IT will be the Philippines’s best mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters against rivals from South Koreans in a 3-versus-3 format and Arvin Chan against Will Chope in the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) 81 Tuesday night at the Cove of the Okada Manila.
Sugar Ray “Mammoth” Estroso, URCC champion Caloy “The Bad Boy” Baduria and Boss Bullet Manlilic will showcase their fighting skills in the main event entitled Decades of Success.
But South Koreans Jeong Minhun, Choi Wontae and Jeon Youngjun reminded their Filipino opponents that they did not travel to the Philippines to lose.
“We travel very far so we will do whatever it takes to bring home pride,” Minhun said.
Estroso and co. welcomed the challenge from the South Koreans, who stand tall at 6 feet, 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-7.
“Anything can happen inside the cage,” the 5-foot-6 Estroso said. “Once we hit them with punches, they will experience how tough Filipinos are. We never backdown from any challenge or fight.”
URCC founding president Alvin Aguilar believes the 3-versus-3 event would be challenging for team Philippines.
“This will be a very challenging fight for the Philippines. I am also curious to see how Caloy Baduria will do in a 3-versus-3 format as this will be his first time this kind of fight will be held,” said Aguilar, who was joined by URCC global chairman Arnold Vegafria in Monday’s news conference at the Cove of the Okada Manila.
Veteran mixed martial artist Chan expects a difficult fight against American former UFC campaigner “The Kill” Chope in the interim URCC welterweight bout in the other main event presented by Okada Manila and supported by Winzir.
“I fought a lot of fighters but I expect this to be more challenging,” Chan (9-5 win-loss card) said.
But just like the Koreans, the 32-year-old Chope (38-18) doesn’t want go home empty-handed.
“I want to take the belt to my wife so you need a lot of luck my friend,” he said. “But I have to be careful because Arvin Chan has improved a lot.”
Both Chan and Chope both made the welterweight limit of 169.6 pounds.
For inquiries about tickets sale, please go to www.urcc.online and download our app https://apps.wix.com/place-invites/join-lp/b4e05b90-55a0-40a8-8fac-17ccf4a2c074?ref=pre_banner_top which is available for iOS and Google.
In MMA undercard bouts, Dunlee Stewart will face John Tirona in 170 lbs bout followed by Gester Maglaque to meet Mariano Jones of Costa Rica in 185 lbs bout, Kimbert Alintozon will battle Junie Kimayong in 125 lbs affair, Rhyle Lugo will clash against Alex Aballe in 145 lbs, and Eros Baluyot will see action against MJ Abrillo in the 125 lbs bout.
In the thrilling bare-knuckle actions, Damsa Abrenica meets Joseph “King Pinoy” Cabral while Dondon Serrano squares off with Sherwin Niro and Denzel Dimaguila fights Mark Jalaron.
Details of the fight and future fight cards are available to download at https://apps.wix.com/place-invites/join-lp/b4e05b90-55a0-40a8-8fac-17ccf4a2c074?ref=pre_banner_top, which is available for iOS and Google.