Sangiao and the young “Furious 5” of ONE

April 16, 2022 Provincial

The son of what could be the most successful stable in Asia’s top mixed martial arts promotions is one of the five teenagers to succeed in their first encounter in the octagon ring.
Team Lakay founder namesake and eldest son Jhanlo Mark Sangiao was successful in his first fight in the Home of Martial Arts and bearing the iconic name of his father Mark, the head coach of Team Lakay.
It was pressure for the 19- year old who saw from a young age how his father fought and trained wushu sanda artists and later MMA fighters like Eduard Folayang, Geje Eustaquio, Honorio Banario, Kevin Belingon, and Joshua Pacio, all of whom became champions in their respective divisions. He made his father, who bequeathed to him his stage name, The Machine when he defeated veteran Paul Lumihi in
the opening stanza of their bantamweight clash at ONE: WINTER WARRIORS II in December last year.
The young Sangiao opened up with some sharp striking against the Indonesian and then dragged his opponent to the canvas to impose his
ground game. After dropping Lumihi, the teener sank in the rear-naked choke when his foe turned away from the strikes and offered up his back.
The Machine II is now 4-0 in his professional career and the future looks bright for the young Sangiao who trained with some of the greatest
fighters in the world at his father’s Baguio City gym.
The young Sangiao joined four other fellow teeners who opened their ONE bid in flying colors. Among them are siblings Victoria and Christian Lee, younger siblings of Atomweight queen Angela.
The 16-year-old Victoria, called The Prodigy, made her debut in February 2021 with a win over Sunisa Srisen where she submitted the Thai in the second round. Christian was only 17 when he made his debut in December 2015 when he needed just 29 seconds to stop Australian David Meak.
It was one of the quickest finishes in ONE history and six years later, the middle of the three Lee siblings has one of the most finishes with 14 and 10 knockouts.
And he has also won the ONE lightweight title as well as the ONE Lightweight World Grand Prix Championship in 2019. Anna “Supergirl” Jaroonsak burst into the promotion’s all-striking league in the ONE Super Series where she logged a sensational first-round finish over Milagros Lopez at ONE: A NEW BREED II in September 2020.
At that time, a mere 16-year-old, the Thai phenom ripped through her Argentinian rival with ferocious straight punches.
Then there is also the 17-year-old Smilla Sundell, the Hurricane who is set to compete for the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight Muay Thai World Title at ONE: Eersel vs. Sadikovic on April 22.
Sundell delivered a storm of a debut performance against Diandra Martin at ONE: FULL CIRCLE this past February. The 17-year-old Swede battered her foe with all of the tools in her arsenal, dropping Martin in every frame of their three-round battle.
The victory impressed ONE and booked her for the title fight against Jackie Buntan.
Pigeon Lobien/ABN