Monday, June 10, 2019

Eduard Folayang To Face Former UFC Champion Eddie Alvarez In One Championship: Dawn Of Heroes

At different points during the rise of Eduard Folayang as a mixed martial artist, fans of the fight game have always wondered how he would fare inside the biggest stage for MMA: the UFC. For the better part of his current career, the Team Lakay standout has fought under One Championship. With the recent spate of UFC fighters migrating to One Championship, fight fans are now seeing how talents from both promotions fare against each other.

The latest  in these interesting match-ups is the recent announcement by One Championship that Folayang will be facing Eddie Alvarez this coming August 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena for One Championship: Dawn of Heroes. The two are at a very intriguing crossroad. They are both coming off losses. In the same card last March, Folayang got choked out by Shinya Aoki and Alvarez got stopped by Timofey Nastyukhin.

They are desperate for a win because it's their only ticket to being considered as a potential opponent for Christian Lee, the reigning One Championship lightweight king. Lee captured the belt when he knocked out Aoki last May.

Eddie Alvarez, the former UFC Lightweight Champion during his debut for One Championshio. Photo: One Championship
This is a battle of former champions. Folayang is a former One Championship lightweight champion. Alvarez is a former lightweight champion in two different promotions - UFC and Bellator. He left the UFC in 2018 right after losing to Dustin Poirier. One Championship signed him up and he made his debut against Nastyukhin in March of this year.

Obviously, Alvarez is more experienced and has faced much better competition. He has shared the cage with the likes of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Rafael Dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis, Donald Cerrone, Michael Chandler, the list goes on and on.

This is going to be a huge test for both fighters.