MANILA, Philippines – Following his dominant decision win over fellow Filipino fighter Miguel Mosquera, Rolando Gabriel Dy will continue his mixed martial arts career as a featherweight competitor.
In his return to the 145-pound weight class after 3 stints at bantamweight, Dy regained his winning form as he pressed the action from bell to bell against Mosquera and cruised to a unanimous decision victory at PXC 51 on Saturday, January 16.
With his impressive outing versus Mosquera, Dy realized that the featherweight division is the right bracket for his 5-foot-9 brawny physique.
“I am staying at featherweight for good,” Dy told Rappler. “It’s the right weight class for me. Yes, I am still cutting weight. But unlike at bantamweight, I don’t have to cut that much at featherweight.”
Dy, who struggled to make weight when he challenged then-bantamweight champion Kyle Aguon in June 2015, effortlessly met the allowable featherweight non-title limit for his 3-round bout with Mosquera.
The 24-year-old son of former boxing world titleholder Rolando Navarrete did not miss a single step, pummeling Mosquera with hard left jab-right straight combinations and consistently throwing leg kicks.
Dy was able to drop Mosquera to the mat with a crisp knee to the body in the dying seconds of Round 2, but he was not able to secure the stoppage as his foe was saved by the bell.
According to Dy, he hesitated to polish Mosquera off with follow-up shots on the ground as he thought referee Donny Elviña would wave it off as his opponent crumbled in pain.
“Personally, it was my mistake because I didn’t follow my opponent on the mat and get the stoppage,” he said. “It’s still the referee’s duty to halt the contest and I believe that it should have been stopped before the second round ended.”
At featherweight, Dy holds notable triumphs over the likes of Alde de Soza, Arex Montalban, and Kyle Reyes.
With Dy returning to featherweight on a permanent basis, he becomes one of the few options for the division’s reigning kingpin Alex Volkanovski. – Rappler.com