Cui to bring top MMA card this May in Manila

VICTOR Cui is set to be honored for his achievement in founding the biggest MMA promotion in Asia at the upcoming SAC-SMB Cebu Sports Awards and he announced yesterday that his ONE Fighting Championship promotion would be returning to the Philippines in May.

ONE FC was formed in 2011 and Cui confirmed that its ninth card would be taking place at the 20,000 capacity Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena on May 31st and would feature top Filipino fighters Honorio Banario and Eduard Folayang.

It is the second time that Asia’s biggest MMA promotion has hosted an event in the Philippines and will be on an even bigger scale than ONE FC: ‘Pride of a Nation’ last August which was witnessed by 16,500 people at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Banario became the first Filipino to win a world title in MMA when he stopped Eric Kelly in the main event of ONE FC: ‘Return of Warriors’ in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year and will be defending his belt in Manila on May 21st against Korean Bae Young Kwon.

Kwon (7-3) and Banario (8-1) first fought at ONE FC: ‘Battle of Heroes’ in Jakarta and the Korean won with a submission early in the opening round. The Baguio-based champion will have a chance to avenge that loss when the two meet for the second time at the MOA Arena.

Also on the card will be DREAM Bantamweight Champion Bibiano Fernandes, regarded by many as the best 135 lbs fighter in the world, and URCC Welterweight Champion Eduard Folayang who trains alongside Banario under coach Mark Sangiao at the famous Team Lakay.

Cui’s family comes from Cebu and he is looking forward to taking his award winning promotion back to the Philippines for the second time,

“Our first ONE FC event in Manila was amazing and a real eye-opener to how many ONE FC fans we have in the Philippines. We worked with some of the biggest sponsors and companies in the country, had hundreds of media turn up at every press conference and ONE FC brought the biggest MMA event ever to the country. We have now moved to an even bigger venue and (are) introducing even more fans to the sport and ONE FC.”