Unleashed: First ever mixed martial arts in Iloilo City
Exhibition fight is on Oct. 4, 2008, 5 pm, Iloilo Sports Complex Covered Gym
Fight stance.
Everyone is getting excited about the first ever exhibition fight featuring mixed martial arts this coming Oct. 4, 5 pm at the Iloilo Sports Complex Covered Gym.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full contact combat sport that allows a wide variety of fighting techniques, from a mixture of martial arts traditions and non-traditions, to be used in competitions. The rules allow the use of striking and grappling techniques, both while standing and on the ground. Such competitions allow martial artists of different background to compete. The term may also be used however less correctly to describe hybrid martial arts styles.
Its popular disciplines are stand-up, clinch and ground. In stand-up, various forms of boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and forms of full contact karate are trained to improve footwork, elbowing, kicking, kneeing and punching. In clinch, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, sambo and judo are trained to improve clinching, takedowns and throws, while Muay Thai is trained to improve the striking aspect of the clinch. In ground, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, shoot wrestling, catch wrestling, Judo and Sambo are trained to improve submission holds, and defense against them. These styles are also trained to improve and maintain ground control.
Not Brutal
While some people assumed this is a brutal sport, Gilton Solis, a MMA proponent in Iloilo, said that it is not. "There are safety precautions in this sport," he said. He added that there is a ban on biting, strikes to the groin, eye-gouging, fish hooking and small joint manipulation.
MMA in the Philippines
Filipinos are no strangers to organized sporting fights. In fact, the Philippines is a boxing-crazy country as shown by the popularity of Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. There is also an underground fighting scene wherein local martial arts enthusiasts tested their skills against other fighters.
In 2002, Brazilian juijitzu black belter Alvin Aguilar organized the Universal Reality Combact Championships (URCC) to give local MMA practitioners a venue to showcase their skills. Despite its popularity overseas, Aguilar said that infusing MMA into the mainstream was a challenge at first.
Notable boxing analyst Ronnie Natividad, was impressed with the sport. He said that judging on the way the crowd raved in each math, MMA has a very bright future in the Philippines.
MMA in Iloilo City
Joselito "Lito" Azarraga IV, the man behind Babyboy Productions, who is bringing Unleashed in Iloilo City, practices MMA, too. He started practicing boxing, and over the past two years, has learned the art of Jiu Jitsu.From this exposure, Lito started to study more about the other disciplines of martial arts. And being a member of Team Tumbatsu, Lito saw that there were many Ilonggo athletes that were unsung. He eventually came up with the idea of putting them together, and do somewhat a show that the audience could all love – a mixed martial arts showdown. He contacted Solis to be the matchmaker. Together, they contacted different groups from Western Visayas. The teams include the Tinagan School of Martial Arts, Team Tumbatsu, and Brawls from Bacolod City, to name a few.
"I hope you could support this breed of martial arts. This is the 'in' thing. The success of MMA depends on you. Start by supporting the show on October 4," Lito said.
The tickets are at P300, P200, P100 and P50.