This appears on abc-cbnnews.com
One FC connects with a huge haymaker for MMA in the Philippine sports scene
One FC connects with a huge haymaker for MMA in the Philippine sports scene
by rick olivares
The biggest Mixed Martial Arts event
to hit the Philippines, One Fighting Championship: Pride of the Nation, began
and ended with a one-sided fight in which fans couldn’t wait to end.
Nevertheless, it was a terrific fight night complete with great action, stunning
upsets, an expected retirement, and some controversy.
With an 11-bout card, the event was
stacked featuring local favorites, familiar names, fighters hoping to recreate
past magic, and some regional unknowns. But picking up the reins from the
magnificent strides of the local Universal Reality Combat Championship, One FC,
showed that there is indeed a market in the Philippines, for what is said to be
the fastest growing sport in the world, mixed martial arts.
Enomoto-Folayang
Eduard Folayang, current URCC
Welterweight Champion, faced off against Japanese-Swiss Felipe Enomoto, in the
penultimate bout of the event that ended way past one o’clock in the morning.
The match was easily the most
anticipated fight outside the fourth meeting of Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia
as the Enomoto-Folayang fight had all sorts of undertones to it despite this
being the first meeting between the two fighters.
Last February 11, in the One Fighting
Championship: Battle of Heroes in Jakarta, Indonesia, Enomoto defeated Fil-Dane
Ole Laursen via second round submission. One month later, Laursen bounced back
albeit with a controversial split decision over Folayang in One FC: War of the
Lions held in Singapore.
“The fight is important because I know
I beat Laursen but the judges didn’t think that way,” said Folayang in the
vernacular before the fight. “If I can defeat Enomoto who won over Laursen, I
will know in my heart and mind that I never lost to Laursen.”
And Folayang showed why he is dubbed
“Landslide”. More than a resident of Baguio, the Philippines’ summer capital,
where landslides occur along the mountainous region, the former physical
education teacher rained down strikes, elbows, and kicks on Enomoto in the
first two rounds.
Enomoto took massive shots from
Folayang but every now and then, he landed a telling strike of his own one of
which immediately opened up a nasty welt underneath the Filipino’s right eye in
the first round.
After expending tremendous energy in
trying to bludgeon Enomoto, Folayang ran out of steam in the third and final
round as the Swiss fighter began to connect on a series of shots to the head
that rocked the hometown favorite. But Enomoto’s best wasn’t good enough on
this night as Folayang won the bout via unanimous decision to hike his win
record to 12-2.
Sylvia-Arlovski
Part Four
As far as MMA rivalries go, the fourth
meeting between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski had a lot of hype or disinterest
depending on one’s point of view. The first two battles in UFC 51 and UFC 59
respectively were slugfests from the opening bell with Arlovski and Sylvia
respectively picking up a win via first round knockouts. In UFC 61 (July 2006),
the two, mindful of each other’s striking power, preferred to jab from a
distance. Sylvia picked up a unanimous decision win to loud choruses from
Mandalay Center audience that felt was treated to a lackluster fight. However,
it was learned later on that the reason for both fighters’ seeming reluctance
to mix it up was because Arlovski suffered a broken a leg due to a Sylvia kick
in the second round while the latter suffered an undetected concussion that saw
him faint hours afterwards.
In their fourth meeting in Manila with
both fighters trying to resuscitate their flagging heavyweight careers, Sylvia
promised to shove the Belarusian’s plastic fangs (that he wears as props) down
his throat. He came close to accomplishing that but the result was a thrilling
and ultimately unsatisfying was a bar room brawl gone wild.
Arlovski, who from day one of the One
FC event’s promotions made it memorable with his one-liners and enthusiasm, and
Sylvia engaged in what might be the signature fight of the evening.
Sylvia looked like his old fearless
self as he was the aggressor early on. And he appeared to get the better of his
rival in the first two rounds with a series of jabs, uppercuts and knees to
Arlovski’s head and body. But the Belarusian, unlike his recent performances
where he would fade early, countered as he rocked the American with shots to
the head.
