Asian MMA Gym News

Striegl, Yachi, Kim and Thorell fight for the vacated PXC Featherweight Title!

PXC ANNOUNCES FEATHERWEIGHT TOURNAMENT

Pacific X-treme Combat's Top 4 Featherweights Battle for the Belt! 

Striegl, Yachi, Kim and Thorell fight for the vacated PXC Featherweight Title!

With PXC's Featherweight Champ, Joe Taimanglo, relocating to California and signing with Belator, PXC has decided to position 4 of their top fighters in the Featherweight Division against each other to decide who will be the new Champ! Taimanglo was slated to fight the undefeated Mark Striegl, but was released to Belator in order to pursue a title in the US mainland. Another PXC Featherweight, Hawaii's Dustin Kimura, recently picked up a debut victory in The UFC, opening up PXC's Featherweight Division for new stars to compete for the title. 

The tournament will feature some of the most-respected names in Asia-Pacific Mixed Martial Arts, and should make for 2 outstanding matches at PXC-37, slated for May 18th in Manila, Philippines. The winners are scheduled to face each other in a Title Fight in August.

Representing the Philippines, and one of the favorites in the tournament, is undefeated Filipino-American, Mark Striegl, who trains out of Figth Corps MMA in Baguio City, Philippines. Striegl's last victory was last November against Hawaii's Harris Sarmiento, who currently holds the PXC Lightweight Belt and sometimes fights at Featherweight as well. With that victory, Striegl established himself as the top contender for Taimanglo's Title. And with over 700,000 viewers of that bout in the country, Striegl has become a household name and the top prospects to The UFC from the Philippines. Striegl also spent considerable time training and studying in Japan and has fought in several leagues throughout Asia building up a large fan base while collecting 12 wins as a professional.

Recently signing with PXC with a mission to beat Striegl is Shooto Champion, Yusuke Yachi from the famed Krazy Bee team in Tokyo, Japan. Yachi Yusuke has incredible technique both on his feet and on the ground  and his extremely aggressive fighting style and conditioning is expected to make this Striegl's toughest bout to date. At the young age of 22, Yusuke trains alongside UFC Fighter, "Kid" Yamamoto, and is also talked about as one of the top prospects to The UFC from Asia...but determined to add the PXC Featherweight belt to his trophy case. 

Representing South Korea is one of the best MMA fighters in Seoul training in the most-respected camp, Korean Top Team (KTT). "The Beast", Jang Yong Kim has fought in Korea and Japan before signing with PXC and has recorded wins in PXC's Featherweight Division against Harris Sarmiento, Raja Shippen, and Fasie Jessie. His last fight was a loss against Joe Taimanglo for the Featherweight Title almost a year ago and this is Kim's opportunity to regain momentum and position himself for another PXC Featherweight Title Fight in August.

Finally, ready to stand up against Kim is Hawaii's Nate Thorell, a rising star from 808 Fight Factory in Honolulu with an impressive 4-1 record as a professional. Standing almost 6 feet tall, Thorell has experienced fighting elite grapplers and continues to train against some of the best in the world from Hawaii. Thorell has quick striking ability from any angle and incredible endurance. The only question is how he plans to deal with Kim's aggressive takedown and submission offensive.

PXC-37 is presented by San Mig Strong Ice and Sports 5. With special thanks to Axe Apollo, PLDT MY DSL, Fitness First, FHM Philippines, FHM.com.ph, Premiere Condoms, Healthway Agility Phil, Beer Below Zero, Real Sports Radio, Loqal.ph, Filquest Media Concepts, Eden Night Club, SM Tickets and TicketWorld.

For more information on PXC, check out www.pxc.com.ph or www.facebook.com/pxcmma. Tickets now available at www.smtickets.com and www.ticketworld.com.ph!

Mark Striegl ~ A Beautiful Future Awaits

Mark Striegl: “A win over Sarmiento definitely puts me up there…”

(article by the Coffee Boy)

         Come November 17^th, Mark Striegl has a big fight in front of him with title implications behind it, but it’s an uphill battle against the MMA veteran and current PXC Lightweight Champion Harris Sarmiento.

         “A win over Sarmiento definitely puts me in line up there for a title shot…I think,” Striegl says. He also adds that he hopes a win over Sarmiento “…will get me an Andok's sponsorship.” (For those of you lost, much like I was, Andok's is a chain of roasted chicken restaurants in the Philippines).

         Currently undefeated, his record stands at 11 – 0, nine coming by way of submission. He has beaten the likes of Alcer Lozada, Robert Wusstig, and current ONE FC Korean superstar Bae Young Kwon. Finally signing down exclusively with competitive MMA promotion PXC, a lot of talk was that he’d be close to a title shot.

         “…a belt would certainly be nice. Will Chope (Team Buffet teammate) and I were kind of racing to see who would get to a belt first,” Striegl muses, “…guess I lost that one.”

         One wonders which division he’d be competing at competitively for a championship, and a lot of people believe that a drop to the bantamweight division would be best for him. “Dropping to 135 makes some sense, but I haven’t lost at 145,” he says, “…and the idea of dieting and cutting weight isn’t very pleasant.”

         In any case, before he even considers a drop to 135 lbs or a title shot, he has Harris Sarmiento standing in front of him in a couple weeks and that task is something that could make or break this Fil-Am fighter. In preparation for this fight, he has brought in AJ “Pyro” Lias to join him in Baguio where he trains with Fight Corps MMA.

        

When asked about his training regiment and game-plan, he seemed iffy about giving away too many details. “I typically wake up at 4 am to run… After that I eat breakfast and proceed to chase horses and livestock. Sometimes chickens…like Rocky,” he laughs. “Just kidding…you know I can’t tell you all my ninja secret training methods.

“We have a solid team at Fight Corps MMA and I will be well-prepared for Harris.”

It was just a few short years ago that Mark “Mugen” Striegl got into mixed martial arts. He explained that it was his background in wrestling that made him interested in combat sports. “I got into MMA because I grew up watching PRIDE FC in Japan and thought they were amazing.

“Coming from a wrestling background, I was always interested in combat sports and after high school I had to give MMA a try.”

When asked who his biggest inspiration was in MMA, he had to be all cheesy and said “My family and friends.” (enter waterworks)

“I look up to Fedor and Genki Sudo a lot,” after finally caving in, “Fedor did the unheard of in Pride, and Genki Sudo was the ultimate showman. He was fun to watch, had a tricky style of fighting, and had epic entrances.”

Mark “Mugen” Striegl faces Harris Sarmiento on the 17^th of November at PXC 34, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in the Philippines.