De Tomas, Lee stay as URCC champs; Hofmann gets another

URCC

By Ivan Saldajeno

PASAY—CJ De Tomas successfully defended his URCC flyweight title after beating gritty challenger Alvin Ramirez in the main event of URCC 28 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom early Monday.

De Tomas showcased his versatility and championship experience to beat Ramirez, who failed to capitalize on a shining moment midway through the match.

Ramirez busted De Tomas' head with a high knee in Round 3, but the champ took his foe to the floor later in the round and never gave him a chance to get back on track.

All the three judges had it for De Tomas, who stayed unbeaten in seven fights.

In the co-main event, South Korea's Lee Do-Gyeom turned up the heat late to beat Ryan Dela Cruz and stay as the URCC featherweight champion.

Dela Cruz knocked down Lee and even opened a cut to his head in the first round, but Lee slowly recovered and eventually got the better of Dela Cruz in all the three scorecards.

Meanwhile, Geli Bulaong became the first recipient of the URCC women's flyweight belt after knocking out Chinese opponent Yan Qi Hui.

Bulaong was unfazed with Ryan's early Round 1 strikes and struck a ground-and-pound attack that forced the referee to stop the fight with only ten seconds left in the first five minutes.

In the other title bout, Chris Hofmann now owns two URCC belts after defeating John Adajar for the middleweight title.

Hoffman, who, prior to the contest, already has the light heavyweight championship, connected on a high knee that knocked Adajar out at the 1:18 mark of the second round.

URCC founder Alvin Aguilar, in an interview with some reporters after the fight night, which included a special three-on-three exhibition bout, said that he will talk with Hoffman on which belt he will relinquish and which belt he will put on the line in the MMA promotion's first event outside the Philippines in San Francisco on Jan. 8 (Philippine Time).

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