ONE FC MMA: Pinoys Banario and Belingon highlight May fight card in MOA Arena

One Filipino warrior will stake his belt. Another may take a giant step towards a title of his own.

ONE Fighting Championship promises an evening of hellacious mixed-martial arts action on May 31 when ONE FC: Rise to Power explodes in the Mall Of Asia Arena. It's the second time that Asia's biggest MMA promotion will be coming to the Philippines.

Last August, ONE FC held its maiden Philippine fight card when Filipinos Eric Kelly and Eduard Folayang triumphed.

In Rise to Power, two proud Igorot pugilists hope to make history in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.

ONE FC Featherweight champ Honorio “The Rock” Banario (8-1-0) will match up against Japanese grappling specialist Koji Oishi in a title bout scheduled for five rounds.

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Banario, from Baguio, won his belt in Kuala Lumpur when he defeated fellow Baguio native Eric “The Natural” Kelly last February. The referee called a halt to the fight when Kelly injured his eye in the bout, handing the title to Banario.

Oishi, 35, has a 22-9-9 record and is a former Lightweight King of Pancrase. He has a background in wrestling and karate.

Meanwhile Banario's stablemate in Team Lakay will also do battle with much at stake.

Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon of Kiangan, Ifugao, meets Japanese Masakatsu Ueda in the final of the ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix. The winner of the tournament, which pits eight fighters in a single-elimination bracket, will be crowned as the number one challenger in the Bantamweight division.

Soo Chul Kim is ONE FC's Bantamweight champ and was slated to face the Grand prix winner, but the Korean is out with a shoulder injury. ONE FC has therefore created an interim Bantamweight title that Brazilian Jiu-jitsu wizard Bibiano Fernandes and Japan's Koetsu Okazaki will fight for on the same card.

The winner of that fight may face the Grand Prix winner, and the winner could duke it out with Soo Chul Kim once he gets healthy.

Belingon (11-2-0) defeated Russian Yusup Saadulaev in his first GP assignment last year in Singapore via TKO-strikes. Then in the semifinals he inflicted the same punishment on Australia's Thanh Vu, again in Singapore last week.

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Ueda forced American legend Jens Pulver to tap out in his semifinal.

The event marks the beginning of a partnership between ONE FC and Casino Filipino.

“He has a crazy mind full of ideas” said ONE FC CEO Victor Cui of Casino Filipino AVP Chris Tio at Wednesday's press conference in Midas Hotel. The two companies are launching a novel way of filling up the Mall Of Asia Arena's 16,000 seats.

Tio announced that the only way to get tickets for the fight will be to buy a special Casino Filipino Charity Bingo ticket. The Bingo event will take place on May 25, with the first prize being an all-expenses-paid trip to Kuala Lumpur for a ONE FC fight night later in the year.

Proceeds from the sale of the Bingo tickets will go to PAGCOR's “Daang Matuwid sa Silid-Aralan” (Straight Path for Classrooms) program that builds classrooms in disadvantaged areas all over the Philippines.

PAGCOR has donated P1 billion to the government to construct 1,000 classrooms, and hopes to donate P2 Billion more.

“You're not just buying a ticket, you're also building a school” said Tio, who also divulged that details of the mechanics of the promotion will be announced shortly.

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Cui also bared that ONE FC has added another broadcast partner in the Philippines; GMA 7. IBC 13 and Foxsports are also contracted to cover the event.

ONE FC is broadcast in over 70 countries, and many of them receive coverage with commentary in the vernacular. Cambodia has Khmer commentary and Malaysian fans can get commentary in Bahasa Melayu. Cui hopes to do something similar in the Philippines.

Also on hand at the press conference was Christine Hallauer, ONE FC's Filipino-Australian ring girl who made her debut in Singapore last week and will return for Rise To Power. Read more about her here.

Cui, a Filipino-Canadian with roots in Camiguin and Cebu, admits that he loves coming home to his ancestral home and that he's excited for May 31.

“I always save the best for the Philippines” he said.

Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333. Follow ONE FC @ONEFCMMA.