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| One's last event at the Mall of Asia Arena highlighted a great start to 2016 by the MMA promotion. file photo |
By Ivan Saldajeno
MANILA--One Championship president Victor Cui expressed happiness at how the first six months of 2016 happened for the said MMA promotion.
In a phone call to Dugout Philippines on Friday, the head honcho said, "It's been a fantastic start to the year."
The first six months of the year saw the introduction of two new championship belts and another belt changing hands.
Roger Gracie became the first One light heavyweight champion, while crowd darling Angela Lee took home the inaugural One women's atomweight title at One: Ascent to Power in Singapore on May 6.
One then staged its first event in Bangkok, named Kingdom of Champions, on May 27, but it ended up in a shocker as home country hero Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke lost his One featherweight title to Yoshitaka Naito.
"Anything can happen. If you're the hometown hero, the pressure's on you," Cui described what it feels like to defend someone's combat sports title at home.
Still, Cui loved how the said event including the pre-fight activities transpired.
"We're excited to be at one of the fight capitals of Asia. We're surprised yet glad that a thousand of people showed up at the face-off," he bared the Bangkok experience.
Now, all eyes will be on the remainder of the One Championship year, and Cui believes it will be at least as exciting as the first half.
"We're expecting a better second half of the year," Cui continued.
One of the highlights to the last six months will be One's pre-Christmas treat in the Philippines.
"We go back to Pasay on Dec. 2 at the Mall of Asia Arena," Cui announced the date of the event.
He expects heavyweight champion Brandon Vera to defend his title at the fight card.
"Brandon Vera wanna have a fight there, so we're working on it," Cui bared.
The said event will likely cap a historic year in Philippine sports which is highlighted by two major e-sports tournaments over the summer, the upcoming FIBA OQT next month, the FIVB World Club Volleyball Championship in October, a WWE live house show in September, and even the first major event of WSOF-GC also next month.
"We like that other major MMA promotions are now staging events in the Philippines. The country has been a hotbed for MMA because of the fighters and the fans," Cui said.
Still, he looks forward for the One fight card in December to end the year with a bang to give Filipino MMA fans and even sports fans in general a prelude to a bigger 2017 for them.
"We wanna take Philippine sports to a whole new level through our upcoming fight card there," Cui vowed.
He also believes someone will join Vera as an MMA champ in the near future.
"There will be another Filipino champion very soon. I've seen a lot of tough athletes from Manila to Cebu and even to other places. We'll continue to support all the up and coming Filipino athletes," Cui said.
Follow him on Twitter: @IvanSaldajeno
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