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Sunday, December 18, 2005
Taneo: MMA’s Art of War: China 4, RP 0
By Paul J. Taneo
Free-for-all
How do you spell sweep, 4-0 in a best-of-seven series or 4-0 in a four-match pairing? In the case of the URCC (7) “Art of War” two Saturdays ago at the Araneta Coliseum, the latter applies.
It was URCC’s first venture into a Philippines against a foreign country type of competition. The excitement for local fight fans was double: We had four fighters of some renown who had earned fans of their own and taking on foreign fighters.
UNKNOWN. The Chinese MMA group was an unknown entity. All we knew was that all four had won in a mixed-martial-arts tournament in Beijing last month, with one winner dislocating his opponent’s arm in an armbar hold.
We assumed that the URCC band, led by bantamweight champion Mark Sangiao, would be formidable and might win maybe two of the match-ups. We were sorely wrong. The Filipinos all lost.
Our source, one of the incorporators of Mixed Martial Arts Entertainment Inc. who wishes to stay unnamed, was there at ringside to watch the action and even got himself a bonus by posing with the night’s round girls – the Viva Hotbabes.
Salvador Domasian of Elorde MMA Team (10-1-0 after URCC 7) was the first Filipino to taste defeat at the hands (and feet) of the Chinese. All it took for Zhang Tie Quan (19-0-0 with seven KO wins) to be declared the winner was 4:48 minutes in a Referee Stoppage as Domasian could not put up a fight anymore and was on the receiving end of strikes from Zhang.
Alliance Fight Club’s Mike Banayad’s (2-2-2) loss was just a decisive. He said uncle in 9:13 as Dai Shuang Hai (61-4-0, 5 KOs) locked on a rear-naked choke on him.
Christian Wong (2-1-0) of Deftac Jiujitsu was the Pinoy who most gallantly came down in defeat. Wong displayed stand-up skills against Ao Hai Ling (18-7-0 2 KOs) who gamely took him on a strikefest most of the fight but Wong eventually submitted via armbar. The crowd loved the fight so much it gave both fighters a standing ovation.
Mark Sangiao (12-1-0), the great complete package: good stand-up and ground, strong and smart, was the last hope of Team Philippines for a win. Obviously, he wasn’t strong and smart enough as he fell to He Peng hard, real hard, by KO.
Sangiao actually controlled the fight early as he took down He Peng three times but could neither get a submission or strike out the Chinese. He even got full mount on He Peng but the latter was well versed on the ground and his defense was impeccable, never allowing Sangiao to hurt him with blows and holds and manages to reverse or escape.
Then Sangiao’s inability to beat He Peng frustrated him and he let his guard down while being tagged by a jab straight. He started to go down and in mid fall, He Peng released a right roundhouse that tagged him on the head. Wham! Sangiao hit the floor and He Peng fell on him with a punch before the referee could declare the fight over.
Oh, before I forget. All four fights ended in Round 1.
LONG WAY. This shows Philippine MMA still has a long way to go before we could make a dent in the international scene.
Right now, the Universal Reality Combat Championship lords it over Philippine MMA and it is assumed they’ve got the best fighters. But as the 0-4 loss to China showed, our best are not good enough outside the confines of our country. And we had to realize the fact right here at home. Nothing could be more embarrassing or humbling.
We heard the Chinese were paid $1,000 each for fighting in URCC 7 and have signed up to come back. This is a great opportunity for the growth of RP MMA. Like the American imports in the PBA, RP MMA could use the technology transfer.
By the defeat, it is obvious we have more to learn from the Chinese than the other way around. Let us accept that and build on it. Maybe time will come when it will be RP 4, China 0 next time we tangle.
(paulotaneo@yahoo.com)
(December 18, 2005 issue)
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