#UFCManila: What We Know So Far

Last January 29, sports and online media was set abuzz with the announcement that an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) card was to be held in the Philippines. While the fights for the card was not announced along with the event, the excitement in the county was immediately palpable as fans began to speculate who the featured fighters would be.

Would the "Filipino Wrecking Machine" Mark Munoz be competing on the card despite being booked in a February 28th fight with Roan Carneiro? How many Pinoy fighters will be featured on the card? Who is the broadcast team that will call the action? Will Bruce Buffer be the announcer?

Fast forward 2 weeks, and we have some really exciting answers.


The Answer vs The California Kid

For the main, event,  Frankie "The Answer" Edgar (18-4-1) takes on the "The California Kid" Urijah Faber (32-7-0). Edgar, the former UFC Lightweight Champion, last fought in Novemeber, when he put away Cub Swanson in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs.Swanson. Winning via neck crank at 4:58 of the fifth round, Edgar's victory earned the record of latest submission in a UFC fight, and on top of the victory got him a performance bonus for the night.

Faber on the other hand, was last seen gracing the Octagon last December, earning a submission victory over Francisco "Cisco" Rivera. The victory put "The California Kid" in a tie with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for most total submission finishes for a fighter in the combined history of the UFC, Strikeforce, World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), and Pride Fighting Championship (Pride FC).

With Edgar currently a featherweight contender, and Faber having been the long time Featherweight Champion of the WEC, the Fight Night Manila main event has the makings of a mixed-martial arts Featherweight version of "The Thrilla in Manila".



The Usual Suspects


It wouldn't be an MMA event in the Philippines without Pinoy fighters on the card. Not surprisingly, the first to make it to the May fight card is a fighter from Team Lakay, arguably the best fight camp the country. Team Lakay's Roldan Sangcha-an (4-1-0) is scheduled to face Guam-based Jon "The Heat" Delos Reyes (7-4-0), whose also happens to be Filipino. Delos Reyes was last seen in the Octagon last September, falling to Kyoji Horiguchi via TKO.

Sangcha-an on the other hand, made his UFC debut last June, dropping a decision to Richie Vaculik at UFC Fight Night: Te Huna vs. Marquardt. With both fighters looking to turn their fortunes around, Manila looks to be the perfect venue for one to finally get a UFC win. Fans can expect a total war to be waged between the Mountain Province-based local hero and the Guam-raised Filipino as they scrap for that highly coveted W.

UFC: Fight Night Manila will also be the return of Jon "Super Saiyan" Tuck (8-2-0) to the Philippine fight scene. He was last seen in the country competing at Pacific Xtreme Combat 28 in 2011, knocking out Tristan Arenal in the first round. Tuck's success has been a little inconsistent in the big dance however, as he's alternated wins and losses in his four UFC fights. With the return to familiar stomping grounds, Tuck will look to get back on the win column.

It wont be easy however, as he is slated to face Tae Hyun Bang. While not having fought in six months, Bang (17-8-0), is coming off an impressive knock out of Kajan Johnson at UFC 174. With the long lay-off, it can be expected that he will be raring to repeat his previous success.


The complete list of fights for UFC Fight Night Manila (so far):

Frankie Edgar vs Urijah Faber (5 Round featherweight bout)

Bang Tae-Hyun vs Jon Tuck (lightweight bout)

Roldan Sangcha-an vs Jon Delos Reyes (flyweight bout)

Zhang LiPeng vs Kajan Johnson (lightweight bout)

Nolan Ticman vs Yao ZhiKui (flyweight bout)

Roger Zapata vs Li JingJiang (welterweight bout)


For the moment, Mark Munoz is not slated on to be the card, but he did mention in an interview that after he's through with his February 28th bout in Los Angeles, he'd like a ticket to the dance in Manila.

While it will be a little longer before it's known if "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" will or will not be part of what is already a great card for UFC Manila in May, fans can be happy with the reports that part-Filipina ring girl Arianny Celeste may also be working the event.

UFC Fight Night Manila is scheduled for May 16, 2015 and will take place at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. For tickets, visit SMTickets.com. For updates on the event, visit UFC.com and BallsChannel.tv.

