By Jun Ray Navarres
Former ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki may not leave the best memories inside ONE Circle with Team Lakay, but the Japanese icon was sure to make up with the Igorot warriors.
Having defeated Eduard Folayang and Honorio Banario before, Aoki met with them again but this time as friends and training partners, sharing the same mats.
Tobikan Judan flew all the way from Japan to Manila and made the six-hour drive to the mountains of Benguet to learn from the best of wushu sanda in ONE Championship.
While most tourist travel to the Philippines with the thought of white sand beaches, Aoki made the effort to travel up in the mountains to train and get to know more the fabled Team Lakay gym.
The idea came after Folayang suffered yet another loss last December to Aoki, with the latter then announcing his plans to visit and train with him and talk about their respective futures.
“[I’m] excited to see the Japanese legend Shinya Aoki here in the land of strawberries,” shared Folayang.
Other than that, Aoki has also scored a quick submission win against former ONE Featherweight World Champion Banario.
Nonetheless, Aoki was well-received by the Igorot and even had the chance to try their local produce of strawberries and its derivative – strawberry ice cream.
He has also enjoyed the food so far, praising the sisig and rice from the restaurant near his hotel.
It was sure a unique experience for the Japanese submission wizard not only paying his respects to some of his toughest opponents inside the Circle but to the whole MMA community.
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