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2009 Rogue BTB- Thru the Judges eyes by. Mr. Jaime Sin

The 2nd Rogue Black tie brawl last October 24, 2009 in Renaissance hotel Makati was a much bigger and better event than the first Rogue Black Tie event last year. The main ballroom was packed full even though tickets were quite expensive. Dinner was a three-course meal of salad, steak with asparagus, and dessert. Drinks were overflowing at the open bar. Manila's young elite came in force which signaled that Mixed Martial Arts is now Mainstream. Socialite Teresa Prieto Valdes was there watching. Scions of prominent families (and there were many) were also there and enjoying MMA. Supermodel Ornussa Cadness was one of the three ring girls. Razorback sang the philippine national anthem which made one want to head bang especially when the drums started to kick in when the words:" Sa dagat at bundok sa simoy at...." were sung.

First fight was between Rad Llanasa of WMF Muay Thai and Warren Franco of Hybrid Yawyan. This was Warren Franco's first pro fight as he already had numerous victories before as an amateur MMA fighter. When the round began, Franco went for the take down, after a scramble Franco ended up on his back and had Llanasa on his guard. Franco attempted an armbar but Llanasa picked him up and slammed him on the ground. Again Franco executed a tight armbar on Llanasa whose elbow was already overextending. It was nervewracking to watch as those who are grapplers  or jiujitsu practitioners can see that Llanasa's elbow was close to pointbreak, but again he lifted Franco up and slammed him again on the floor. Such was Llanasa's strength that he was able to lift Franco several times while his arm was being armbarred by Franco. Llanasa was finally able to escape and pound Franco who was on the half guard position which prompted the referee to stop the fight. It was a good stoppage as Franco already reinjured his calf muscle which restricted his movements to defend himself.He had to be helped out of the ring as he couldn't walk on his right leg.

Second fight was Charlie Angel and Alvin Ramirez of Yawyan Buhawi. Ramirez started the round like a "Buhawi" (whirlwind) literally as he kicked and punched Angel around the ring. Ramirez kept circling and kicking Angel on the face as Angel was very slow to react and absorbed all of Ramirez's strikes. Angel's face started to get puffy and his left eye was swollen. Second round was another story as momentum shifted to Angel as Ramirez showed signs of tiredness which showed his lack of experience by gassing himself out by throwing everything he had in the first round. Angel was now the aggressor as he ran after Ramirez who was still circling but this time to escape the strikes of Angel. It was quite lopsided on the second round and Angel got the unanimous decision.

Third fight was between american Pete Brooks of Lakay Wushu and ukrainian Igor Subora of Strikes Unlimited. This was a battle of heavyweights as Pete Brooks was standing at 6'5 - 225lbs, and Igor was a muscular 6'3 - 225lbs. Pete Brooks is an american visiting professor in benguet and has fought before in "king of the cage" in the U.S and trained with the Lakay Wushu team while ukraianian Igor Subora is now based in the Philippines after marrying a filipina. Igor is a Sambo specialist. It was like watching pride fighting championships as the two giants made the ring and referee look very small. when the fight started, Brooks used his longer reach to jab Igor keeping him at bay. Igor tried to counter using a jab/overhand combo but couldn't reach its target. Brooks also connected a roundhouse kick on Igor but the kick caused a cut on Brooks skin which kept on bleeding. Igor found himself on the half-guard from where he worked to get Brook's legs for a knee bar. But the knee bar wasn't very tight and Brooks was able to move his legs out of position  and he was able to take Igor's back. Brooks softened him up  by using uppercuts and hooks while he was riding Igor's back. Igor then carelessly forgot about the choke threat while protecting himself from punches which Brooks utilized in tapping Igor out.

Fourth fight was between japanese Hideo Morikawa and Roldan Cartajena of Hybrid Yawyan. This was a very exciting fight as Morikawa was very fluid with his shooting attempts; he looked like he was gliding on his knees when shooting. Morikawa's style reminded me of japanese pancrase fighters as he kept on shooting then striking. He was hard to read whether he was going to shoot or either to kick. His unpredictability caught Catajena off guard as Morikawa kicked him on the face which caused a cut above the left eye of Cartejena. Morikawa followed this up with knees which also cut the nose of Cartajen. The two cuts spurted a lot of blood which made the referee to temporarily stop the fight so the ring doctor can check the two cuts on Catajena's face which was becoming to be a waterfall of blood. After a few minutes of checking, the doctor couldn't stop the bleeding and decided to stop the fight since the safety of Catajena was a concern.

Fifth fight was Eric Kelly of Ardigma/Lakay MMA and Elord's Bimbi Perez. I thoght it was going to be a one-sided fight as Kelly had never been beaten before and Kelly looked very conditioned with his ripped muscles. I was proven wrong by Bimbi as he matched the speed of Kelly and Bimbi improved his ground game a lot. Kelly was just superior in his throws but Bimbi countered by reversing Kelly and even mounted him. However, Kelly still proved he was the better grappler as he choked out Bimbi on second round via rear naked.

Sixth fight was Reggie "Baby Ama" Amarante of Deftac against Janjan Traza of Maic's Gym. Traza proved to be worthy ob being in the URCC as he traded punches and kicks against Reggie. First round was a toss-up between the two fighters as they were almost even in their striking with Traza slightly ahead on my scorecard. Second round awakened the animal in Reggie as he came out with his hands blazing. He was more explosive and he came after Traza whom he managed to knock down after a fierce exchange. Reggie was obviously the crowd's favourite fighter as every blow by Reggie earned him cheers from the crowd. Reggie landed the harder shots and was more in control, not to mention he knocked down Traza twice which earned him the unanimous decision.

 Seventh fight was between Davaoeno Angelito Manguray of Befit Pythons Pit and Iranian Razi Jabbari of WMF Muay Thai. Manguray is a 40 year old doctor from Davao who just recently fought and won in URCC Davao. People thought it was going to be a massacre of the 40 year old doctor by the much younger iranian Jabbari. Manguray however proved them wrong as he fought like Lyoto Machida, he fought Shotokan karate style with his hands down and punching straight and kicking 45 degrees left and right. Jabbari failed to exploit the opening by fighting with his usual open style himself, hands open and using a haymaker and overhand punches for both left and right. The doctor caught him with a straight right and Jabbari fell on the ropes; TKO at 3:20 official time on the first round.

Main event was the Championship fight between Kevin Bellingon of Lakay Wushu and Jilmar Tangayan of Cenojas MMA. Tangayan was also one of the famed fighters from Davao who came highly recommended from URCC's producers who were able to scout them when they fought there. They spoke so highly of the Davaoenos as being able to match the skills of the Baguio/Benguet Boys. They were correct as Tangayan outstriked Bellingon in the first round. Bellingon however took Tangayan down and worked on the ground and pound and controlled Tangayan which earned him round one. Round two was again a different story; Tangayan unleashed a flurry of a combination of punches and kicks on Bellingon. Tangayan was very much in control from the start of round two and used a lot of knees and punched  Bellingon repeatedly on the ribs while sprawling from Bellingon's take downs. Bellingon appeared to have gassed out. For the first time in his URCC career, Bellingon's nose was bleeding, both cheekbones were swollen and his left lip is double its normal size. Bellingon was gassed out and fighting for his life, there was an instance where he was already groggy and looked like was about to be knocked out, Bellingon however survived the round. When the scorecards came out, the fight was ruled a draw. First round was Bellingon's, second round was Tangayan's and since the was a championship fight, there was a third and deciding round in cases of a draw. When the bell of the third round rang, Bellingon came out with the urgency needed to win the fight and he tied up Tangayan to defang his strikes. Bellingon even attempted an anaconda chocke which impressed me as it showed that these wushu guys are still continuing to evolve. Bellingon was able to take down Tangayan twice and was able to control him on the ground which earned him the third round which retained his crown.

Thanks to all the sponsors like Absolute Zero MMA shorts, Rogue, K1 Extreme Sportshop (k1extreme.com) for making the event possible, see you on Nov 21, URCC XV.