MMA in the Philippines

SmoKoY · 04-13-2007, 03:49 PM

First up, MMA is growing by leaps and bounds. But here in the Philippines, MMA is just at it's infancy stage and from where I come from (Cebu City is located in central Philippines and serves as a gateway to the south), MMA is a new born baby. In Manila (the capital of the Philippines), there are 2 big promotions that I know of, the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) and Fearless Fighting Championship. I was delighted to see that Sherdog has added the URCC to their fight finder and would definitely share this with my friends.

The problem here in Cebu is that people don't know much about MMA. We only HAD 1 journalist who twice a week writes about MMA for a local newspaper. Sad to say he's no longer with the publication. He now posts MMA stuff in his blog but has not updated it since last year. We're left here with no one to educate the public more on how beautiful this sport is. We don't even have gyms here that teach BJJ. The gyms we have here are sort of like a hybrid style of fighting and not that formal instructions are given when you want to learn submissions. Here in the Philippines, when you mention 'martial arts', the first thing that comes to their mind is kicks (TKD) and kickboxing (Yaw Yan). When you mention Judo, all they picture out is a guy throwing another guy to the ground and don't really understand the overall grappling (even submissions) aspect of the game.

When you mention MMA, people just give a blank stare and some of those who know a little about MMA refer to it as UFC. We do have channels here that show old UFC events and TUF 1. Only the diehard fans know about Pride, K1, KOTC, WFA and other orgs. Kinda ironic since the Philippines is so near to Japan. People here know who Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell is but don't know any fighters outside the UFC.

What's nice here though is that we get to see live PPV events for free on TV. MMA is fast becoming bigger here. We also do have 2 MMA promotions here in Cebu that promotes events at least once or twice a year (I'm still contemplating on competing on their next even in July as my work gets in the way for me to practice).

I would want to contribute in a small way the beauty of MMA but just don't know where to start. I only posted once for my blog as I cannot find the free time to write more. I would really appreciate any suggestions from you guys.

Peace!

NasDarq · 04-13-2007, 03:54 PM

good to know...i will be in the Phillipines next year after the vacation home is finished being built and will check out the MMA events.

RW · 04-13-2007, 03:55 PM

the phillipines is a corrupt society

i wouldnt be surprised if all the fights were thrown

( i am also a phillipino)

detroit_fan · 04-13-2007, 04:00 PM

just out of curiosity which rules are used in your country? similar to pride?

SmoKoY · 04-13-2007, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NasDarq

good to know...i will be in the Phillipines next year after the vacation home is finished being built and will check out the MMA events.

good to know bro! hopefully there will be more events lined up next year

SmoKoY · 04-13-2007, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RW

the phillipines is a corrupt society

i wouldnt be surprised if all the fights were thrown

( i am also a phillipino)

sad but true. its not much about fights being thrown but more on very very bad officiating. the refs don't know what their doing almost all of the time. most of the fights here in my place end in ground and pound and not much on submissions

SmoKoY · 04-13-2007, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by detroit_fan

just out of curiosity which rules are used in your country? similar to pride?

not quite as they dont allow stomps and kicks to the head of a downed opponent. almost all their rules are the same as with UFC but they use boxing rings. Only Fearless Fighting Championship uses the octagon.

Here's a website (albeit not a very good one) of a local MMA promotion here in Cebu

http://www.mmaei.com/

ein777 · 04-13-2007, 04:07 PM

Im from Cebu as well. But form what i understand, Yaw yan is short for Sayaw ng Kamatayan which translates to dance of death.. from wat I understand its heavily influenced by Muay Thai and has incorporated take down def and littile submissions. I saw some URCC fights before and its kinda embarrassing to watch as most fighters dunno wat thier doing.

What the TS said is true though there are a Very few in the Phils that know about MMA. I only have 1 friend in Cebu thats follows MMA lol. Hes the only person i can talk to about MMA and other ppl just stare at us cuz they got no clue

detroit_fan · 04-13-2007, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmoKoY

not quite as they dont allow stomps and kicks to the head of a downed opponent. almost all their rules are the same as with UFC but they use boxing rings. Only Fearless Fighting Championship uses the octagon.

Here's a website of a local MMA promotion here in Cebu

http://www.mmaei.com/

thanks, it's always interesting to hear of diffent cultures view on mma

SmoKoY · 04-13-2007, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ein777

Im from Cebu as well. But form what i understand, Yaw yan is short for Sayaw ng Kamatayan which translates to dance of death.. from wat I understand its heavily influenced by Muay Thai and has incorporated take down def and littile submissions. I saw some URCC fights before and its kinsda embarrassing to watch as most fighters dunno wat thier doing.

What the TS said is true though there are a Very few in the Phils that know about MMA. I only have 1 friend in Cebu thats follows MMA lol. Hes the only person i can talk to about MMA and other ppl just stare at us cuz they got no clue

Kabayan! taga asa ka sa Cebu? PM me bro!

yup, yaw yan is heavily influenced by muay thai and differs only in the torquing of the hips upon impact. Fighters here don't really know submissions and how to set them up