DEFIANT was Eduard "Landslide" Folayang after his defeat to Shinya Aoki at ONE on TNT 4 on Thursday that he believes that this isn't the last time that the rivals' paths will cross.
"I think hanggang nandito pa kami, magmi-meet kami along the way," he said in the post-fight press conference, believing that this trilogy could further extend to a fourth or fifth match. "I think [our rivalry will reach up to] round five."
Folayang fell once again to Aoki, submitting to an armbar at the 4:20 mark of the first round in their latest faceoff in Singapore.
"Shinya deserved to win. He put the fight in his world and he dominated me," recounted Folayang. "It's just that we weren't able to stop the takedown. We tried a lot of times and yet, Shinya really doesn't want the fight to go on the feet so when he had the advantage to put the game to the ground, he didn't waste the chance to get it."
The former lightweight champion acknowledged that like in his last two defeats, there's still a lot of work to do to get back in the title hunt.
But Folayang reiterated that he's in no way considering retirement yet.
"I believe there will be moments in our life where we'll be in tough situations, but that's not a reason for us to give up," the 37-year-old said. "Shinya has been there after losing to me, and after that, he bounced back. I think that's the essence of this sport, teaching us not to give up but persevere."
"I'm already expecting these kinds of questions and a lot of people will probably tell me, 'Should this failure make me stop?' Or the greatness in me is far more greater? I just really need the perfect time to unleash my greatness. It's probably not now, but sometime in future it will."
After all, Folayang still wants another piece of Aoki in the future, with the Team Lakay warrior hoping to one day return the favor and be the one to make his Japanese foe tap out.
"Of course, it's my dream to submit him. Probably that's the greatest thing I could do. It's a dream, but this is martial arts and nothing is impossible. What's important here is we should not surrender but move forward," he said.
"Kalma lang, guys. Baka we can be able to get back at him again."
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