By Jun Ray Navarres
Filipino MMA superstar Eduard Folayang remains defiant in the thoughts of retirement despite suffering his fourth straight loss against Zhang Lipeng of China last Friday.
The Filipino MMA veteran faces another surge of criticisms alongside the extension of his setbacks, dropping the sixth of his last seven fights.
However, Folayang stays consistent in his words that it is still not time to hang his gloves for good.
“What keeps me going is that I believe I didn’t reach my destination yet. I’m still in the journey, so there is a lot of potential that I need to unleash, and that keeps me going,” he said. “I think, for me, perseverance, you know, I need to persevere so that I can be able to hit that break and it will continue to go.”
Folayang admits that he was not able to cope up well in his latest showing but if everything will flow smoothly, he still has a few years ahead of his professional career.
“Honestly, I don’t know, but I give myself two to three years more,” said Folayang.
“Of course, we cannot predict the things that will come, but as for me, I have a goal and until I didn’t reach that yet and I can still go on, then I will continue.”
Also, the recent gold medal finish of Hidilyn Diaz inspired him and the whole Team Lakay to continue in spite of the failures along the way.
“Of course, I’m so happy for Hidilyn. I met her when she was still young – 2007 – I see in her the perseverance, you know. The perseverance, she never stops, even in those two Olympics where she failed, but in the third and fourth, she was able to get the silver and now the gold, shared the 36-year-old Filipino icon.
“That’s the lesson, you know, of perseverance. She didn’t give up on her dreams, no matter the odds, no matter the sacrifices and pain that she needs to pay for it, and now it’s the time for her to harvest the price of those things that she paid for.”
“You know, as an athlete, you can always relate to the victory of others and it will inspire you to do the best that you have. I believe that, for me, myself, she inspires me,” he added.
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