Eugene Toquero is ready for his Chinese foe in ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS

Eugene Toquero is ready for Chinese foe

by rick olivares

There aren’t many showmen in Philippine sports. You know the type with the gift for gab to go along with knocking out foes?

Eugene Toquero is one such dude. His mixes his exciting striking style with his Pacquiao-esque one-liners and his penchant for grooming his hair that elicits a lot of attention from the crowd. 

The five-foot-five MMA fighter exudes confidence before every fight and on the eve of his flyweight battle with Chinese Li Wei Bin in ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS, he elicits the same. “I prepared for this fight by playing a lot of basketball,” he jokes. “And watching Aldub."

Toquero is 2-2 in the ONE FC and is coming off a three-round unanimous decision loss to Asuka “Riku Shibuya” Mikami last October in ONE FC: TIGERS OF ASIA in Kuala Lumpur. The Japanese striker thoroughly dominated the Filipino bloodying him two occasions and hardly gave him any chance to mount serious offense. 

Toquero would have done well to learn from Brazilian Adriano Moraes who handed the Japanese fighter a beating with great footwork, excellent take down defense, and a variety of kicks and strikes to perplex his foe.

Toquero says he’s shaken off that loss. “I’m ready,” he swears. “Malaking laban to. Chinese pa naman yung kalaban."

His Chinese foe somewhat resembles Mikami — has great footwork and is an aggressive striker and an even excellent counter puncher. And the Chinese striker is a head hunter who likes to pepper foes with jabs. Li is undefeated at 3-0 in the ONE FC and fought last November 21 where he fashioned out a split decision against his compatriot, Wang Ya Wong.

Li fights with a lot of energy and has a lot of gas in his tank.

“Meron din tayo nun at yung crowd sa MOA bukas (Friday, December 11) ang aking gasolina,” he notes. 

Toquero is one of five Filipinos who will be seeing action today at ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS at the Mall of Asia Arena at 7:30pm.