Recently in Mixed Martial Arts Category

By Alex Villafania, Lawrence Casiraya, Erika Tapalla, Janie Octia, Edzelle Pena and Rastle Lozano

A Venue on Makati Avenue became host to amateur mixed martial arts featuring college students in URCC University Challenge III, and INQUIRER.net was there to record the matches.

In the 11th and last match, Ateneo de Manila University’s Mikhail Ignacio was victorious over Paolo Gomez of De La Salle University, giving Ateneo a 3-0 slate over La Salle in the amateur mixed martial arts event. Ignacio won halfway through the first round when the referee stopped the match. It was the shortest fight of the three main bouts with Gomez unable to recover from Ignacio’s strikes and grapples.

In the 10th match, Niko Presbitero of the De La Salle University started the match strong, firing punches at Ryan Marquez of the Ateneo de Manila University in the tenth match of the URCC University Challenge III being held at the A. Venue events hall in Makati City. In Round 2, however, Marquez started to recover, holding onto Presbitero in a reverse chokehold, forcing him to submit and giving Ateneo its second win over La Salle.

In the ninth match, De la Salle University’s Doi Rodriguez tapped out against Ateneo de Manila’s Ronnie Ticao after a series of ground-and-pound attacks by the latter. In both rounds of the fight, Ticao reigned the ring despite Rodriguez’s attempts to turn the tables against him.

In the eighth match, PMI College’s Jay Co Telan threw wicked roundhouse kicks against opponent Jeff Dogma of Perpetual. During the second round, Telan delivered strikes to the head and stomach of Dogma and almost caught him with an arm bar but ran out of time. Telan finished the eighth match of the evening with ground-and-pound techniques on Dogma, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

In the seventh match, Perpetual’s Giovanni Valenciano dominated University of the East's Raymond Carlos, delivering several knee-strikes. The fight had to be paused several times when the fighters grappled toward the ropes.

In the sixth match, it was a close battle between fighters Alvin Ramirez of AMA and Kalayaan College’s Carlo Juarez. Both fighters traded good blows but in the end the judges decided Ramirez was the better warrior.

In the fifth match, Miguel Gerard Alo of the University of the Philippines Diliman won against AMA’s JR Amores in the second round. Alo dominated the match against Amores with several body slams. He was able to hold on against a ground-and-pound attack by Amores in the last few seconds of Round 1 but by Round 2, Alo completely dominated the game with a flurry of strikes that became the highlight of the fight.

In the fourth match, San Beda Alabang’s Mike Dula was victorious when the referee stopped his fight against Val Castelano of the De La Salle University early in the third round. Castelano was being pummeled the entire second round and early in the third round, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

In the third match, Lawrence Chan of Emilio Aguinaldo College won via submission at the expense of TESDA’s Robin Pajantoy in the first round via an arm bar. The fight was momentarily stopped when Chan's headgear was loosened. Chan was losing the match but was able to reverse Pajantoy's hold in the last few seconds of Round 1.

In the second match, UP Diliman’s Gilbert Ombao was on top of AMA College’s Angelo Christi all throughout the fight, leading the judges to call it in favor of Ombao after the second round.

In the first match, Franz Altarejos of the Entrepreneurs’ School of Asia won via submission using a choke hold against Jonathan Lacson of the University of the Philippines. Altarejos dispatched of Lacson in 43 seconds of the first round, quickly wrapping up the first match.

Visit our URCC University Challenge III Special Site at www.inquirer.net/specialreports/urcc

