Redemption and a half
by rick olivares
Six a half months
ago at One FC: Rise to Power, it didn’t look good for Philippine Mixed Martial
Arts when all five fighters in the cards lost; some of them very badly. The
saving grace but still unable to compensate for a bummer of an evening was the
Manila-debut of One FC ring girl, Fil-Australian Christine Hallauer, who is our
answer to the UFC’s Arianny Celeste.
Last December 6,
in an event dubbed, “Moment of Truth”, a measure of redemption was gained. Not
much when main eventer Honorio Banario was kayoed for the second consecutive
time by Koji Oishi in even more devastating fashion.
It was a bookend
bummer of an evening as the first fight (in the undercards) featured Edward
Kelly, younger brother of Eric Kelly, who went up against last minute
replacement for Major Overall in Brazilian submission specialist, Herbert
Burns.
I had barely began
to jot down my notes when the bell sounded calling an end to the – well, it
wasn’t a fight now, was it – live textbook demonstration on a rear naked choke
in 44 seconds! Gasp! What the!
It was Kelly’s
return to MMA after long spell and he looked terrible. His only consolation is
that his loss isn’t the fastest in One FC history. His loss to Burns is the
tenth fastest in Asia’s largest MMA production. That dubious record belongs to belongs
South African Daniel Mashamaite who was felled by Thai fighter Yodsanan
Sityodtong with a lying knee felled in 14 seconds!
And Kelly’s loss
isn’t even Burns’ fastest win. He got another Asian opponent to tap out in 27
seconds in a fight last 2012.
I shook my head
and prayed for better results as Moment of Truth got going (and hoped that
Christine Hallauer and co-ring girl, Maya would not be the only saving graces
of another promotion gone wrong).
I didn’t have to
wait long as the next preliminary fight, Ruel Catalan chalked up the first win
for the home side when he stopped Cambodian Khim Dima with a technical knockout
due to strikes at the 3:35 mark of the first round. Ruel gained revenge for the
beating Dima inflicted on brother, Rene, at One FC: Total Domination in
Singapore last October. During that bout, Dima thought that he had won but the
decision was declared a no contest due to the number of illegal elbows he
landed on Rene during the fight’s finish. This time around, Ruel Catalan made
sure the result was beyond reproach.
Next up was the
flyweight bout between Geje Eustaquio and Eugene Toquero. Toquero had been a
standout for One FC-rival Pacific X-treme with four wins to his name. Two of
his wins were due to doctor stoppage while the other two have been because of
punches (TKOs).
As Toquero made
his way in, he kept fixing his puffed dome and hamming it for the cameras. Yes,
showmanship is a part of the game but you gotta back it up. And Geje Eustaquio
knows all about that.
In Eustaquio’s One
FC debut at Rise to Power, he played to the cameras during the fight by
repeatedly smiling and flashing the thumbs up sign in the middle of a fight
against Andrew Leone. Leone punished him and came away with a unanimous decision.
When I visited
Eustaquio in Baguio two months ago, he spoke of the lessons learned. “All
business lang tayo next time,” he promised. He may have not flashed that
winning smile during the fight but he sure planted one on every face after he
turned the tables on Toquero with strikes, kicks, and takedowns for a unanimous
decision victory.
Two-one. Now it was
Eduard “Landslide” Folayang’s turn. Landslide was once one of the country’s
most promising fighters as he went 11-1 from June 2007 to January 2012. Then he
lost three of his next four fights including two to fighters with a strong
wrestling base. The onus was on Folayang to pull out a win or else his career
would be in doubt.
Against
Dutch-Indonesian Vincent Latoel who made an impressive One FC debut in last
September’s Jakarta promotion, Champions and Warriors, where he got Willy Ni to
submit on a guillotine, Folayang looked to be in remarkable shape. Even his
muscles had muscles. And when the fight began, Folayang laid the smackdown on
Latoel with powerful strikes and kicks while mixing his game with some
thunderous takedowns. Latoel looked bewildered; his only consolation was
surviving the punishment after three rounds. Folayang chalked up a unanimous
decision win; his 13th.
Kevin Belingon
made it four-one for the home side when he knocked out a woefully overmatched
David Aranda with a vicious left hook to the temple. Aranda crumpled to the
canvas out cold. I suddenly thought of Ricky Hatton getting laid out by Manny
Pacquiao.
Like Folayang,
Belingon looked to be in freefall with three losses in his last five matches.
His last time in a One FC cage, he lost via unanimous decision to Masakatsu
Ueda. This time, he was all over Aranda who lacked in the power game.
So it was on to
Banario to cap off a night of thunderous wins and sensational knockouts.
Unfortunately, it
was mostly boring as both Oishi and Banario measured each other more than they
mixed it up.
Banario looked to
be ahead on strikes until he got rocked in the second round. When the third
round started, he looked to have shaken off the effects of Oishi’s punches. But
a right hook to the jaw and a straightaway punch to the face knocked out
Banario cold and with it any title aspirations. I suddenly thought of Pacquiao
being sent to dreamland by Juan Manuel Marquez (that was the infinite bummer
and it still is).
It was a
disappoint end to what was shaping up as a great evening for Philippine MMA.
After Rise to Power, I was disconsolate with buddies Bob Guerrero and Franco
Mabanta. We cussed, spat, and recited a litany of woes. For people very
passionate about sports and Philippine sports in general, we endured a
sleepless night perhaps just like our vanquished fighters.
Christine Hallauer
and Maya, as well as the boisterous crowd at the MOA Arena (the crowd at Rise
to Power was lousy) weren’t the only saving graces to fight, but the generally
good result for Philippine fighters.
The Moment of
Truth is, Philippine MMA is alive and kicking.
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