Ole "Iron Fist" Laursen, 41, of the Philippines and Thailand, Kamal "Prince of Persia" Shalorus, 41, of Iran and Martin "The Situ-Asian" Nguyen, 30, of Vietnam and Australia, who is currently reigning as the ONE Featherweight World Champion.
Including Aoki and Kwon, 11 ONE Championship athletes lost to Folayang. The others are Felipe Enomoto, 36, of Japan, Vincent "Magnivincent" Latoel, 40, of the Netherlands, Koketsu "No Face" Boku, 42, of Japan, Tetsuya "MMA Fantasista" Yamada, 29, of Japan, Adrian "The Hunter" Pang, 41, of Australia and Papua New Guinea, Ev "E.T." Ting, 29, of Malaysia and New Zealand, Kharun "Predator" Atlangeriev, 26, of Russia, Aziz Pakhrudinov, 30, of Russia and Amir Khan, 24, of Singapore.
Ticket information for "ONE: Dawn of Heroes" is available on www.onefc.com. Meanwhile, here is a clip featuring Folayang:
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