Every mixed martial artist dreams of being a world champion. For many it will remain just that — a dream — but for some such as Malaysia’s Ev Ting (13-3), years of improvement in the gym and stellar performances in the cage mean they get within touching distance of the accolade.
On 21 April, 2017, Ting will take on Eduard Folayang (17-5) for the ONE Lightweight World Champion at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. Not only does he enter as challenger to the throne at ONE: KINGS OF DESTINY in the main event, but he also does it in enemy territory.
The Filipino champion Folayang will defend his title for the first time on home soil after capturing it from Shinya Aoki, a man that has long been one of the world’s elite lightweight combatants, back in November 2016.
Ting is adamant this will not alter his course. There’s just him, his opponent, and 25 minutes in the cage that now separates him from beginning his championship legacy, and becoming Malaysia’s first-ever MMA World Champion.
“At the end of the day, we are going to go in there and do our jobs,” he asserted, and he believes a hostile crowd will make no difference to his charge for the title. “If anything out of the ordinary does happen, then I guess we will have to deal with it as it comes.
“I feel I have done everything I need to do to get to where I am now, so I am just going to go in there and do the best I can do. That is all I can do.”
While “E.T.” may enter Manila’s Mall of Asia Arena as the underdog and without several pounds of glistening metal over his shoulder, that’s exactly what Folayang did back in November when he took the shock TKO victory over Aoki.
“I’m going to try and overwhelm him,” Ting said of his upcoming battle with the reigning champion. “Put him in an uncomfortable situation and work off that. He is bound to make a mistake, and from there, I should be able to get a finish.”
The 27-year-old fighter is not short of confidence, and he can be justified in that if you look at his current run of form. With four straight victories over some tough opposition including Rob Lisita, Eric Kelly and, most recently, former title challenger Kamal Shalorus, “E.T” knows he can operate amongst the upper echelons, and he can win.
Confidence can play a huge part any fighter’s arsenal, especially when the odds are stacked against them. An urge to evolve and improve can also be a great catalyst, and despite victory against Shalorus last time out, what he sees as errors in his own performance make him hungrier to execute a perfect gameplan in the biggest fight of his life.
“To be honest, I truly believed I had defended my streak and my performance that night because I controlled the center of the cage, I tagged him more, and I made him miss a lot,” Ting revealed. “I felt like I did more than enough [to win against Shalorus]. At the same time, I was disappointed I did not get the finish.“
Come 21 April, Ting will once again leave nothing left in the tank as he vies for ONE Championship gold. Folayang will have the new champion’s desire to keep hold of the belt he worked so hard to capture, and in front of his countrymen as well, making it a daunting task for the Malaysian.
“Eduard (Folayang) displayed the best version of himself in the Shinya (Aoki) fight when he won the title. He displayed a lot of patience, he exploded at the right times, and put pressure on at the right times, so he showed a very top-caliber Eduard Folayang, and I expect nothing less in April,” the Malaysian says.
“His wrestling is solid, his timing is obviously one of his strongest strengths, and he defended everything from Shinya (Aoki) despite strong positioning, so yeah, I have a hard task ahead of me.”
For every jubilant new champion, there is the agony of a former champion defeated, but Ting is focused on his own journey, and the next step is to take the ONE Championship title from the grasp of Eduard Folayang, and that may just be the start.
“Being able to represent Malaysia, in general, is already a huge honor. I do not want to look ahead, but to be the first Malaysian fighter to bring the title back, I would feel like I accomplished something very big, but knowing me, I will not stop there,” says Ting.
“I will always look for bigger and better achievements. In saying so, to have the support I have means a lot to me. I guess that is why we do this in the first place, to put on a show for these fans.”
