Now fully refreshed, Kevin Belingon returns to the sport he once ruled in ONE Championship.
After going through the worst slump of his illustrious career, a quick change in scenery was all that former ONE Bantamweight MMA World Champion Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon needed to recharge.
Belingon, now fully refreshed, returns to the sport he once ruled against a familiar opponent, Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes, at ONE 171: Qatar inside Lusail Sports Arena in Doha on February 20.
The Filipino shifted his focus to pure grappling, working on his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with his team's grappling coach in BJJ black belt Gibran Langbayan.
“The time away helped me reset. Just seeing a new arena in BJJ competitions, it’s refreshing. Competing in tournaments, winning those tournaments in my time away from MMA, it has certainly helped me refresh,” he said.
It wasn’t like he was expecting to face Fernandes for a fifth time, hence his focus on grappling. But Belingon was happy nonetheless that BJJ was exactly what he needed ahead of his return to MMA action.
Of Fernandes’ 12 wins in ONE Championship, six have come from submissions, and two of those were at Belingon’s expense.
“This will certainly be a big help because we all know how good of a grappler Bibiano is,” he said.
“Having a dedicated BJJ coach around like coach Gibs is truly helpful because he’s been so detailed when it comes to techniques. And those are the things that I can use in this fifth fight against Bibiano.”
The 37-year-old hopes that he gets to hit two birds with one stone in this fight – first, get a semblance of revenge over his tormentor in Fernandes; and second, prove that he still belongs among the best fighters in this weight class.
“This is definitely my last chance against Bibiano, so I’ll certainly do everything to get this win and even the score,” Belingon said.
“What I want to prove is that I’m not done. I’m still strong, I can still hit hard, I can still fight. I want to show in this fight that I’ve improved in this fight,” he added.
“I still feel like I belong with the best of this division. I believe that I’m still quick enough, I’m strong enough, and I can hang around and go toe-to-toe with the best fighters in this division, the younger fighters in this division."