“Mugen” Gets His Chance to Impress Us…Again.
(article by the coffee boy)
Young,
good-looking, and absolutely beastly, Mark “Mugen” Striegl has been on a tear
lately and people have noticed. After making his successful debut with popular
Filipino promotion PXC, submitting Robert Wusstig under two minutes, he now has
what is a huge step up in MMA veteran Harris “The Hitman” Sarmiento.
Sarmiento,
the reigning PXC Lightweight Champion with a record of 35 – 23, will be
dropping to the featherweight division to meet Striegl. Sarmiento is known for
his grinding-style of fighting and well-roundedness, and will pose a
considerable threat to Mark Striegl’s perfect 11 – 0 record.
Striegl
is known almost exclusively for his aggressive style of grappling and wide
range of submission skills in his arsenal, and has demonstrated this in his
fights against Ev Ting, Alcer Lozada, and more recently Robert Wusstig. Out of
his 11 wins, nine have come by way of submission after more or less dominating
and outclassing his opponents on the ground.
What’s
most impressive about this young man isn’t so much his skills nor his record,
but rather how he fearlessly draws his opponents into his own world and does it
with a “poker face” – I can’t remember the last time I saw him look frustrated,
not even in one of his early fights against top Korean prospect Bae Young Kwon.
The
guys behind PXC clearly see something in Striegl, and giving him this fight
against Sarmiento is probably their way of breaking him into a new scene,
potentially rewarding him a title shot if he can prove that all the hype behind
him is legitimate.
Mark
Striegl has had steady momentum over the last year and, what with wins over Ev
Ting and Alcer Lozada and rumors that ONE FC wanted to sign him (obviously
failing to do so), it was no surprise that PXC was aggressive and eager to sign
him before anyone else did, and break him into their promotion.
The
significance of this fight for Striegl is, well, very significant – a win over
the bigger, more experienced man in Sarmiento will show everyone in the
featherweight and bantamweight division that he means business. A dominating
win would serve him well right now – PXC’s featherweight and bantamweight
divisions are one of the most stacked divisions around.
Striegl’s
game plan should be a no-brainer: feel him out, drag Sarmiento into his own
world, and work those submissions. But make no mistake, this should be an
uphill battle for the rising star and will definitely bring out the best in
him.
This is
Mark “Mugen” Striegl’s toughest fight to date – will he impress us again?
