{"id":253088,"date":"2026-07-15T19:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/luckily-i-recovered-shozo-isojima-reflects-on-early-knockdown-scare-against-eduard-folayang\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T19:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:31:14","slug":"luckily-i-recovered-shozo-isojima-reflects-on-early-knockdown-scare-against-eduard-folayang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/luckily-i-recovered-shozo-isojima-reflects-on-early-knockdown-scare-against-eduard-folayang\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLuckily, I recovered\u201d &#8211; Shozo Isojima reflects on early knockdown scare against Eduard Folayang"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5192097\" data-slug-id=\"2808736\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Great Teacher&#8221; Shozo Isojima of Japan stopped former three-time ONE lightweight MMA world champion Eduard Folayang via TKO at 4:29 of Round 1 in the co-main event of The Inner Circle 21 on Friday at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. However, the finish was anything but clean.<\/p>\n<p>Folayang&#8217;s right hand dropped Isojima early in the round, and for a brief moment the fight looked as though it could unravel entirely for the N-Trust representative.<\/p>\n<p>Back-to-back losses had already put pressure on the 28-year-old heading into the night, and getting floored by a Filipino legend in the opening exchange <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-the-technique-taking-opponent-shozo-isojima-relies-heavy-grappling-pedigree-stifle-eduard-folayang\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">was not part of the plan.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He got back up, answered with his own knockdown, and eventually finished the veteran on the ground for the biggest win of his career.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"bottom-tagline top\" data-tab=\"top\">\n<p>Get the latest updates on One Championship <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/one-championship-rankings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\" class=\"bottom_tagline_link\" data-tab=\"top\">Rankings<\/a> at Sportskeeda and more<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Speaking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/go\/one-championship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">ONE Championship<\/a> after the fight, &#8220;Great Teacher&#8221; was candid about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-a-wall-i-need-overcome-shozo-isojima-embraces-monumental-challenge-facing-filipino-mma-icon-eduard-folayang\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">how chaotic it felt from the inside<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;He took me down (with that right hand). At that time, (I) was panicking. But luckily, I recovered and put him on the ground, too. That helped a lot.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Japanese star added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I ended up winning against him by striking. But to be honest, this is my first time finishing a fight with striking. I&#8217;m very happy about that, but the situation was very up and down.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Shozo Isojima rates his performance after career-best win<\/h2>\n<p>The victory moved Shozo Isojima to 7-2 and delivered the signature result he had been chasing.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Japanese perfectionist wasn\u2019t happy with his performance.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the win, that didn&#8217;t stop him from being brutally honest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-shozo-isojima-plans-survive-early-striking-exchanges-drag-eduard-folayang-deep-waters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">about what he put on display.<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I want to be able to improve (the ability of) controlling the performance of the game, and also improve (my) level. I can&#8217;t be like this. I&#8217;d rate my performance four out of ten,&#8221; he told ONE.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Inner Circle 21 replay is available for Inner Circle Superfan Club members at<a href=\"https:\/\/live.onefc.com\/?utm_source=one_web&amp;utm_medium=partner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\"> live.onefc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Joseph Schiefelbein<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-luckily-i-recovered-shozo-isojima-reflects-early-knockdown-scare-eduard-folayang\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Great Teacher&#8221; Shozo Isojima of Japan stopped former three-time ONE lightweight MMA world champion Eduard Folayang via TKO at 4:29 of Round 1 in the co-main event of The Inner Circle 21 on Friday at Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok. However, the finish was anything but clean. Folayang&#8217;s right hand dropped Isojima early in the round, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-253088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}