MANILA, Philippines – After a solid debut at the box office in its first venture on Philippine shores, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will return to the fight capital of Southeast Asia to stage a live event dubbed “Fight Night Manila 2” on October 15.
The blockbuster news was publicly confirmed during Filipino-American fighter John Dodson’s press conference on Thursday, June 23 at Maxims Hotel in Pasay City.
UFC’s second trip to the archipelago is set to take place at the 20,000-seater SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City and is the organization’s lone Asian stop in 2016.
No bouts have been announced for UFC Fight Night Manila, but it is expected that the fight card will likely feature homegrown talent Roldan Sangcha-an, who was last seen in action when he yielded to Guam’s Jon delos Reyes via second-round submission.
Dodson is also a possible option to be included at UFC Fight Night Manila.
Known by the moniker "The Magician," Dodson made his return to the bantamweight division this year and claimed a 47-second knockout triumph over Manny Gamburyan this past April.
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We're headed back to Manila!!!<br>Full story: <a href="https://t.co/wrzqkdWpLL">https://t.co/wrzqkdWpLL</a><br>Register for Pre-sale <a href="https://t.co/4TLz7s1MSH">https://t.co/4TLz7s1MSH</a> <a href="https://t.co/KNyMJpngxr">pic.twitter.com/KNyMJpngxr</a></p>— UFC Asia (@UFC_Asia) <a href="https://twitter.com/UFC_Asia/status/745830950794366976">June 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Meanwhile, Fil-Am competitor Robbie Lawler remains an uncertainty for UFC’s second Philippine event as he is scheduled to defend his welterweight championship against Tyron Woodley on July 30.
Last year’s inaugural UFC event in the country, which drew an attendance of 13,446 people, was headlined by a featherweight super-fight between former lightweight titlist Frankie Edgar and two-division champion Urijah Faber.
Edgar solidified his status as the next contender for the featherweight championship by outpointing Faber via unanimous decision with 3 identical marks of 50-45.
Aside from the action-packed affair between Edgar and Faber, it also featured the farewell fight of “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Mark Muñoz.
Muñoz dominated Luke Barnatt from start to finish with repetitive takedowns and solid overhand right to claim a unanimous decision victory.
Tickets prices of UFC Fight Night Manila 2 will be revealed in the coming weeks and will be available through SM Tickets. – Rappler.com