[2] Folayang was a member of Team Lakay Wushu in Baguio from 2007 until he left the gym on March 10, 2023, which has produced numerous Filipino champions in URCC and ONE Championship.

[3][4] The Baguio native made his first Martial Combat debut on June 17, 2010, defeating Slovak fighter Egon Racz via guillotine choke early in the first round.

[7] Folayang started training wushu and boxing when he was 16 years old under the tutelage of head coach Tony Candelaria, who helped him to improve his skills and discipline.

He began teaching English and Physical Education, but six months in, decided to quit to pursue his dreams in martial arts.

[10] After surviving his own impoverished childhood, Folayang now uses his status to promote and help other charities, including raising money for education for under-privileged Filipino children.

On June 30, 2007, Folayang made his professional debut in the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC), the biggest mixed martial arts promotion in the Philippines.

[14] On October 16, 2010, Folayang fought South African Muay Thai specialist Vuyisile Colossa at Martial Combat 12.

Laursen, however, suffered a knee injury in training and was replaced by A Sol Kwon, a South Korean on a six fight winning streak.

Coming from a two-fight losing skid, Folayang faced Dutch fighter Vincent Latoel on December 6, 2013, at ONE FC: Moment of Truth.

For the majority of the fight, Folayang used his takedowns and ground striking offense but was unable to finish his opponent, eventually winning by unanimous decision.

After losing his title, Folayang picked up a couple of wins against Kharun Atlangeriev[22] and Aziz Pahrudinov[23] in 2018 and was given a chance to reclaim the belt at ONE Championship: Conquest of Champions on November 23, 2018, against Singaporean knockout artist Amir Khan.

[24] On March 31, 2019, Folayang lost the lightweight title again in a rematch with Shinya Aoki at ONE Championship: A New Era via technical submission.

[27] After dominating early in the fight with his kicks, an accidental clash of heads in the second round cut Folayang open and rendered him unable to continue.

However, he was rescheduled instead to have a trilogy match against Shinya Aoki after Akiyama pulled out due to suffering an injury during training camp.

[45] Folayang left Team Lakay Wushu, his longtime training camp in Baguio City, on March 10, 2023 due to undisclosed reasons.

[46] On June 24, 2023, it was announced that Folayang had formed his own team, Lions Nation MMA, with fellow ex-Team Lakay members Kevin Belingon, Joshua Pacio, Stephen Loman and Honorio Banario.