Third-ranked ONE lightweight contender Pieter āThe Archangelā Buist of The Netherlands fought and defeated former ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard āLandslideā Folayang of the Philippines as recently as January of this year. So he is familiar with the Filipinoās game and the kinds of threats he poses.
Which is why Buist, who witnessed Folayangās most recent loss against Australiaās Alex Caruso, believes the 36-year-old veteran came into the bout at a mental disadvantage.
Folayang dropped a close unanimous decision to Caruso just last week, at ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX in Singapore. Prior to the bout, many fans and analysts wondered if āLandslideā would consider riding off into the sunset and calling it a career if he suffered another setback. With the Caruso loss, Folayang has now dropped four of his last five.
In a recent interview, Buist explained how important a role mindset plays in every fight.
āIt looked like Eduard was missing some batteries. Against me he was more aggressive, more outgoing. And now he was hesitating. I think he buckled under the pressure of āyeah he has to win this fight, because if he doesnāt win, he must stopā,ā said Buist.
āYou know, for a fighter, a lot of people donāt understand, especially those who donāt fight. Itās around 85 to 90 percent mental. The rest is physical. So if mentally, youāre not there, you will lose.ā
Against Caruso, Folayang certainly did not appear like his true self, or at the very least, was unable to show what he was truly capable of in the Circle. The Filipino veteran appeared a step behind Caruso for the duration of the contest, noticeably lagging behind his younger foe in both striking and grappling exchanges.
Having also fought and defeated Caruso just last year, Buist could see the specific difficulties Folayang had against his Australian foe. Buist is convinced that Folayangās mental state greatly affected the former lightweight kingās output.
āNo matter how strong physically you are, for all the fighters, itās the same. Itās mental warfare always. It begins with mental warfare and ends with mental warfare,ā said Buist.
āThe physical part is punching, beating, choking, you know. I think mentally, he wasnāt there. But Caruso is a good fighter. I fought him also. Heās a true warrior. He comes to fight. For him, it was the same thing. I think Caruso was, mentally, better prepared than Eduard.ā
Buist returns to action this Friday night at ONE: INSIDE THE MATRIX II, a previously-recorded event from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore scheduled for air on 6 November. āThe Archangelā takes on fourth-ranked lightweight contender Timofey Nastyukhin in what is expected to be an action-packed affair.
The headline bout features reigning ONE Welterweight World Champion Kiamrian āBrazenā Abbasov of Kyrgyzstan defending his title against undefeated American James Nakashima.
Watch the event this Friday, 6 November on One Sports+ at 8:30 p.m. Philippine Standard Time (PHT). One Sports will air the event on a same-day delay at 9 p.m. PHT. Additionally, TV5 will air the event on a next-day delay at 11 p.m. PHT.
About ONE Championshipā¢
ONE Championship (ONE) is the largest global sports media property in Asian history, and the largest producer of millennial live sports content in Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, ONE is the Home of Martial Arts, and is the world’s largest martial arts organization, hosting bouts across all styles of martial arts such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Karate, Kung Fu, Silat, Sanda, Lethwei, Mixed Martial Arts, Tae Kwon Do, Submission Grappling, and more. ONE hosts the biggest sports entertainment events across Asia, featuring some of the world’s best martial artists and world champions on the largest global media broadcast in Asia. ONE eSports, a subsidiary of ONE Championship, runs Asia’s largest eSports league with some of the biggest blockbuster titles in the world. In addition to its digital platforms, ONE Championship broadcasts to over 1.7 billion potential viewers across 138 countries with some of the largest global broadcasters, including Fox Sports, ABS-CBN, Astro, ClaroSports, Bandsports, Startimes, Premier Sports, Thairath TV, Skynet, Mediacorp, OSN, and more.
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