Galera unbowed despite UFC loss

DAVE “The Scarecrow” Galera promised to redeem himself in his upcoming fights after losing via unanimous decision in his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut January 4 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

Galera looks forward to bringing back his winning moments in his mixed martial arts career after suffering his first loss to Singaporean native Royston Wee in UFC Fight Night 34.

“I feel better as a fighter. And gusto kong maredeem at i-prove ang sarili ko inside the octagon,” Galera told Baguio media.

The first ever pure Filipino UFC fighter from Team Lakay said he is optimistic to return in the octagon and prove MMA fans that he is not all words when it comes to the combat sport.

“Bago pa lang ako to this MMA promotion and I know I have learned a lot, I assure the MMA fans that there’s more room for improvements in me,” Galera added.

“I just have to train harder, alam ko na may mga weak points din ako sa recent fight but all in all I will focus to improve my whole package before my next fight,” Galera continued.

Team Lakay coach Mark Sangiao said despite his fighter’s loss, Galera got good reactions from the promoters and fans after the fight.

“Actually maganda ang ipinakita ni Dave sa loob ng octagon, unfortunately his opponent was not able to let him perform well since we did not expect that he will just play all throughout sa ground,” Sangiao said.

“It was a good learning experience for me and Dave, marami pa naman lined-up fights so hopefully we can bounce back, what can we say UFC iyan,” Sangiao added.

The Team Lakay coach also said the loss was not a disappointment for them after all.

“Before it was all but a dream for Team Lakay, but now as we see we made history. For now we will just focus on continuing to develop our MMA fighters especially Dave who’s in UFC,” Sangiao quipped.

Galera started out to take an aggressive standing battle to Wee on the opening round but was countered to a takedown where the hometown hero was able to land elbow strikes opening a cut on Galera’s right eyelid.

The second round took the same scenario as Wee forced Galera into the canvas where he held him down most of the remaining time.

The Filipino fighter tried to capitalize on his striking on the final round but was taken down again as Wee stick to his monotonous game plan from the earlier two rounds.

Wee improved his unbeaten record of 3-0, while Galera suffered his first loss in his MMA career with a 5-1 high.

Filipino-American Jon delos Reyes, who also fought in the undercard, lost to Hawaiian Dustin Kimura after being caught to submit with an armbar in the 2.13 mark of the first round.

Former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine came out to impress on his UFC debut by beating former Pacific X-Treme Cagefighting standout Hyun Gyu Lim of South Korea with a unanimous decision win to make known his bid to challenge for the vacant welterweight title.

Related Stories

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph