Cyborg preaches to Eduard Folayang, Joshua Pacio the importance of evolving as a martial artist
Cris Cyborg stressed the importance of constantly learning and evolving as a fighter as a way of preventing potential opponents from knowing exactly what to expect.
When it comes to getting advice, there are few better than reigning Bellator women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. Over the last 20 years, she has carried world titles in practically every major promotion in North America. Today, she continues to challenge herself, recently stepping inside the squared circle to test her boxing skills.
During a recent interview with The MMA Superfan, Cyborg spoke about the recent departures of ONE world champions Eduard Folayang and Joshua Pacio from their long-time gym, Team Lakay. After facing some adversity as of late, the Filipino fan favorites walked away from the storied gym in an effort to evolve their MMA game and get back to scoring wins instead of losses.
Cris Cyborg commended both Folayang and Pacio for making the necessary move and believes that a key to their return to the win column will be to show future opponents something different inside the Circle.
“Because in our sport, it’s getting better every time,” Cyborg said. “The people getting better every time. When you fight, people watch you, and then they study you to beat you.”
While Joshua Pacio has had a fairly successful run under the ONE Championship banner, his loss to Jarred Brooks in December has the former strawweight world champion looking at ways to better develop his skill set in an inevitable big to reclaim the crown.
As for Eduard Folayang, ‘Landslide’ has seen a much more decisive drop-off from his glory days as the ONE lightweight world titleholder. Folayang has long seven of his last eight bouts dating back to 2019. That includes an active five-fight winless streak. At 39 years old, many believe it’s simply time for Folayang to hang up the gloves, but ‘Landslide’ is convinced that he has a few more fights left in him before walking away.