In the second round, one Arlovski
strike saw Sylvia’s mouth guard knocked out. As the American attempted to
insert it inside his mouth, Arlovski seized the moment with Sylvia momentarily
defenseless. He threw some strikes but the American managed to clinch himself
out of trouble.
In the third round, Arlovski finally
dropped his foe with a pair of shots. As Sylvia fell, Arlovski realizing the
moment was his, went in for a pair of soccer kicks. Referee Yuji Shimada called
for time and issued Arlovski a yellow card. One FC rules stipulate that a
fighter can only go for kicks to the head after securing permission from the
referee to do so.
The courtside doctor checked up on
Sylvia who said he was seeing double but the judges ruled that the fight
continue. With Sylvia still unable to do so, the bout was declared a no contest
with fight officials hinting at a fifth fight between the two.
Backstage, one event official said
that with all the negative press that the National Football League is receiving
stemming from the concussions and suicides of its former players, there is
greater emphasis on fighter protection.
The result drew boos from the crowd
who earlier saw “The New York Bad Ass” Phil Baroni lay waste to his Brazilian
opponent Rodrigo Ribiero in similar fashion.
Baroni-Ribiero
The third fight of the evening saw an
incredibly loose Baroni ham it up for the crowd. Wearing a New York Yankees
away jersey, the self proclaimed “Future Legend” sashayed onto the octagon and
showed some nifty dance moves. Once he got it on with Ribiero, he was all
business. The New York Bad Ass immediately tagged the Brazilian with a right
that sent him staggering back. Baroni was all over him as he mixed up a series
of right hammer strikes with a kick to the head. Baroni kicked at Ribiero four
times before Shimada, who also officiated the fight, pulled the American away
giving his a first round victory and the quickest result of the night.
On his way out of the ring following
his victory, Baroni picked up ring girl Kim Ha Yul much to the delight of the
crowd. “You have to put on a show for the fans. I’m a fun-loving guy and I show
it,” explained Baroni backstage.
Baroni evened his record to 15-15-0
and the New Yorker said: “I got him (Ribiero) early and never let him get into
the fight. I’m happy with this win because I got to do this in front of the
first big MMA fight in the Philippines. And it evens up my record.”
When asked about the “future legend” on
his shirts, Baroni promised with a hearty laugh, “I am working on it.”
Pulver-Kelly
In the eagerly anticipated Eric
Kelly-Jens Pulver match, the former won the fight but the latter won the crowd.
Kelly, who along with Folayang are the
top names in Philippine MMA, showed his superb conditioning and explosive power
as he rocked the American early on. But Pulver proved to be adept and telling
on his counter attacks as he took the first round.
Come the second round, Kelly, who
fights out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, came out attacking as two quick punches
rocked Li’l Evil as Pulver is nicknamed. The American shrugged off the punches
and dared Kelly to bring it on. The Filipino obliged and with two rights and a
kick to the midsection, dropped Pulver to his knees. Kelly threw a few more
strikes after which the referee put a stop to the fight.
Kelly hiked his record to a perfect
8-0 while Pulver fell to 26-17-1. Pulver announced his possible retirement from
fighting and he surprised the crowd by saying that he was donating the profits of
a shirt of his being sold online to the relief efforts for the victims of the
recent typhoons that have plagued the Philippines. The crowd, biased for the
hometown fighters, lustily cheered on Pulver.
Backstage the American said, “That kid
(Kelly) is good. Now if that didn’t knock some sense into me then I don’t know
what will. Yeah, I think this is as good as any time to hang it up. I’ve had a
good run. Been champion. Done that.”
After Kelly’s win, he was informed on
stage by Cui that he will be taking on fellow Filipino and current URCC
Lightweight Champion Honorio Banario (who dispatched of an overmatched Andrew
Benibe in the first match of the night) this coming October in One Fighting
Championship: Rise of Kings in Singapore. The announcement somewhat soured
Kelly’s victory as the crowd did not relish the idea of two Filipinos clashing
for the One FC featherweight title.
