By Kevin Estrada
Former World Fighting League champion Pieter Buist showed why he was not just a mere replacement, after getting away with an upset over Team Lakay’s Eduard Folayang on ONE: Fire and Fury at the Mall of Asia Arena Friday evening.
The Dutchman was tapped to replace Pakistan’s Ahmed Mujtaba in jusr two weeks’ notice, but it posed problems for the Landslide by using an unassailable reach advantage to negate Folayang’s aggression as he got the judges’ nod in a split decision.
“I knew inside that I have to take this opportunity,” Buist said in his huge win against the former two-time ONE World Champion, in which his recent outing also came from a short notice.
But would he took another fight with a much shorter notice, say one week?
“Hell no,” he added, noting that his win should convince ONE chief Chatri Sidyontong to take his name seriously.
“I wanted a normal training camp, a month or two before the fight,” Buist admitted.
Although Folayang got the better of the first round, Buist turned it around with his timely striking and nearly put the home bet into submission in the subsequent rounds.
The Landslide took responsibility with defeat, but even with the close result he will be back on the drawing board.
“Kelangan umuwi ulit para tignan ko yung pagkukulang dun sa laban,” he conceded, recognizing that the adjustments of switching opponents were just too much to handle.
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