I'm Back: Uriah Faber Visits Manila

It's been a while since I wrote something on my blog, but hello there pinoy fighters and I'm back to bring you news, updates, my insights and experiences in MMA.

Recently, I've attended the the iBlog 10 and it once again inspired me to write on my blog and also gave me the thought that there's still not a lot of MMA bloggers in the Philippines.

With that , thanks to MMA Philippines I recently attend an MMA seminar with UFC Bantamweight "The California Kid" Uriah Faber last March 30, 2014 at the Ultimate Fitness Gym at Metrowalk, Pasig.

A true ambassador of the sport, Uriah Faber visited the Philippines in what he said was a way to experience the country as well as look at the future of MMA. He mentioned that he is excited that MMA is growing as a global sport and much more excited that Filipinos are part of the next generation of MMA fighters.

During his MMA seminar, Uriah taught us most of the basic things he did in training, from setting up offense after faints and fakes, to basic positions on the ground and best of all the Team Alpha Male special of various chokes.

It was a wonderful experience and as a big fan of Uriah Faber all I can say is more power and hope you get that UFC strap you've been training and fighting so hard for.

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.

Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber Selected as Coaches of Next Ultimate Fighter Season

Boy, I'm really pumped for this one, as it has been announced that before the before Dominick Cruz defends his UFC Bantamweight title against arch-rival Uriah Faber, they will first meet each other and go head to head as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 15.

Less than six months after Dominick Cruz defeated Urijah Faber to vanquish his biggest rival and retain the UFC bantamweight title, the champ can begin preparation for a rematch.

That's because on Tuesday, the UFC confirmed that the pair would coach the next season of The Ultimate Fighter when the revamped series moves to its new home on FX.

The season, which will feature both lightweight and welterweight contestants, will begin airing on March 9, 2012, with a two-hour premiere.

Cruz (19-1) has solidified his stronghold as the 135-pound division's best fighter, capturing 10 straight fights overall. Most recently, he defeated Demetrious Johnson by decision at October's UFC on Versus 6. But just prior to that, he beat Faber in a long-awaited rematch of their 2007 fight which remains the only loss on his record.

Cruz injured his hand in the Johnson fight but apparently will be ready to go by the springtime.

"This is a dream come true," Cruz said in a statement. "To get a chance to coach TUF and beat Faber again is all the motivation I need. This is going to be an insane season of The Ultimate Fighter."

The new season will air on Fridays for 13 weeks, with live fights on each episode. That would likely put a Cruz-Faber bout in June, about a year from their last match.

In that bout, Cruz won by scores of 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47 but Faber said afterward that he believed he did enough to earn the win. The Cruz victory puts them at 1-1 heading into a rubber match.

Faber is 26-5 overall and rebounded from his Cruz loss to beat Brian Bowles in a second-round submission at UFC 139, but despite his overall history of success, he's struggled recently in some big fights, going 0-4 in his last four title bouts.

Wow, this is some big news and it has been quite sometime that MMA fans had been expecting both fighters to grace The Ultimate Fighter as coaches, and what is better is that it will once again provide a spotlight to the smaller weight classes in the UFC.

UFC 139 Results

The Results are in, and after a day (here in the Philippine) of hard fought and exciting fights UFC 139 had provide answers to many burning questions.

Here are the results:

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson

Dan Henderson defeats Mauricio by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47).

Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le

Silva defeats Le by technical knockout (knees and punches) at 4:49 of the second round.

Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles

Faber defeats Bowles by submission (guillotine choke) at 1:27 of the second round.

Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story

Kampmann defeats Story by split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28).

Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury

Bonnar defeats Kingsbury by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-25, 30-27).

Ryan Bader vs. Jason Brilz

Bader defeats Brilz by knockout (punch) at 1:17 of the first round.

Michael McDonald vs. Alex Soto

McDonald defeats Soto by knockout (punches) at 0:56 of the first round.

Tom Lawlor vs. Chris Weidman

Weidman defeats Lawlor by submission (D'Arce choke) at 2:07 of the first round.

Gleison Tibau vs. Rafael dos Anjos

Tibau defeats dos Anjos by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27).

Miguel Torres vs. Nick Pace

Torres defeats Pace by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Matt Brown vs. Seth Baczynski

Baczynski defeats Brown by submission (guillotine choke) at 0:42 of the second round.

Shamar Bailey vs. Danny Castillo

Castillo defeats Bailey by technical knockout (punches) at 4:52 of the first round.

With their respective wins, Dan Henderson would seem to be a front-runner to challenge the winner of the Jones and Machida title fight and Uriah Faber would be the number 1 contender for Dominick Cruz's bantamweight title. Also, after sub-par performances, can we say "The Axe Murderer" is back.

It was a great day of fights. Hope everyone enjoyed as much as I did.