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“Bakbakan na! [The fight is on!]” has been the rallying call of
the young but dynamic mixed martial arts tradition in the
Philippines and with that commenced the Universal Reality Combat
Championship (URCC) 12 entitled “Supremacy.” The thick crowd in
the A. Venue Events Hall in Makati proves that there was no sign of
waning down of Pinoys’ enthusiasm toward the URCC.
The 10-bout fight night kicked off with the
match between Jerry Legaspi of Hybrid Yaw Yan and Anthony Dominic So
of Mmax Combat. It was a quick fight with Legaspi pulling off a
clean rear naked choke on So that resulted to the latter’s
submission. The next bout also ended fast with Carry Bullos of Sel-Def
Mixed Martial Arts Team besting Arnel Arancina of Gym Kata with
ground-and-pound tactics followed by a choke.
In fight number three, Lando Espinosa of Elorde
Mixed Martial Arts Team wowed the crowd when he tapped out John
Naval, a veteran Kyokushinkai karate fighter of Team Silver Storm
with an arm bar. The fourth match of the night also ended with
submission with Robert Sardone of Iron Gladiator emerging victorious
over Noble Ampoc of Yaw Yan Ardigma. The next bout saw veteran URCC
fighter Roldan Cartajena of Yaw Yan sneaked in a rear choke over
Marlon Abrigosa, of SB Streetfighting, who lost via tap out.
The sixth match of the evening was a fight
between big boys Dennis Valmores of SB Streetfighting and Ed Uy of
Hybrid Yaw Yan. Uy won the match when the referee halted the contest
after Valmores can no longer defend himself from his opponent’s
barrage of punches. Fight number seven drove the crowd wild when
Panchito Estrada of the Elorde Mixed Martial Arts Team took on
Iranian fighter Seyed Razi Jabbari. Jabbari absorbed a lot of
punishment from Estrada during the early moments of the fight but
managed to make a comeback and win via rapid fire striking. The
referee stopped the match when Jabbari’s blows went unanswered.
Kevin Belingon of Lakay Wushu retained his
flyweight title after beating Magellan Perez of Elorde Mixed Martial
Arts Team in the eighth fight through an arm lock. Belingon caught
the attention of local mixed martial scene when he defeated URCC
legend Richard Lasprilla last year.
Lino “The Terminator” Tagacay of Gym Kata
and Philipppine Army Team, the reigning URCC bantamweight champion,
however lost his title to Justin Cruz of Fokai, Guam on the second
to the last match of the evening. A boxer by training, Tagacay who
is a stand-up fighter managed to dominate both two rounds until the
jujitsu stylist succeeded in wrapping an ankle lock on him. The
fighter from Guam though declared the winner, collapsed from
exhaustion after the fight.
The last match, dubbed as the “super fight”
of the night is a clash between two URCC reigning champions: Eduard
Folayang of Lakay Wushu Team, holder of the welterweight title and
Caloy Baduria, holder of the middleweight title. The final bout
lasted 3:41 seconds in the first round with Folayang living up to
his moniker “Landslide” raining crushing blows on Baduria’s
face prompting the referee to stop the fight. One URCC commentator
once described Folayang’s exceptional physique as resembling the
wooden statue of the native highlands hunter in Baguio. Folayang’s
superb conditioning indeed served him well in dominating the last
two URCCs.
Also during the event, URCC founder Alvin
Aguilar bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award to Master Napoleon
“Nap” Fernandez, founder of the Filipino martial art of Yaw Yan
(short for sayaw ng kamatayan [dance of death]). Another notable
Pinoy fighter recognized during the evening was Vince Soberano, the
only Filipino who won a muay thai championship in Thailand.
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