IF you're a fan of mixed martial arts, then Saturday, July 19 (Sunday, July 20 in Manila) was a great day because the debuting MMA promotion Affliction unleashed its first pay-per-view, Affliction: Banned, while the reigning MMA promotion, Ultimate Fighting Championship, countered this challenge by quickly putting together the UFC Fight Night 14 card, which it showed for free on Spike TV on the same day. The Affliction: Banned main event featured the man many MMA aficionados consider the best heavyweight fighter and arguably the best MMA fighter of all time, Russia's legendary Fedor Emelianenko. Going up against him was the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, with the winner becoming the first World Alliance of Mixed Martial arts heavyweight champ. This was the icing on what was a great card that included Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Pedro Rizzo, Matt Lindland, Renato Sobral, and one of my all-time faves, Vitor Belfort. Meanwhile, the main event for UFC Fight Night 14 was the UFC's main star and the man being touted as the current best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champion, who was making his debut in the light heavyweight division. I'm a huge Silva fan, and this guy has been dominant in the UFC middleweight division, but even though I felt he would win against James Irvin (best known for knocking out Houston Alexander in eight seconds), I have to admit I was wondering how wise it was for Silva to accept a bout in a higher weight class on short notice. Well, Silva proved critics wrong when he took just 61 seconds to beat Irvin. After catching a kick from Irvin, Silva uncorked a straight right that practically knocked out The Sandman. Silva then quickly followed it up with a brutal ground and pound to finish the fight. Pretty impressive, particularly if you saw that nasty cut under Irvin's right eye after this fight. As much of a Silva fan as I am, however, what Fedor did was more impressive -- in fact, downright unbelievable. I've never liked Tim Sylvia, but give credit where credit is due, he's one of the best heavyweights and was a two-time UFC champ. So you can imagine how shocking it was to see Fedor immediately stunning Tim with hard punches, taking his back, and making the big man tap out to a rear naked choke. All in just 36 seconds. Wow! It's hard to see that performance and not be awed. Even the UFC head honcho Dana White, who has consistently belittled Fedor because he says the Russian hasn't fought a quality fighter in years (Fedor was the Pride FC heavyweight champ from 2003 until it closed in 2007. UFC had bought its former rival, and it seemed that the UFC would be bringing in Fedor but talks bogged down.), had to admit he was impressed, though he still insisted Silva was the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter today. With that victory, people are now waiting for a Fedor-Randy Couture fight -- Randy was there at Affliction: Banned, and went in the ring after Fedor said he would like to fight Randy next. Thing is, Randy is still locked in a contract dispute with UFC, and though he has resigned from the UFC, he is still technically the UFC heavyweight champion, though Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is the interim heavyweight champion (Nogueira, by the way, was the Pride FC heavyweight champ from 2001 to 2003, before he was dethroned by, you guessed it, Fedor). Randy has said that the only person that would make sense for him to fight is Fedor -- that's one of the reasons he wanted to leave the UFC -- but this whole mess is convoluted right now. Back in the day, MMA had no weight classes, and you could settle who was the better fighter by actually having Fedor and Anderson Silva go at it. The thing is, Silva is a middleweight who now plans to go up and down weight classes to fight light heavyweights while defending the middleweight championship. Fedor is a heavyweight. Thus the need to talk about the pound-for-pound best MMA fighter. How about you, who do you think is the best, Fedor or Anderson Silva? Or do you believe someone else is the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter? Whatever may be the case, right now the indisputable fact is that both Fedor and Anderson Silva are simply lording it over in their respective divisions, and are simply competing on a different level.

NOT only is Mac Danzig "The Ultimate Fighter 6" champion, but this mixed martial arts fighter is also doing his share in promoting vegetarianism. The 27-year-old welterweight appears in a new testimonial ad for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia-Pacific. Here's an excerpt from the PETA press statement:

"Animals on factory farms and in slaughterhouses don't have a fighting chance," says Danzig, who forced his opponent, Tommy Speer, into submission using a rear naked choke just two minutes and one second into the first round of the championship match [in December]. "I don't eat animals because I don't want to contribute to their suffering -- it's that simple. Do yourself a favor, do the planet a favor, and help end animal abuse. Go veg." Danzig got his shot at the crown by prevailing over his competitors on [Ultimate Fighting Championship's "The Ultimate Fighter," which airs] on Solar Sports. Why is a vegan diet the diet of champions? Consumption of meat and other animal products has been conclusively linked to heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. Meat production is also a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and land degradation. And, of course, the best way to fight the cruelty of factory farms and slaughterhouses is to kick the meat habit.

