Hard-hitting Filipino dynamo
Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon is in deep training for his second encounter
against reigning ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes.
Both men are set to collide
in the co-main event of ONE: HEART OF THE LION, which takes place at the
Singapore Indoor Stadium on 9 November.
The 30-year-old Baguio City
resident fell short in his first attempt to snatch Fernandes' world title in
January 2016 after he was submitted in the opening round with a wrenching
Kimura lock.
Belingon worked his way back
to the top since that fateful night as he is currently riding a six-bout
winning streak against top-tier competition.
In his most recent outing,
Belingon defeated two-division champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen to
capture the ONE Interim Bantamweight Title.
Unlike Nguyen, however,
Fernandes is considered a much more dangerous foe on the ground, making the
entire of Team Lakay work together to improve Belingon's grappling before the
rematch.
"Training is going
really well. I have the entire team with me on this as I work on my wrestling
and Jiu-Jitsu. What we do is go down from the mountains to train with Coach
John Baylon. We do the basics, gather what we can use in actual bouts, and then
go back to Baguio to do it all over again. We trim down what can be used for
our contests and what not," he said.
"It's so hard to roll
with Coach John. He's difficult to control, and his technique is on another
level. Despite his age, he's very strong and is very flexible. We, at Team
Lakay, would usually get submitted by Coach John. Other than that, Eduard
Folayang has also brought in new techniques he learned from his training camp
in the US," Belingon added.
Former ONE Lightweight World
Champion Eduard Folayang is one of Belingon's high-profile training partners in
fine-tuning his ground game against the longtime kingpin of the 65.8-kilogram
weight class.
Despite the team being
composed of mostly white belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Folayang bared that they
have built a system which has a practical and effective use when it comes to
mixed martial arts.
"We focus on No-Gi
Jiu-Jitsu and its practical uses in mixed martial arts. The American approach
to grappling is a bit different. It is about going to a dominant position and
not forcing to secure a submission. What I learned is to get to a dominant
position and then score from there," Folayang explained.
"I think we have a good
grappling base in Wushu. That is a huge factor because in Wushu. you do
takedowns with a pair of gloves. Another factor is we now have the confidence
that even if we go to the ground, we do not worry about getting easily
submitted," the former lightweight titleholder continued.
Team Lakay's head coach Mark
Sangiao, meanwhile, believes that his valued pupil is presently a much more
complete martial artist compared to his first encounter with Fernandes.
"We all know that
Bibiano is very good on the ground. We are preparing for that, and we are
looking for high-level training partners that Kevin can roll with. Our base is
Wushu, which has takedowns and striking, but we lack in grappling,"
Sangiao stated.
"Our fighters’ skill
set is complete now. Jiu-Jitsu has the same techniques, but in a mixed martial
arts contest, some of its techniques would work and some of it would not. What
we did is pick what we can apply and what we cannot in actual bouts," the
Team Lakay headmaster expounded further.
As their own blueprint to
topple a versatile foe like Fernandes remains a top secret, the only
information that Sangiao can give is that Belingon’s mindset is extremely
determined to walk out of the cage as the undisputed ONE Bantamweight World
Champion.
"He's very motivated.
He wants to be the one true king of the bantamweight division. He will do
everything just to win,” he ended.