THE Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) makes its Southeast Asian return this weekend with “UFC Fight Night 132” at the Singapore Indoor Stadium which one local combat sports writer and observer touts as featuring “weighty” fights to engage the interest of fans in this side of the world.
Happening on Saturday, June 23, UFC Fight Night 132 will have former welterweight title contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (#11) of the United States and Leon “Rocky” Edwards of Jamaica in the main event and light heavyweights Ovince Saint Preux (#7) of the US and Tyson Pedro (#13) of Australia in the co-main event.
Also on tap are two Filipino fighters – Rolando “Dy Incredible” Dy and Jenel “The Demolition Man” Lausa — who will see action in the preliminary fights.
Mr. Dy takes on Shane “Sugar” Young of New Zealand in a featherweight clash while Mr. Lausa battles Japanese Ulka Sasaki.
For RealFight.ph’s Mike Miguel, UFC fans should get a treat with the headlining fights in Singapore for they carry implications for the fighters as far as their standing in their respective divisions.
“In UFC’s return to Southeast Asia, the two headlining bouts have big implications to their respective divisions, signifying the promotion’s continued effort to provide world-class mixed martial arts fights in the region,” Mr. Miguel said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
“In the main event between Donald Cerrone (33-10) and Leon Edwards (14-3), an emphatic win would mean a lot for both fighters as they try to barge into the top 10 at 170. For Cerrone, this is a good springboard to show that he can still keep up with both the perennial and up-and-coming contenders. Edwards, on the other hand, has a good chance of cracking the top 10 especially if he gets to finish the former lightweight title challenger,” added Mr. Miguel, who also sees the same going for the Saint Preux-Pedro fight in the pecking order in the light-heavyweight division.
MUCH ON THE LINE
As far as the Filipino fighters seeing action, meanwhile, Mr. Miguel said a lot is riding on their fights and that they have to come up with a win.
“Both Filipinos are coming into the fight as significant underdogs. But that shouldn’t stop them from putting their hearts out and showing the Filipinos’ never-say-die attitude. With their UFC contracts on the line, they want nothing but getting their hands raised for another run at the Las Vegas-based outfit,” he said.
Mr. Dy (9-6-1) is coming off his first win in the UFC last time around while Mr. Lausa (7-4) is still looking for his breakthrough UFC victory in his fourth try.
Other fights in the main card of UFC Fight Night 132 are women’s flyweight Jessica-Rose Clark (#9) against Jessica “Evil” Eye (#10) and welterweight Li Jingliang versus Daichi Abe.
UFC Fight Night 132: Cerrone vs. Edwards will be shown live on Saturday, beginning at 6 p.m. with the prelims and 8 p.m. for the main card over Hyper Ch. 91 in SD or 261 in HD on Cignal TV.
In the Philippines, Cignal TV, the country’s foremost direct-to-home (DTH) company, is the home of the UFC after the two groups agreed to an extensive deal that will see the UFC beamed on various platforms. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