By Joey Alarilla INQUIRER.net EXPECT the fireworks to fly this Sunday, Dec. 9 at the "Ring of Fire: World Team Challenge" mixed martial arts competition which kicks off 1 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. I was at the Crowne Plaza hotel with INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla and INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania this afternoon for the press conference that formally introduced the fighters of the four teams competing in "Ring of Fire." Here's a photo of (l-r) me, Erika, Royce Gracie and Alex taken by Rica Manalang, PR officer of Image Communicator, which is handling the publicity for the "Ring of Fire" event. The four teams competing in "Ring of Fire" are Team Shamrock, coached by Ken Shamrock; Team Gracie, coached by Royce Gracie; Team Barnett, coached by Josh Barnett; and Team Gokor, coached by Gokor Chivichyan. Continuing the legendary rivalry between Shamrock and Gracia, their two teams will square off on Sunday, while Team Barnett will face Team Gokor. An alternate team whose fighters will step in case of injury was also introduced, coached by Kimo. Here are photos taken by Alex. Here's Team Shamrock. Team Gracie. Team Barnett. Team Gokor. And Team Kimo. Here's a photo of me (right) and Alex with Ken Shamrock taken by one of our fellow journalists covering the event. And here's a pic of Erika and Royce Gracie taken by Alex. And guess what? Royce said "Mahal kita" to Erika, hehe :) Which is why our running joke now is "Hoyce (that's how you pronounce his name, in case you're not a fan of MMA) hearts Herika ('coz Erika quipped that all you see in many of her photos and videos is her long hair). Will post our video interviews once they're online.

By Joey Alarilla INQUIRER.net AS a longtime fan of mixed martial arts competitions, I can tell you it was a great pleasure to interview MMA fighters Kimo and Heath Herring. Kimo and Heath dropped by the INQUIRER.net office to help promote the "Ring of Fire: World Team Challenge" competition organized by Proelite.com and Platinum Fighting Productions, which will be held at 1 p.m. at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City on Dec. 9. Here are two video clips taken by INQUIRER.net reporter Alex Villafania. Here's a clip of Kimo (left) and Benny Tuazon Jr., president of Fearless Fighting Productions, encouraging Filipino fans to watch "Ring of Fire" this Sunday. And here are Kimo (left) and Heath gamely demonstrating a choke hold. These two fighters were such good sports in granting our requests, especially since Kimo has an injury. Here are some photos taken at the INQUIRER.net office. From left to right, that's Kimo, Alex, me and Heath. Photo taken by INQUIRER.net editorial assistant Feliza Cana. Here's a group pic with other members of the INQUIRER.net team taken by Alex. Heath, by the way, went to the office with his girlfriend, professional poker player Lacey Jones. Keep visiting INQUIRER.net as we'll have my interview with Kimo, Benny, Heath and Lacey online soon :)

UNDEFEATED mixed martial arts fighter Filipino-American Brandon "The Truth" Vera takes on former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight kingpin Tim Sylvia at UFC 77: Hostile Territory. Check out this trailer provided by our partner, Solar Sports. For more videos from INQUIRER.net and our partners, visit iVDO.

FOR an event billed as "Knockout," UFC 76 didn't produce any, but it was sure exciting -- not least due to the stunning upsets. I caught it on Solar Sports, and up to now I'm shocked by former Ultimate Fighting Championship lightheavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell's split decision loss to Keith Jardine. It's the Iceman's second straight defeat, and what's even more remarkable is that Keith beat him in his own game, as the two men slugged it out and didn't make any attempt to take the fight to the ground. In fact, commentators Mike Goldberg, Joe Rogan and reigning UFC heavyweight champ Randy "The Natural" Couture jokingly wondered if the two were aware that you could grapple in the UFC heh :) Now you hear talks of Chuck possibly retiring. What a reversal of fortune this has been for the UFC's biggest star, who was thought to be unbeatable just a few months ago. Wanderlei Silva may have been the most disappointed by Chuck's loss, next only to The Iceman and UFC president Dana White, who has been trying for the past five years to set up a megafight between Liddell and then Pride FC middleweight champ Silva. Maybe it's just not meant to be. The other, maybe even bigger upset that night was the victory of Forrest Griffin over Brazilian Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, whom many actually consider the best lightheavyweight in the world. Forrest spoiled Shogun's UFC debut with a rear naked choke submission victory with just 15 seconds left in the third round, after dominating a fight that a lot of people thought Shogun would win handily. Now we hear that Wanderlei is supposedly calling out Forrest. Let's see what happens.

