WITH the 2024 Paris Olympics right around the corner, the spotlight will be on the national athletes who will be carrying the flag for the Philippines in the quadrennial spectacle.
A stint with the national team especially for combat sports athletes usually ends with them competing in the pro-ranks, several of which have taken a career in mixed martial arts where they’ve become staples in ONE Championship.
Who knows, maybe one of our five boxers led by the brilliant Nesthy Petecio could soon add up to that tally. Judo’s a good base for MMA, maybe Kiyomi Watanabe wants to give it a shot?
So before the Olympics gets going, we take a look at some of our national athletes who’ve found success in the sport of MMA.
Eduard “Landslide” Folayang
Who else but Landslide?
The face of Philippine mixed martial arts was already making the country proud even before he headlined the first ever ONE Championship event against A Sol Kwon.
When Folayang main evented that inaugural Singapore card, he was just two months removed from his gold medal victory in men’s sanshou (sanda) in the wushu competitions of the 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta.
It was the third SEA Games gold medal for the leader of Lions Nation MMA, previously winning in the same weight division in 2003 in Hanoi and in 2005 in Manila.
Folayang, a former two-time ONE Lightweight MMA World Champion, also copped a silver medal in the same category in the 2006 Doha Asian Games and a bronze in the 2002 Busan Asian Games.
Jenelyn “The Graceful” Olsim
Olsim has been conducting a juggling act, being part of the ONE Championship roster and the Philippine national kickboxing team for the better part of the past six years.
And that duty has paid dividends for the ONE Warrior Series alumnus, winning three medals in the past three SEA Games.
Her first was in 2019 in Manila where she took home the silver in the women’s 54kg in Muay Thai, before competing in vovinam in Hanoi 2021 and Kun Khmer in Cambodia 2023, both of which ending in bronze medal finishes.
Carlo “The Bull” Bumina-ang
The newest member of the ONE Championship roster has also made his mark wearing the national tri-colors.
Bumina-ang was a silver medalist in vovinam in the men’s 65kg in Hanoi 2021 and got a bronze in kickboxing in the men’s full contact 67kg in Cambodia 2023.
No question, the Team Lakay stalwart is indeed world-class even before he went on a five-fight tear in the ONE Friday Fights circuit, resulting to him winning the $100,000 contract to compete in the ONE Championship main roster – starting this August 3 against Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu at ONE Fight Night 24.
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