By Kevin Estrada
Australian fighter Antonio Caruso sent a huge message to the lightweight division of ONE Championship, defeating Team Lakay’s Eduard Folayang at Inside the Matrix Friday evening at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The Spartan made use of his striking and ground game for his first win at ONE, taking down the former two-time World Lightweight champion in a unanimous decision, a year after he surrendered the same to Pieter Buist on his debut at Dawn of Valor.
Caruso opened the fight with a pair of right hands that floored the Landslide, but it could not finish off the grizzled veteran as he dominated the first two rounds, including numerous submission attempts.
“Things didn’t go as I planned. Everything happens in the ring,” a visibly drained Folayang said after the bout in which the long layoff brought by the coronavirus pandemic affected his form.
Although recovered to take the final round, his momentum was hampered by two injury stoppages including a clash of heads in the final minute, causing him to lose for the fourth time in his last five outings.
Still, he was all praises for the Spartan who was in form in their bout, as both fighters kneeled in respect to each other during decision time.
“It’s his night,” Folayang added. “He will keep it up. Just continue doing the right thing and he will keep on pushing to his dream to be a champion someday.”
Despite the defeat, there’s no way that he will hang up his gloves for good as he was just four weeks away from turning 36.
“I’m not contemplating retirement yet. I think it’s just mistakes that we’ll go through again,” Folayang stressed. “This is one of those seasons wherein it’s winter time for me but I need to reassess myself and be back on the circle again.”
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