SO, did you catch UFC 75? History was made in London as the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson squared off against Pride FC middleweight kingpin Dan "Hollywood" Henderson (despite the difference in naming conventions, both are champs in the 205-pound division). Jackson scored a unanimous decision to become the first undisputed mixed martial arts champ. That made me really happy because I was rooting for Rampage, who has to be the funniest guy in MMA heh :) Here's a clip of his post-fight interview courtesy of SPIKE Powered by IFILM. Another guy I was rooting for, light heavyweight Houston "The Assassin" Alexander, proved he was for real by knocking out Italian Alessio Sakara in the first round. Yup, Houston showed that his first round KO win over Keith Jardine in UFC 71, which was The Assassin's UFC debut, was no fluke. Unfortunately, Mirko Cro Cop suffered another upset loss -- his second straight defeat in the UFC -- when Cheick Kongo scored a unanimous decision. Cro Cop, what's happening to you? Read this article for the complete results.

IT'S funny, my friends and I were just talking about this a few nights ago while drinking at Taberna Ocho and talking about our favorite Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters and matches. OK, we were talking about pro wrestling as well 'coz we've been fans since back during the days when World Wrestling Entertainment was still called the World Wrestling Federation, but let's talk about real sports here, heh :) Anyway, we were talking about how mixed martial arts is becoming more and more mainstream, and wondering whether it would one day be as popular as boxing itself. I even pointed out that because of some of the shenanigans going on with some boxing promoters, MMA might end up being more respectable, more real. Now check out this Miami Herald article about Floyd Mayweather Jr. calling out the former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Chuck Liddell. Yup, The Iceman himself, one of my favorite MMA fighters.

'UFC ain't [nothing],'' Mayweather said before his May 5 victory over Oscar De La Hoya, which earned him the World Boxing Council super-welterweight title. ``It ain't but a fad.'' Liddell countered: ``I think it was a sign of the times when a boxing show is taking shots at us to try to sell more pay-per-views. To promote their fight, they're bringing us up. A couple of years back, they wouldn't even mention us. Now they're talking about us. Floyd even said afterward that he was doing it just to pump up the fight.'' To the dismay of boxing purists, the UFC has displayed staying power. The Las Vegas-based company, which will hold a fight Tuesday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, boasts pay-per-view sales that put it in a three-way battle for supremacy with boxing and the scripted World Wrestling Entertainment.

Recently, controversial boxer Tommy Morrison, a former world heavyweight champion, made his MMA debut. Here's an excerpt from the San Jose Mercury News story:

CAMP VERDE, Ariz.—Former heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison won his MMA debut but lost the crowd Saturday night. Fighting in a cage on a clear night in the desert, Morrison knocked out John Stover (7-2) at 2:08 of the first round. Boos rained down as a panting Morrison raised his hand after breaking Stover's nose with a straight right. Although the unsanctioned bout was fought on an MMA card at Cliff Castle Casino, it had little of the rough-and-tumble associated with the sport, and that may have stoked the ire of the crowd estimated at 2,500. Stover said he originally agreed to the bout despite a stipulation against grappling, a big disadvantage for the 340-pound Stover, who outweighed Morrison by 125 pounds. But an hour before the fight, Stover said he was told he would not be allowed to strike Morrison with his knees or feet.

And here's Ringside Report weighing in on Morrison's MMA debut:

Fortunately for the sport of boxing, Tommy Morrison moved on to ultimate fighting to do his best to inflict damage on that sport. Yes, when it comes to Tommy “The Duke,” one has to grasp at straws to find an upside. The latest bad news regarding Morrison’s disputed HIV status comes from his former agent, Randy Lang. Lang now confesses that Morrison has always been HIV positive, that he has been treated for the disease with standard medication, and that he and his representatives have committed fraud in pursuit of boxing licensure. This set of assertions, from a member of Morrison’s camp, confirms what has been suspected or assumed all along by people who understand HIV infection and understand the mechanisms by which most state boxing commissions strive to protect the health of fighters. And the loopholes though which Morrison has attempted to squirm.

How about you, are you a fan of MMA? And do you believe it could one day be more popular than boxing?