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| PHILIPPINES BOUND. Urijah Faber takes in the scene at UFC 170 on February 22. |
MANILA, Philippines - While there are persistent teasers that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is coming to Manila this year, one UFC superstar is set to visit the Philippines for a ten-day trip.
Tag Team Sports Management, headed by Filipino combat guru Erwin Tagle and Jojo Perlas, is bringing Urijah Faber to the country for a series of seminars, community outreaches, mall tours, plus television and radio appearances from March 24 to April 2.
“We are very fortunate to have Urijah Faber in Manila to lend a hand with the country’s wrestling program. He will likewise conduct a seminar to make us more knowledgeable with the sport of MMA,” Tagle stated.
Bringing a top stud from the UFC is no longer new for Pinoy fight fans as several top mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters had stepped foot on Philippine soil on numerous occasions, namely Chuck Liddell, Georges St-Pierre, BJ Penn, Mark Muñoz, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Alexander Gustafsson and Cung Le.
As of the moment, the confirmed dates on Faber’s itinerary are the provincial stop in Angeles, Pampanga for an amateur MMA event billed as “Fight Club” at Colosseo Roma on March 28, and the MMA seminar at Ultimate Fitness Metrowalk in Pasig City on March 30.
Moreover, Faber is expected to host a wrestling program for the young athletes of the Wrestling Association of the Philippines on March 25.
Meanwhile, his mall tours are tentatively scheduled as follows: SM Cebu on March 27, SM Manila on March 28, SM Sta. Rosa and SM Dasmariñas on March 29, SM BF Parañaque on March 30, and SM Fairview on March 31.
“We will be announcing more updates about his visit as soon as we finalize everything,” Perlas asserted.
Faber is a two-division world champion, highlighting his early run in the sport by holding simultaneously both King of the Cage (KOTC) and Gladiator Challenge (GC) bantamweight belts and the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) featherweight title.
The 5-foot-6 native of Sacramento, California later vacated his KOTC and GC straps upon signing an exclusive contract with WEC after it was purchased by Zuffa, the parent entity of the UFC, in December 2006.
Furthermore, he went on to successfully defend WEC’s 145-pound trinket five times before losing it to Mike Brown at WEC 36 in November 2008.
On March 19, 2011, “The California Kid” made his highly-anticipated Octagon debut in the co-headliner of UFC128, where he edged out Eddie Wineland by unanimous decision.
Since his arrival to the world’s premier MMA promotion, Faber’s UFC record now stands at 6-3, which includes his remarkable four-straight triumphs with three submission wins in 2013.
However, his victory parade was recently halted by reigning bantamweight king Renan Barao in the main event of UFC 169 last February 1. The agile Brazilian made a quick work on Faber as he stopped his American opponent via technical knockout in the first round of their rematch.
Source Rappler.com
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