All photos property of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

There is no charge for Awesomeness: The UFC Macau Experience

As most people viewing Balls Channel here in the Philippines know, I was one of the winners selected for the UFC Macau Ultimate Fan Experience. It was an online contest where on just had to answer a simple question and get a chance to fly to Macau and watch a UFC event live. The news itself that I won was overwhelming, but it would not compare to what was in-store for  me and my brother when we finally arrived in Macau.

Balls Channel Ultimate Fan Experience Macau

At the NAIA terminal 2 we met up with the representatives from Balls Channel and Boom Gonzales the host of Game Day. (Side note, hanging out with Boom was awesome, it was really great hanging with a guy who you could talk about any sport with).



Arrived at Cotai Central where the Holiday Inn was located.



Bumped into Chuck "The Iceman" Liddel at the food court. 

Upon arriving at the Macau Airport at around 10 in the morning, we we're greeted by our tour guide and brought to the Holiday Inn at the Cotai Central. We weren't able to do an early check-in so we decided to get some lunch instead. Then, when we were looking for some grub at the foodcourt we bump into the legendary "Iceman" Chuck Lidell.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel to check-in and freshen up a bit before attending the autograph signing and the weigh-ins for the fights.



Chuck signing my UFC Encyclopedia

  

With the "California Kid".

Kenny "Kenflo" Florian at the weigh-ins.

Me and my bro with Uriah Faber.

At the weigh-ins, we were treated not only to the entire weigh-in program, but also we were brought backstage to check out the OCTAGON and take more pictures.

  

With Chuck inside the Octagon

It was a great first day in Macau, and even though we were a bit sleepy due to the trip the "MMA High" kept us strong and awake as we really wanted to take the entire experience in and make the most of our time there.



Stuff I got signed the first day

On the second day we went on a tour of Macau. We were brought to the well know tourist spots in Macau, like the Macau tower, the Golden Lotus Square, St. Paul Ruins, and the Ama Temple among other places. It was also, our chance to buy "pasalubong" at our tour guide led us to the place where we could buy such items. We even bumped into Alex "Bruce Leeroy" Caceres during our visit to the St. Paul Ruins.





  

With the group at the Golden Lotus Square



  

Checking out the Macau Tower

  

With Bruce Leeroy



 Me and my bro at the Ama Temple



 After the tour, we once again retreated to our hotel rooms to rest and relax so we can be ready to watch the fight later that evening. Then finally, it was time to catch the fights.

It's Time!!!



Fight time has arrived and all I can say is it was just how I imaged it plus more. From hearing Bruce Buffer live to hearing the roar of the crowd and the thunderous leg kicks, it was overwhelming and at time is still could not believe I was there. My brother and I were both rooting for Rich Franklin as he has been one of our favorite fighters ever since we started watching the UFC and MMA, so you would have seen our behest when he was knocked out by Cung Le in the first round.



With my bro at the fight.



With Game Day host Boom Gonzales





With the Balls channel pips and the other winners.



The winner Jon Tuck, been watching him in the PXC.

After the fights, there was an after party, we went by and checked it out but there wasn't much going on during that time, so instead my brother and I headed to the Cotai Arena entrance where the fights took place and saw if we could by chance meet some of the fighters, which we actually did as we got some pictures with the fighters and I was also able to get Dong Jung Kim, Tiago Silva and Alex Caceres to sign my UFC Encyclopedia. We also saw the ring girls and Bruce Buffer but unfortunately the were in too much of a hurry to indulge us. We waited until 3am in what might be a chance to see Rich Franklin but concluded that he must have been brought to the hospital due to the devistating knock out he suffered in the main event.

The Stun Gun

With Jon Tuck

The next day we had a free day and spent most of the day at the Venecian hoping to still bump into some fighters, (still hoping to bump into Rich Franklin and possbily Jon Fitch as he cornered Riki Fukuda) but to no avail.



Just making the most out of our trip.



The entire experience was amazing and I cannot begin to express how much it means to me that I was one of the ultimate fans that Balls Channel to go to through this journey. I really soaked it all up and wouldn't have traded anything for it. So again, thank you Balls Channel, you've made an impression in me in a very big way, more power to you and you've not only brought the UFC to the Philippines but continue to bring much more.