Strickland retains belt in maiden Philippine King of the Cage MMA fight card
An established name in Mixed Martial Arts made a stylish debut in the Philippines last Friday, capped by a solid title rentention from Middleweight Sean “Tarzan” Strickland.
In a well-fought, close-to-the-vest title encounter, Strickland, from Corona, California, outpointed Yusuke Sakashita from Japan in a unanimous decision to keep his KOTC Middleweight World Championship belt.
“This was my favorite fight ever” said Strickland to the crowd at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. The 23-year old improves to 12-0 in his career after his fourth successful title defense.
The five-round bout was played almost exclusively standing up, with both pugilists displaying excellent defense and magnificent conditioning over five exhausting rounds.
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It was generally cagey and risk-averse from both protagonists but the American had a few more takedowns and bloodied his opponent's nose, which was probably enough to win the favor of the judges.
In the other main event Joe “The Technician” Condon of the USA also won a unanimous decision over Kaleo Kwan in the Welterweight division. While the Hawaiian did land some big punches, Condon was the more aggressive of the two and jacks up his pro record to 9-6.
There were ten other matchups between Filipino fighters on Friday, with the biggest upset arguably in the Welterweight showdown between Uno Legaspi and Reign Sotto.
Legaspi won a split decision over Sotto in a reminder that MMA is oftentimes more about technique and smarts than brute strength.
Legaspi's jiggly torso was no match for Sotto's chiseled frame but the Jiujitsu specialist from KMA Fitness executed textbook takedowns in the second and third rounds and nearly got his opponent in a rear-naked choke in the last round.
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The Pampanga-born, San Diego California-raised Sotto was unable to exploit his physical advantage and lost his first pro bout after going 5-1 in amateur competition.
The most spectacular moment of the evening came sixty six seconds into the Flyweight fight between Carlos Tiongson and Fadi Alhamoudi. Tiongson, celebrating his birthday, spied an opening to Alhamoudi's head and rocked it with a hellacious right.
Alhamoudi's mouthguard flew out and the Bulacan-based fighter collapsed to the canvas. Tiongson followed up with one strike to the body, and upon seeing Alhamoudi's head rise up, tagged him with two more punches to the head before the referee stepped in and called a halt to the encounter.
The Syrian had to be stretchered off and his neck stabilized.
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In the other undercards Rabin Catalan won a unanimous decision over Genil Francisco in the Junior Flyweight division, while Dean Bermudez caught Rex Tanduyan in a guillotine choke in the second round of their 135-lb fight, forcing Tanduyan to tap out.
Bantamweight Mike Bunag defeated JM Figueras via unanimous decision, while the Flyweight bout between Ralph Francisco and Recarto Dacuyan was ruled a TKO win for Francisco when a badly hurt Dacuyan refused to answer the bell in the third round.
North Cotabato's Winnie Paderna forced a TKO victory against Mark Valerio with a barrage of strikes in the second round of their Bantamweight clash, while in a Junior Flyweight bout, Ireneo Galindez narrowly edged Neil “Yogs” Cartajena via Split Decision.
Also in the Junior Flyweight division, Francie Curilan lost via unanimous decision to Janito Bayot.
In the only Light Heavyweight fight of the evening Bataan's Jeff Torico slugged his way to a TKO win over Quezon City's Patrick Dos Santos. Dos Santos tapped out after receiving a flurry of punches to the head while crouched on the canvas.
Gracing the evening was MMA icon Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. The former UFC Light Heavyweight champ took to the microphone during a break in the action and spoke about how he got his break in MMA with KOTC.
He related a story about how he nearly lost a KOTC fight in Reno, Nevada because he didn't know that the high altitude would hamper his game.
“I was kind upset with (KOTC Founder) Terry (Trebilcock) then” he said jokingly as Trebilcock stood beside him.
“I almost got beaten by some black dude. I'm the toughest black dude around!” he added.
Jackson then proceeded to playfully spar with ring announcer Dean Stone then pretended to get knocked out.
Later on Rampage could be seen chatting with Gilas Pilipinas players Marcus Douthit and Jimmy Alapag.
Legendary MMA referee Herb Dean was also there to officiate the first bout and the two main events.
King of the Cage plans another fight night in Metro Manila before the end of the year.
Follow KOTC Philippines @kingofthecageph. Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333.
