MANILA, Philippines – As ONE Championship’s “Tribe of Warriors” card continues to take shape, two other Filipino fighters will don the Philippine colors on the event’s undercard on February 20.
Trestle Tan squares off with Indonesian-Mexican prospect Djatmiko Waluyo in a 3-round middleweight contest, while Jimmy Yabo faces Pakistani featherweight Bashir Ahmad.
Tan (3-5, 1 NC) is coming off a 90-second knockout loss to Taiwan’s Jeff Huang this past November and is currently suffering from a two-fight losing skid.
On the other hand, Waluyo is undefeated in 5 professional bouts and has won his last 4 outings by way of stoppage.
Waluyo is set to make his promotional debut for Asia’s largest mixed martial arts promotions against Tan, who seeks to get his first win since May 2015 when he defeated Huang via 9-second finish in their first meeting.
Like Tan, Yabo (4-2, 1 NC) aims to attain his first victory inside the ONE Championship cage after losing two-consecutive matches in 2015.
Yabo is a product of Universal Reality Combat Championship’s Cebu chapter, where he won 4 fights by knockout.
Yabo’s opponent Ahmad (3-2) has made 4 ONE appearances since his April 2013 debut, but he is fresh from a third-round knockout setback to Singaporean combatant Amir Khan in April 2015.
Aside from the two Pinoy representatives, ONE officially confirmed Rocky Batolbatol’s return to action versus Indonesia-based Dutch featherweight Anthony Engelen.
ONE: Tribe of Warriors, which takes place at the 8,000-seater Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia, is headlined by a welterweight encounter between Luis “Sapo” Santos and Rafael Silva.
In the co-main event, former ONE lightweight titleholder Kotetsu Boku battles Vincent Latoel. – Rappler.com