At the advent of the 12^th installment of URCC, Supremacy, a pre-event was held at Warehouse 135 June 28, 2008.  What a long day it has been starting at 7am with a Sky Cable event at Mall of Asia.  11pm, I was right in front of a very intense fight at Warehouse, which CW was refereeing.

Standing there watching the match up close is really something else.  You can feel the intensity from the barely clad bodies on the mats.  I cannot wait to watch the upcoming URCC event.

After collecting a win over Frank The Crank Camacho, Caloy Baduria will be back in the ring waging his middleweight belt against Lakay Wushu’s Edward Folayang.  It’s going to be an exciting match this coming Saturday since these two fighters’ previous matches are correlated to each other.  Caloy has defeated all his opponents by technical knockouts but former URCC champion Allan Co handed his solitary loss.  On the other corner, Edward wreaked Allan’s clean record and gave him his first ever defeat.

The night of July 5 promises some really exciting match-ups.  URCC is your source of the best Pinoy MMA fights in the country where top players from different disciplines battle it out inside the ring.

Ticket price for the event is at PHP 395, PHP 791, and PHP 1,130.  Tickets are available at selected National Book Store and Robinson’s Department stores branches, Ayala malls, Ticketworld (891-9999) or call the URCC hotline 0906-4616968 or 8137809 or log on to www.urccmma.com for details.

Album: http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/493/08_0628-_URCC_XII_Bar_Tour  

The Universal Reality Combat Championship is the country’s first and biggest Mixed Martial Arts event featuring the best MMA fighters in the country.

Catch them perform live all throughout the event! FOR TICKETS, CALL TICKETWORLD 8919999 or log on to http://www.ticketworld.com.ph…………. 

For more information call the URCC Hotline 09064616968 

Dec. 27, 2007. Only 3 days before they flew in, we got information that no-holds barred specialists are hitting Manila. I didn’t believe it at first until I actually saw the posters plastered near Crowne Plaza Hotel. I called Red Corner Boxing and Fitness Gym to confirm that they have arrived and actually doing their training at the same gym I work out at!!! Isn’t that crazy???

Since I was in a long meeting in the morning, Mitch was nice enough to do me a favor. She went to the local photo center in our building, Digiprint, and had several photos printed with my instructions. 5×7 photos of Christian’s action shots during his last fight back in URCC 7 were in glossy and matte sheets.

During lunch break, I dragged Mitch with me to Crown Plaza to see them and get their autograph (I have never asked anyone for an autograph. When Ethan of Survivor Africa was here, it was my friend King who got the autograph for me, other than that, I have never asked for autographs) so it took a lot of guts for me to ask for one. I’m glad Mitch was there to support me. My nerves were essentially shaking and I was too excited to get my words out right. Good thing that all of them were actually nice, although I find Ken Shamrock too arrogant even in person. Before I came up to him, he was actually making fun along with his group some Taiwanese guys who came out of the pool area.

“Babalu” even invited Mitch and me out for lunch, but we declined because we had to go back to the office. Besides, I heard from the grapevine that this guy is kind of a loose canon. After getting the enlarged photos signed as my surprise for Chris, we hurried back to the office totally forgetting that we haven’t eaten anything.

Dec. 28, 2007. Weigh-in and fighter’s orientation. Since Chris wanted to go, I conceded. I wanted to practice shooting anyway. My Canon 350 D DLSR is just collecting dust.

While people were scramming to get the fighters’ autograph, (I was at ease because I got the signatures the day before), Babalu spotted me with Chris and said hello. He asked if Chris was my boyfriend or brother. Chris and I gave each other a meaningful look and smiled (inside info/joke). Richard Lasprilla replied on my behalf and said boyfriend.

One by one, the fighters step in the weighing scale. Team Gracie had a problem with Rico Rodriguez’ weight because it exceeded the range. (Moment of silence) Ok, let me just say that seeing Rico Rodriguez strip is not a happy sight. It was a moment I won’t forget though (grin).

Dec. 29, 2007

Platinum Fighting Productions brought in one of the biggest Mixed Martial Arts event in the country, Ring of Fire. MMA fans were in fits and thrills to watch some of the world’s leading MMA fighters at the Big Dome of Araneta Coliseum. After the Manila show, Platinum Productions will host fights in Korea, Japan and hopefully back to Manila again.

A friend gave Chris a patron ticket to the show. One. But we managed to get another one from another source. On the day before the event, Alvin also gave us tickets (lower box) and we were able to invite Chris’ cousin and his friend. On the day itself, we were handed a couple more and we had a surplus of Patron tickets that we didn’t know what to do with. I invited friends from High School who are UFC fans and they were able to make it and saw the second fight. The selling price of the tickets were too high, the Patron ones selling at almost PHP 10 grand. I guess this is one of the reasons why the crowd gathered to watch was smaller than expected, aside from the fact that promotions might have been a bit late. It didn’t create that much buzz about the event. I was even the one who spread the news to friends, who had no idea at all.

