Ultimate Fighting Championship sets May 2009 event in RP
By ROY MEDINA, abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/22/2008 7:03 PM
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International mixed martial arts fighters such as Brandon "The Truth" Vera are among the big stars of the Ultimate Fighting Championship who may see action once the UFC sets up a major event in the Philippines by May next year.
"I can say that definitely, we hope to bring some of our stars. Hopefully, if the timing works, we'd love to bring Brandon Vera here to a fight," said Lorenzo Fertitta, chairman and chief executive of Zuffa, LLC, the UFC's parent company. (Vera is half-Filipino. He has been to the Philippines a number of times and was interviewed by abs-cbnNEWS.com in April this year.)
Fertitta and two-time light heavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell faced the sports media Monday at ABS-CBN's 9501 restaurant to welcome the arrival of the UFC in the Philippines.
Apart from the possibility of bringing in Vera, the UFC boss, however, said that it would be a little early to name the fighters who will be coming.
"We have to see how things progress for the fighters and the fights and the match-ups," he said.
He added that UFC and Philippine partner ABS-CBN are working on the details of the event.
"We're hoping that we can organize something for the summertime, maybe around May. But as I said before, there are a lot of things that goes into that, but definitely, we're going to be here in the Philippines as soon as we possibly could."
Fertitta said they at the UFC want to gather top fighters from around the world and bring in them in for a big event in the Philippines, a country that has a growing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) community.
"We'll be bringing fighters from all over the world to compete here and make it a big international event that will not only be seen in the Philippines in partnership with ABS-CBN but also seen all around the world, live," he said.
Liddell, meanwhile, described his Philippine experience as "great."
"I was surprised, it was very surprising, it was a great experience," he said of his first day on Sunday, September 21, when he did an open workout at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
"I think it's a very great place to fight, fans are great, they come out, they're very excited about it," the two-time light heavyweight champ, who has beaten the likes of UFC legends Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz in The Octagon. He has an MMA win-loss record of 21-5. He was last defeated by Rashad Evans.
Fertitta, meanwhile, had a similar reaction.
"It's been incredible. It's a beautiful country, beautiful city, everybody's been very nice and we really enjoy being here," he said.
