ONE FC: Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio is Team Lakay’s leadoff man and enigmatic fourth wheel
It was a great experience joining our friends from ONE FC and members of the media a few weeks back in the City of Pines as we got a rare glimpse of the training sessions that Team Lakay undergoes in preparation for ONE FC: “Moment of Truth”, which happens this Friday, December 6th at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.
Naturally, the standard bearers of Team Lakay got much of the focus during media availability as former world champion Honorio "The Rock" Banario, Kevin "The Silencer" Belingon and Eduard "Landslide" Folayang were there usual accommodating selves after hours of hard workat the Lakay Central Gym in La Trinidad, Benguet under renowned coach Mark Sangiao. However, the fourth member of Team Lakay seeing action in this, the thirteenth instalment of Asia’s premier Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) endeavor was quietly immersed in his training when the media requested for a few moments with him.
It turns out Geje Eustaquio is a charismatic, eloquent and driven character who seems to be either soaking in being out of the limelight his more veteran teammates find themselves in or is just oblivious to the grandeur he is in the midst of. The former Philippine Wushu Team campaigner will be taking on fellow Filipino fighter (and undefeated foe) Eugene Toquero in one of the supporting bouts this coming Friday.
“I believe Team Lakay is ready and I’ll do everything I can to bounce back (in ‘Moment of Truth’),” the University of the Cordilleras product disclosed.
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Eustaquio dropped a heartbreaking decision against American up-and-comer Andrew Leone last May 31st in ONE FC 9 “Rise to Power” (also held the MOA Arena); absorbing only his second defeat in six matches since turning pro in early 2011. In fact, the Filipinos were shut out in what has been dubbed as the toughest fight card for the hometown contingent since ONE FC’s inception.
He’s not about to let that happen again.
“I learned from my last loss,” Eustaquio admits. “I’m very ready.”
Eustaquio’s two losses have come on decisions, while of his four wins only one went the distance. Toquero has garnered all of his four victories by virtue of knockouts. It will be interesting to see how Eustaquio mixes things up.
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He burst into the MMA consciousness in URCC Baguio 3-Invasion, which was held at the Baguio Convention Center in February of 2011 with an impressive first round thrashing of Rex Wa-O of Muay Boran. It was the same event that also featured Banario in his third professional fight, also scoring an emphatic first round submission triumph via punches against Iranian journeyman Seyed Razi Jabbari. Banario and Eustaquio’s careers would go on to be intertwined under Sangiao and the development of Team Lakay would go through their eventual successes.
But Team Lakay suffered its most painful setback “Rise to Power” when all five of its entries (including Rey Docyogen, who is not seeing action in this event) ended up on the worng side of the ledger—most devastating being Banario’s second round TKO loss at the hands of present Featherweight champion Koji Oishi, costing him his title. The squad went 0-5 and those in attendance that night began doubting if Team Lakay was indeed ready to clash with international competition. Looking back at the results, only Banario’s title fight ended abruptly. The four other contests went to the judges’ scorecards and unfortunately had the Filipinos on the losing end. The victories attained by the opposition, although perhaps accurate, were not definitive. Losses are still losses, however, and Team Lakay headed back to Benguet with a sense of heaviness. They went back to the proverbial drawing board.
Now, Eustaquio intends to set the tone being the first of the four to take to the octagon on Friday.
“We won’t get shut out,” he said. “We’ve been training hard as you saw, and we will strive to make everyone proud.”
As the contingent’s leadoff man, the pressure is on him to deliver early. Going up against an opponent with an unscathed record makes the challenge even more harrowing, but the enigmatic Baguio youngster—who lists his present occupation as a janitor at the Lakay Central Gym—could be on the cusp of not only bouncing back from a loss, but also a major leap towards a bigger starring role in Philippine MMA.
For now, he’ll retake those baby steps. The pressure is on, but his demeanour appears to make him the perfect man to initiate the arduous task at hand.
Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com