4 teams participated in this event namely Team Gokor, Team Shamrock, Team Barnett and the favorite haling from Brazil, Team Gracie. Team Gokor pitted to compete against Team Barnett while Team Shamrock against Team Gracie. The winning fighters advanced to the finals in Macau China. The fights as seen on UFC was staged in the circular enclosed shaft called the Pentagon.

Kudos to Platinum Productions because mixed martial arts enthusiast like me got to see legends like Royce Gracie, my ultimate crush, Royler Gracie and Ken Shamrock. Mario Yamasaki, one of the better-known referees, officiated the fights. Among the other popular stars are Jeff Monson, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Rico Rodriguez, and Heath Herring.

Album: http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/303/07_1207-_Team_Gracie_in_Red_Corner_Ortigas#

Album: http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/304#

Album: http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/305#

Album: http://cushee.multiply.com/photos/album/308/07_1209-_Ring_of_Fire

Taneo: MMA’s Art of War: China 4, RP 0

Words: Paul J. Taneo

Free-for-all

How do you spell sweep, 4-0 in a best-of-seven series or 4-0 in a four-match pairing? In the case of the URCC (7) “Art of War” two Saturdays ago at the Araneta Coliseum, the latter applies.

It was URCC’s first venture into a Philippines against a foreign country type of competition. The excitement for local fight fans was double: We had four fighters of some renown who had earned fans of their own and taking on foreign fighters.

UNKNOWN. The Chinese MMA group was an unknown entity. All we knew was that all four had won in a mixed-martial-arts tournament in Beijing last month, with one winner dislocating his opponent’s arm in an armbar hold.

We assumed that the URCC band, led by bantamweight champion Mark Sangiao, would be formidable and might win maybe two of the match-ups. We were sorely wrong. The Filipinos all lost.

Our source, one of the incorporators of Mixed Martial Arts Entertainment Inc. who wishes to stay unnamed, was there at ringside to watch the action and even got himself a bonus by posing with the night’s round girls – the Viva Hotbabes.

Salvador Domasian of Elorde MMA Team (10-1-0 after URCC 7) was the first Filipino to taste defeat at the hands (and feet) of the Chinese. All it took for Zhang Tie Quan (19-0-0 with seven KO wins) to be declared the winner was 4:48 minutes in a Referee Stoppage as Domasian could not put up a fight anymore and was on the receiving end of strikes from Zhang.

Alliance Fight Club’s Mike Banayad’s (2-2-2) loss was just a decisive. He said uncle in 9:13 as Dai Shuang Hai (61-4-0, 5 KOs) locked on a rear-naked choke on him.

Christian Wong (2-1-0) of Deftac Jiujitsu was the Pinoy who most gallantly came down in defeat. Wong displayed stand-up skills against Ao Hai Ling (18-7-0 2 KOs) who gamely took him on a strikefest most of the fight but Wong eventually submitted via armbar. The crowd loved the fight so much it gave both fighters a standing ovation.

Mark Sangiao (12-1-0), the great complete package: good stand-up and ground, strong and smart, was the last hope of Team Philippines for a win. Obviously, he wasn’t strong and smart enough as he fell to He Peng hard, real hard, by KO.

Sangiao actually controlled the fight early as he took down He Peng three times but could neither get a submission or strike out the Chinese. He even got full mount on He Peng but the latter was well versed on the ground and his defense was impeccable, never allowing Sangiao to hurt him with blows and holds and manages to reverse or escape.

Then Sangiao’s inability to beat He Peng frustrated him and he let his guard down while being tagged by a jab straight. He started to go down and in mid fall, He Peng released a right roundhouse that tagged him on the head. Wham! Sangiao hit the floor and He Peng fell on him with a punch before the referee could declare the fight over.

Oh, before I forget. All four fights ended in Round 1.

LONG WAY. This shows Philippine MMA still has a long way to go before we could make a dent in the international scene.

Right now, the Universal Reality Combat Championship lords it over Philippine MMA and it is assumed they’ve got the best fighters. But as the 0-4 loss to China showed, our best are not good enough outside the confines of our country. And we had to realize the fact right here at home. Nothing could be more embarrassing or humbling.

We heard the Chinese were paid $1,000 each for fighting in URCC 7 and have signed up to come back. This is a great opportunity for the growth of RP MMA. Like the American imports in the PBA, RP MMA could use the technology transfer.

By the defeat, it is obvious we have more to learn from the Chinese than the other way around. Let us accept that and build on it. Maybe time will come when it will be RP 4, China 0 next time we tangle.

Link: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2005/12/18/sports/taneo.mma.s.art.of.war.china.4.rp.0.html