It appears that all is well between Ev "E.T." Ting and Eduard "Landslide" Folayang after the "ONE Championship: Kings of Destiny" MMA bout. The former was not able to dethrone the latter as the ONE lightweight world champion on April 21, Friday, in Pasay City, Philippines.
"A lot of positives and negatives still busy on my mind but much respect to the champ," Ting said referring to Folayang in a statement exclusively obtained by Yibada. "I really hope he reaps the rewards real champions like himself deserves."
"This sport or game is the hurt business and I am well aware of it now," Ting said of MMA. "No one cares when you lose. I left my heart and skills in that center cage looking for an exciting 'fight' but came out short. Onwards and forwards."
Before losing to Folayang, Ting defeated Filipino fighters Rolandy Dy, Edward Kelly, Cary Bullos and Honorio Banario. On Feb. 11, 2012, Ting had his first MMA loss in Macau, China, in the featherweight division at "Legend FC 7," which was won by Filipino-American fighter Mark Striegl via choke submission.
At "ONE Championship: Kings of Destiny," Folayang won over Ting via unanimous decision after five rounds. After the announcement of his victory, the first person Folayang thanked was Ting.
"I would like to thank Ev Ting," Folayang said. "He really came prepared for this fight. We came to give the fans a good fight, and that's what we have done."
For Folayang, that was the essence of martial arts. In five rounds, he and Ting showed how much they have prepared for a long time and the fight meant a lot, the Team Lakay fighter pointed out.
As Folayang acknowledged, many MMA fans were discouraged the last time he fought in the Philippines. Timofey Nastyukhin of Russia defeated Folayang via knockout at "ONE FC 23: Warrior's Way" on Dec. 5, 2014.
"I slept on that mat," Folayang said. "I rose from my circumstances. I needed to train a lot, to improve a lot. This is it on my shoulder. Thank you for your support."
Currently, Ting has 13 wins, 4 losses and 0 draw while Folayang has 18 wins, 5 losses and 0 draw. Here is a clip featuring the two Asian MMA stars: