Do you know where 75% of the men in Manila were last Saturday night? They were all in the Amphitheater of Casino Filipino in Paranaque watching the URCC V (Universal Reality Combat Championship-Five). AND SO WAS I…
Riki is an AVID fan of the UFC (international counterpart of the URCC). If I use to hoard the tube before every Saturday night watching Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte live their NY lives, it is now his turn to watch Oleg Taktarov, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock and the Gracie Family (I hope I got their names correctly) crash each other’s bones and what-have-yous inside the UFC ring.
He had watched the URCC IV months before and I remember him making kwento that he saw the whole band of Bamboo with their dates watching the fights as well. With this added attraction, I decided to join him and our two best men to their Saturday Paranaque gimik. I thought, what the heck, while they watch the fights, I can do my own star-gazing as well. Besides, I don’t want to be left home alone again. I just spent last weekend in solitude. I am also such a “good and understanding” wife that I can’t force my hubby to miss this quarterly “important” show. So off we go to my first Reality Combat Fight. BAKBAKAN NA!!!
my ticket to rumble
I’ve never been to a real fighting arena before. I only catches glimpse of fights in the television. Besides, I was just introduced to the details of the world of boxing and UFC when I married a fanatic. (Dig this: I just learned recently that ALIMALL was build and named in the honor of Muhammad Ali-formerly known as Cassius Clay-who visited the Phils. during the Marcos reign!). When we arrived at the Casino Filipino, my oh my! There were MEN everywhere - teenagers, yuppies, rockers, the conos, the maskulados, the tanders! All of them were here, sharing the same excitement and anticipation, forgetting their differences, getting ready to rumble! Some very few brought their girlfriends and wives (thank God I’m not alone!)
The fight started late (very fortunate because we were too) so I got to see the complete show. Just like the fights you see in the tube, there is a square ring in the middle of the amphitheather and chairs/bleachers everywhere around it. And just like the fights you see in the tube, there is an announcer that talks (or rather shouts) loudly, fast and incomprehensibly. But the difference is, here, it is a girl (which I later learned is Erica Fife-former Ang TV star). WTF?!
Patriotic citizens these people-hungry-for-brutal-fights are though, we all stand up for the national anthem first. I was expecting a solo/accapella rendition of some singer/superstar but I was mistaken. Behind the blue smoking foglight at the stage emerged an ethnic (bob Marley look-alike) musician who rendered a calm and great rendition of the Lupang Hinirang by merely playing his wooden flute, and then halfway during the song, came the electronic and rocking sound of the electric guitar and then a rocker/guitar player (Slash lookalike-chubby version, damn it was not Nathan nor Aira!) came forward from the blue light and replaced the flutist. ASTIG! It was the coolest rendition of our national anthem ever!
I am beginning to enjoy this show. Then came next the FHM girls in their bikini tops and skimpy maong shorts. Hmph! Boo hoo!
The announcer (now male thank God!) announced next the start of the matches…which triggered the crowd to go wild. BAKBAKAN NA!!! (a song with the same title plays in the background as well)
For my non-URCC educated readers, let me share with you the things I learned from this experience. There were three types of matches that night, to wit:
1. SOT (Strike Out Tournament) - the players/fighters in these matches wore boxer gloves, no shoes (they can do kicks), shorts and tight shirts (optional, mostly not preferred). Most players (based on my observation) are from the following disciplines: Muay Thai and Bokaido (mix of Boxing, Karate and Aikido?!). Each set consist of three rounds, five minutes each. Whoever is down (or badly hurt) at the end of the third round will be declared the loser. If both are still standing after the three rounds, there will be no points to compute (like in boxing) and the results will be declared as a DRAW. Winner of each set will fight the other winners in a championship round later during the night (poor tired winner!)
2. MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) - same rules as SOT but here, the fighters wore more slim gloves and come from diversed discipline and teams (i.e. Red Corner, Strikes and Submissions, Elorde MMA team). And the fights are more brutal (for the male audience more exciting!)
3. TITLE BOUTS (lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and welterweight) - these are the main fights/attraction of the night. A defending champion will fight a challenger to preserve and secure his title and that BIG metallic belt.
The first fight began and after just three minutes, one of the player’s temple is already bleeding. I am beginning to get dizzy and nauseated already. Waaahh! Where are the celebrities? I need to see them so that I can be distracted from the game! The announcer told us that there will be at least 24 fights all-in-all. And we are just starting! Huhuhu…
Luckily that match ended already just in the first round. And so does majority of the others. And just like the theory of the LEARNING CURVE, fight after fight, slowly I get to appreciate and enjoy the matches already. Some players are comic enough to entertain me (name pa lang nila, nakakaaliw na! e.g. The Bulldawg, The Bull, Charlie Angel (complete with the themesong!), The Beast). And their individual introduction and entrance to the ring! Hahaha! Those were my favorite part of the show. Plus, the audiences are just so lively. Behind us are a group of teenage boys who just have comments for every move, punch and kicks of each players. Because of them, I now know the meaning and importance of the following terms in any URCC/UFC matches: Fight!, Break!, side mount, full mouth (a very important position), freeze (and recreation of a position in the center of the ring), take-over and suplex. And oh by the way, everytime the players are just in position and not touching each other, the crowd gets mad and shouts… BOOOOO!!! FIGGGHHHTT! But every time a player does a suplex and brings the other poor player down to the ground, the crowd amusingly cries in perfect unison ---WOOOOHHHH! YEAAAHHH! Gosh! Men!
The tournament lasted almost five hours. During that period, two poor men were brought out of the ring in stretchers (bones broken I guess from a bad fall or something), many have their face bleeding and their body bruised. But amazingly, I was able to witness that these players, although very brutal and fierce during the fights, were in fact gentle people who help their opponent stand up after a defeat, and hugged each other at the end of the fights. There was even one ferocious-looking fighter ("The Beast") who beat his opponent (equally big and nakakatakot) in just one minute but speaks so softly and kindly afterwards, like a henpecked husband.
I saw several celebrities in the amphitheather (Sec. Bunye, Mylene Dizon and Paulo Paraiso, Jackie Forster, Nancy Casteliogni with a date-not Paulo Contis!, Joanne Quintas with husband, and several familiar faces of commercial models whose name I don’t know!) but no Bamboo nor other rockstar. :(. Thus, I went home UN-starstrucked and nanghihina from all the blood and fighting I witnessed during all fourteen or so matches.
On the other hand, Riki, Kiko and Edsel, even during our midnight merienda, were still excitedly talking about the just-ended tournament and now inspired and planning to take martial arts classes (yeah yeah!).
Early morning yesterday, I told Riki… "Papano yan, I now know how to do a suplex and a full mount. Be afraid, be very afraid. Hehehe!”.
Riki is an AVID fan of the UFC (international counterpart of the URCC). If I use to hoard the tube before every Saturday night watching Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte live their NY lives, it is now his turn to watch Oleg Taktarov, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock and the Gracie Family (I hope I got their names correctly) crash each other’s bones and what-have-yous inside the UFC ring.
He had watched the URCC IV months before and I remember him making kwento that he saw the whole band of Bamboo with their dates watching the fights as well. With this added attraction, I decided to join him and our two best men to their Saturday Paranaque gimik. I thought, what the heck, while they watch the fights, I can do my own star-gazing as well. Besides, I don’t want to be left home alone again. I just spent last weekend in solitude. I am also such a “good and understanding” wife that I can’t force my hubby to miss this quarterly “important” show. So off we go to my first Reality Combat Fight. BAKBAKAN NA!!!
my ticket to rumble
I’ve never been to a real fighting arena before. I only catches glimpse of fights in the television. Besides, I was just introduced to the details of the world of boxing and UFC when I married a fanatic. (Dig this: I just learned recently that ALIMALL was build and named in the honor of Muhammad Ali-formerly known as Cassius Clay-who visited the Phils. during the Marcos reign!). When we arrived at the Casino Filipino, my oh my! There were MEN everywhere - teenagers, yuppies, rockers, the conos, the maskulados, the tanders! All of them were here, sharing the same excitement and anticipation, forgetting their differences, getting ready to rumble! Some very few brought their girlfriends and wives (thank God I’m not alone!)
The fight started late (very fortunate because we were too) so I got to see the complete show. Just like the fights you see in the tube, there is a square ring in the middle of the amphitheather and chairs/bleachers everywhere around it. And just like the fights you see in the tube, there is an announcer that talks (or rather shouts) loudly, fast and incomprehensibly. But the difference is, here, it is a girl (which I later learned is Erica Fife-former Ang TV star). WTF?!
Patriotic citizens these people-hungry-for-brutal-fights are though, we all stand up for the national anthem first. I was expecting a solo/accapella rendition of some singer/superstar but I was mistaken. Behind the blue smoking foglight at the stage emerged an ethnic (bob Marley look-alike) musician who rendered a calm and great rendition of the Lupang Hinirang by merely playing his wooden flute, and then halfway during the song, came the electronic and rocking sound of the electric guitar and then a rocker/guitar player (Slash lookalike-chubby version, damn it was not Nathan nor Aira!) came forward from the blue light and replaced the flutist. ASTIG! It was the coolest rendition of our national anthem ever!
I am beginning to enjoy this show. Then came next the FHM girls in their bikini tops and skimpy maong shorts. Hmph! Boo hoo!
The announcer (now male thank God!) announced next the start of the matches…which triggered the crowd to go wild. BAKBAKAN NA!!! (a song with the same title plays in the background as well)
For my non-URCC educated readers, let me share with you the things I learned from this experience. There were three types of matches that night, to wit:
1. SOT (Strike Out Tournament) - the players/fighters in these matches wore boxer gloves, no shoes (they can do kicks), shorts and tight shirts (optional, mostly not preferred). Most players (based on my observation) are from the following disciplines: Muay Thai and Bokaido (mix of Boxing, Karate and Aikido?!). Each set consist of three rounds, five minutes each. Whoever is down (or badly hurt) at the end of the third round will be declared the loser. If both are still standing after the three rounds, there will be no points to compute (like in boxing) and the results will be declared as a DRAW. Winner of each set will fight the other winners in a championship round later during the night (poor tired winner!)
2. MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) - same rules as SOT but here, the fighters wore more slim gloves and come from diversed discipline and teams (i.e. Red Corner, Strikes and Submissions, Elorde MMA team). And the fights are more brutal (for the male audience more exciting!)
3. TITLE BOUTS (lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight and welterweight) - these are the main fights/attraction of the night. A defending champion will fight a challenger to preserve and secure his title and that BIG metallic belt.
The first fight began and after just three minutes, one of the player’s temple is already bleeding. I am beginning to get dizzy and nauseated already. Waaahh! Where are the celebrities? I need to see them so that I can be distracted from the game! The announcer told us that there will be at least 24 fights all-in-all. And we are just starting! Huhuhu…
Luckily that match ended already just in the first round. And so does majority of the others. And just like the theory of the LEARNING CURVE, fight after fight, slowly I get to appreciate and enjoy the matches already. Some players are comic enough to entertain me (name pa lang nila, nakakaaliw na! e.g. The Bulldawg, The Bull, Charlie Angel (complete with the themesong!), The Beast). And their individual introduction and entrance to the ring! Hahaha! Those were my favorite part of the show. Plus, the audiences are just so lively. Behind us are a group of teenage boys who just have comments for every move, punch and kicks of each players. Because of them, I now know the meaning and importance of the following terms in any URCC/UFC matches: Fight!, Break!, side mount, full mouth (a very important position), freeze (and recreation of a position in the center of the ring), take-over and suplex. And oh by the way, everytime the players are just in position and not touching each other, the crowd gets mad and shouts… BOOOOO!!! FIGGGHHHTT! But every time a player does a suplex and brings the other poor player down to the ground, the crowd amusingly cries in perfect unison ---WOOOOHHHH! YEAAAHHH! Gosh! Men!
The tournament lasted almost five hours. During that period, two poor men were brought out of the ring in stretchers (bones broken I guess from a bad fall or something), many have their face bleeding and their body bruised. But amazingly, I was able to witness that these players, although very brutal and fierce during the fights, were in fact gentle people who help their opponent stand up after a defeat, and hugged each other at the end of the fights. There was even one ferocious-looking fighter ("The Beast") who beat his opponent (equally big and nakakatakot) in just one minute but speaks so softly and kindly afterwards, like a henpecked husband.
I saw several celebrities in the amphitheather (Sec. Bunye, Mylene Dizon and Paulo Paraiso, Jackie Forster, Nancy Casteliogni with a date-not Paulo Contis!, Joanne Quintas with husband, and several familiar faces of commercial models whose name I don’t know!) but no Bamboo nor other rockstar. :(. Thus, I went home UN-starstrucked and nanghihina from all the blood and fighting I witnessed during all fourteen or so matches.
On the other hand, Riki, Kiko and Edsel, even during our midnight merienda, were still excitedly talking about the just-ended tournament and now inspired and planning to take martial arts classes (yeah yeah!).
Early morning yesterday, I told Riki… "Papano yan, I now know how to do a suplex and a full mount. Be afraid, be very afraid. Hehehe!”.
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