Talk to ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard Folayang for even a moment, and you’ll find a true ambassador for the promotion and mixed martial arts. Watch Folayang in the cage, and you’ll understand why he’s the champion.

“When I enter that cage, my entire mindset changes,” said the 33-year-old. “The time for being nice and playing games is over. Once that cage door closes, my focus shifts entirely to battle. Only one guy gets to walk out of the cage a winner, so I make sure that guy is me.”

These are the two faces of Folayang. Well-spoken in street clothes. Relentless in four-ounce gloves. If you listen closely, there’s almost a sense of remorse in the champ that there can only be one winner, and that the loser has to take a loss through physical punishment.

“I do pray for my opponent’s health and safety before we enter the cage, though. This is a platform where we can showcase our talent, skills, and preparation. At the end of the day, our health and safety after the fight [takes] priority,” says Folayang.

These are not the typical words one would expect to come from a man who has finished nearly half of his fights via knockout or submission.

The Team Lakay fighter has had plenty of time to pray for the health and safety of his next opponent. “Landslide” meets Ev “E.T.” Ting in the main event OF ONE: KINGS OF DESTINY on 21 April at the Mall of Asia Arena in the Philippines.

Owning a 13-3 record, Ting is a formidable opponent, but don’t expect the champion to roll over and relinquish the lightweight strap in the face of top competition.

“I know the stakes. I know what’s riding on this fight. Ev (Ting) is coming for my belt, he’s coming to take what I’ve worked so hard for my entire career. There is no way I’m just going to let him take it. It’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure,” said Folayang.

To stack the deck and increase the chances of a successful title defense, Folayng won’t be bringing Eduard to the cage. Ting, like the other men downed by Folayang’s hands, will be introduced to the “Landslide.”

“Outside the cage, I don’t know Ev (Ting) personally, but I think he is a stand-up individual. Once we step inside those steel doors, however, it’s time for ‘Landslide’ to take over. I put everything into my performance. All the months of hard work and sacrifice boils down to just one night, so I have to make it count,” said the champion.

It’s a well earned moniker Folayang earned in 2007 after defeating a champion of the promotion he previously fought for.

“It perfectly describes how I am as a fighter whenever I step onto the battlefield — fearfully and wonderfully made by God,” said Folayang of his nickname. “I’m a force of nature, and I’m the ONE Lightweight World Champion.”

Folayang has some added motivation for this bout — he’ll be fighting in his home country, defending his new title for the first time in front of a partisan Manila crowd.

“It’s going to be awesome. I love my country, and I love the Filipino people and all the MMA fans. I can’t wait to get back in there and defend our home turf. By the grace of God, I will emerge victorious,” Folayang concluded.

Gina Iniong will enter the cage alone for her bout with Natalie Gonzales Hills at ONE: KINGS OF DESTINY on 21 April, but in her mind she knows she has her family by her side. 

However, when she started out, her MMA career was a secret she’d hoped to keep from them.

The bout in Manila’s Mall of Asia Arena will be her debut with ONE Championship, after compiling a 4-2 record on other regional shows to earn the call-up. With your name on the bill of an event of this magnitude, there’s no way you’d be able to hide it from those close to you. Thankfully she no longer needs to.

“At first, they did not want me to join because I am a girl,“ revealed the Team Lakay fighter.

You’d think Iniong’s father would have been the one pushing combat sports on her from a young age, having been a committed boxer himself. As it transpired, no matter what your background is, putting your ‘princess’ in positions where she’s likely to get hit will elicit conflicting feelings for a father, whose duty is to protect her.

Her mother didn’t fare much better either.

”[My mother] didn’t want me to fight because she was nervous,“ Iniong revealed, before a change of heart swept over her parents. Though her mother still doesn’t attend and has to send her well wishes from home, her combat savvy dad and brother try to get there to cheer her on wherever possible, after getting their first taste back in 2010.

“When they saw me fight, they changed their minds, and now they support me,” said Iniong.

The physically and mentally demanding rigours of fight preparation are hard enough, without having to worry about whether your choices will be accepted by those closest to you. That means the freedom the Filipina now has surely takes a great weight from her shoulders.

Now she can focus on putting in an impressive performance on her biggest stage to date, as ONE Championship takes over Manila with a fight card stacked with top local fighters.

Alongside Iniong will be her Team Lakay brothers Eduard Folayang, Kevin Belingon, and Honorio Banario. Thats means her blood family will be cheering her on, whilst her gym family fights by her side.

That kind of support is invaluable. With fighters having to process so much information before and during a bout, being able to look to the stands or your corner for a reassuring nod can be a place of stability, knowing they have every belief in your ability makes you want to prove it to them.

Gina Iniong now has that comfort, and she’ll be fighting to make her family proud as she takes to the ONE Championship cage for the first tine on 21 April.

SYDNEY – Manny Pacquiao’s camp said Thursday it was keen for a quick win over Australian Jeff Horn in July to set up a higher-profile title fight with British boxer Amir Khan.

The world champion, 38, will face the undefeated Horn, 29, in Brisbane on July 2, the Filipino’s advisor told AFP in Manila on Wednesday.

The announcement ended months of speculation on who the fighter – dubbed “Pac-Man” – would face next as he seeks to prolong a stellar career that saw him win world titles in eight different weight classes.

It is the second time the Horn bout has been touted, after Pacquiao earlier this year instead decided to pursue a big money fight with Khan in the United Arab Emirates. But the deal fell through.

“We’re not able to fight Amir Khan because of Ramadan, so we decided to take this fight in the interim,” Pacquiao’s advisor Michael Koncz told Fox Sports in Australia.

Koncz said Pacquiao’s fans preferred him to fight the Briton, with that prospect now on the table for October or November.

“We signed it, so yeah, we’re excited about it. But again, my preference was to fight Amir Khan,” Koncz said. “That didn’t work out. We had this on the table so we decided to take it.

Read also: Boxing: Manny Pacquiao ‘in negotiations’ to fight Amir Khan

“Manny will train and do the best he can and hopefully we get the fight over with very quickly, we get out of there, we say hi to the Australian fans and media and come home,” he added.

“Frankly and honestly, and nothing against Jeff Horn – I’ve never met the kid, I don’t know him personally – but the name recognition is I guess why the fans picked Amir Khan.” Koncz said Pacquiao would be staking his World Boxing Organisation welterweight crown against the Australian.

The Filipino, who has been hailed as a virtual national hero in his home country, briefly retired early last year and then ran and won a seat in the Philippine senate.

But the retirement was short-lived as Pacquiao, who said he missed the ring, made a successful comeback against Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas in November.

Read also: Boxing: Pacquiao to fight Britain’s Khan in April