Kim-Belingon
In other matches, URCC Flyweight
Champion Kevin Belingon lost his second consecutive One FC fight when he fell
to Korean Soo Chul Kim via unanimous decision. Kim came out aggressive from the
opening bell when he repeatedly took down Belingon and pummeled him with a
series of hammer fists. Belingon, on the defensive for the most part, occasionally
managed to slip out of the various locks the Korean employed on him. But Kim,
slippery and maintaining his aggressiveness, would reverse the move and get
back on top of the Filipino.
Belingon, egged on by the crowd, tried
to keep the fight from going to the canvass where the ground game was more to
the Korean’s advantage. The Filipino bloodied Kim but he shook it off and
continued his attack.
In the final round, Belingon was able
to take down Kim but the Korean deftly prevented the hometown favorite from
latching onto a submission maneuver as he picked up the victory via unanimous
decision.
Cha-Gracie
“Stone Cutter’ Jung Hwan Cha, the
submission specialist, made it clean sweep for the Korean contingent when he
followed up Kim’s victory with a masterful win over Brazilian Igor Gracie due
to strikes.
Cha and Gracie seemed evenly matched
but the second round takedown of the scion of MMA’s Royal Family took something
out of him. In the third round, Char staggered Gracie with a series of strikes
and following a takedown, found himself on top of the Brazilian who was left
defenseless. The referee stopped the fight one minute and three seconds into
the round.
Mann-Gracie/Bonello-Gracie
Igor’s two other brothers, younger
brother Gregor and older sibling Rolles picked up a pair of dominating
victories to ensure some cheer for their family. Gregor got Australian Nicholas
Mann in an armbar prompting the referee to stop the fight while Rolles dropped an
overmatched and slow Tony Bonello with several thunderous takedowns and hammer
fists. The six-foot-three Rolles finished off Bonello with a rear naked choke.
The second fight of the evening saw
Thai Shannon “OneShin” Wiratchai awarded a controversial victory over American
Mitch “The Dragon” Chilson. As both fighters traded punches and kicks, the Thai
dropped Chilson with a right and kick to the body. Referee Moritaka Oshiro
waded in and stopped the fight much to the dismay of Chilson and the crowd. “I
thought it was a little premature,” said Chilson. “Maybe he would have finished
me off. Maybe I could have defended myself. Guess we won’t know that now.”
But there was no such controversial
end to the main event that saw Brazilian Bibiano Fernandes take on
Brazilian-Australian Gustavo Falciroli.
Despite the match being fought at past
one in the morning, the two summoned a lot of energy to close out One FC’s
inaugural event on Philippine shores. But Fernandes was simply better as he
escaped one hold after another to rock Falciroli. Unfortunately for Fernandes,
egged on by the crowd to close the fight out with something spectacular or
memorable instead pocketed his first One FC win via unanimous decision.
Personal
memorable moments:
During the Soo Chul Kim and Kevin
Belingon bout, there was a moment there when the Korean took down the Filipino
and was talking to him. It reminded me of that scene from Saving Private Ryan when a German soldier was trying to impale an
American soldier with a bayonet. The scene was ad libbed by the characters
playing the respective roles and “the German” was talking to the “American”
before plunging the bayonet through his heart.
The fight between “Stone Cutter” Cha
and Igor Gracie was the best technical match for me.
The Sylvia-Arlovski fight was the most
memorable one as it went one way then another and back and forth until the
controversial ending.
Loved the Pulver-Kelly and Enomoto-Folayang
fights as all four fighters battled on and never let up.
And Rolles Gracie wearing an Azkals jersey during the introduction of the fighters. Coolness!
And Rolles Gracie wearing an Azkals jersey during the introduction of the fighters. Coolness!
I like the part when the Korean ring girls made an impromptu Gangnam style dance. Props to them for doing things to entertain the crowd even though they don't really have to dance.
ReplyDelete