It's Podcast Time - ONE FC, PXC and DARE Fight Sports

World MMA News Digest - The Podcast Ep1

OK people I have tried and failed to get some willing co-hosts to work with me on relaunching what was the Asian MMA News Podcast.
I tried to stay away but couldn't. I still feel their is a massive gap in the scene for a good Asian based podcast. I'm not saying this is it. But at least we will try.

It's the first episode of a new concept covering the days MMA stories in 5 minutes or less.

Lets see how it goes.

Today we look back at ONE FC Champions and Warriors and PXC 39 and we also cheer the news that DARE Fight Sports are legal.

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!

PXC 34 - Asia's MMA Success Story

Pacific X-Treme 34 and Mark Striegl

The Smart Araneta Coliseum in Manila has history, big history, Muhammed Ali history, Thrilla in Manila history. And this was the first visit of fast rising Asian MMA organisation Pacific X-Treme who had outgrown their old venue.

The stadium was re-arranged and with the Stage and Screen in place the capacity was around 6000.

Pre-fight day the organisation had sold over 3000 tickets and on the night of the event a further 2000 plus turned up giving just over 5000 fans. This is first of all very impressive and secondly amazing when you consider the event was also screened live on TV on the Philippines and also to the rest of the world via Sherdog.com.

According to early reports from Neilsen Ratings - The peak viewing figure on AKTV reached an amazing 700,000.

Of course the crowd will only return if they are entertained and I think based upon this show they will be back for more.

I won't run through the whole event it's been covered in plenty of places and the videos are doing the rounds.

What I would like to say though is that PXC are really on the up and up this event was seen worldwide and prior to this the PXC had already proved to be a route through to the UFC.

One fighter I am sure the UFC are already watching must be Mark Striegl. prior to his fight with Harris Sarmiento  there seemed to be some question (certainly from the PXC commentary team) as to the legitimacy of his past opponents. Well Harris Sarmiento would wipe all that away in one fight. Sarmiento is just 29 years old and has an amazing 58 pro fights including in Strikeforce and he is still well up on the winning side. 

Well in 2:37 seconds Mark Striegl proved he is very much for real as he confidently tackled Sarmiento.

Sarmiento will be back he is a great fighter, but Striegl is a man on a mission and would not be stopped.

There can be no doubt that with the UFC coming more and more over to Asia there will be opportunities for this young man in the biggest organisation of them all, when he feels he is ready.

One thing about Mark Striegl compared with many in Asia is he is in the game for the long run. He does not want one losing fight in the UFC and to fade away, living on that for years, he wants to be a real success. Because of that fact he won't be in a hurry to move up. He has based himself in Baguio where he has a a great support. He also is a sponsors dream with his good looks and smart business attitude plus at the PXC he feels they understand and care for him and his needs.

He will build a real fan base in the Philippines, he will build on his film star good looks bringing more female fans into the sport and he will be big star in the Philippines and beyond. He has what it takes to raise the profile of Philippine MMA even further and already it's one of the hottest of hotbeds of MMA in Asia.

And Pacific X'Treme Combat to give it, it's will name will continue to grow into one of the worlds premier regional MMA organisations. With TV Coverage and Live Streaming they cannot fail.

Pacific X-Treme Combat 34

The Big Times Are A Coming!

Pacific X-Treme Combat are one of the few MMA organisations in Asia that succeeds in creating a stepping stone into the UFC.

The reason? They don't do hype or bullshit, what they do is find great up and coming local fighters and put them in solid match ups.

Those match ups get shown across the Philippines to a live TV audience that averages around a half a million people.
They also play to sold out arenas, so much so that they have had to find a bigger venue and this weekend they hold their first show in the famous SMART Araneta Coliseum.

The Philippines is already rightfully considered the hotbed of Asian MMA, with the URCC being the longest established organisation in Asia. PXC cements that status and both Organisations put of great shows.

So let's look at the card for the next PXC event: PXC 34

Bout 1:

Dario Banaro Jr (1-0-0) vs Ernesto Montilla (debut)

Bout 2:

Adrian Hillana (1-0-0) vs Tyrone Jones (1-1-0)

Bout 3:

Zebaztian Kadestam (2-0-0) vs Patrick Manicad (0-1-0)

Bout 4:

Isaiah Ordiz (1-0-0) vs Tristan Arenal (5-2-0)

Bout 5:

Russell Doane (8-0-0) vs Michinori Tanaka (5-0-0)

Bout 6:

Jerome Wanawan (3-0-0) vs Eugene Toquero (3-0-0)

Bout 7:

Guy Delumeau (16-7-3)  vs Dustine Kimura (8-0-0)

Bout 8:

Harris Sarmiento (35-23-0) vs Mark Striegl (11-0-0)

Main Event:

Ale Cali (4-1-0) vs Erwin Tagle (1-1-2)

As you can see the first four fights are basically the undercard with a range of well matched unproven fighters trying to make a name for themselves.

But from Bout 5: The quality moves up a notch.

Bout 5: Doane against Tanaka should be a great start to the main card as two unbeaten fighters will be doing all they can to keep there records clean. Tanaka is a Shooto veteren from Japan who will be hoping to make a name for himself in the PXC, but first he has to get past Doane and that is not going to be easy. Expect this one to go to the judges.

Bout 6: sees two 3-0 fighters take to the cage, Wanawan is a hard punching Philippine from Lakay MMA. Toquero a fellow Philippine fighter may have an even harder punch! This bout offers a bucketful of fireworks. I would be shocked if it get's to the judges, don't blink!

Bout 7: Delumeau has had an impressive record in Shooto and Pancrase but this is the Hawaiian's first bout in PXC. Kimura is a fellow countryman and is yet to face defeat in the cage. He is a submission expert and I expect these two to put on quite a show.

Bout 8: Sarmiento is one of the most experienced fighters around and to have amassed 58 fights in just ten years is quite amazing, his last five bouts have all been in the PXC and bar one decision loss they have all been wins. He comes up against one of the Philippines brightest up and coming stars in Striegl who has fought in Legend, DARE, PRO and the URCC and remains unbeaten. This promises to be a fascinating bout. My feeling is if Striegl wins this bout, he will be getting a title shot in the near future but beyond that he will make a big noise further afield as i am sure the UFC must be looking out for more local talent as they bring more shows to Asia.

Main Event: Title Fight

Cali has very powerful hands and will cause anybody in the flyweight division trouble. Tagle is going to need a lot of help to get out of this in one piece.


So that's it another exciting night is promised by the PXC team. Personally I think the Sarmiento vs Striegl fight is the de-facto main event and should be a human chess game at it's best.

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.