Cebuano YawYan fighter arrives in California

JOHNLERY “Ian” Caniga, the pride of the YawYan Ardigma-Cebu and his father and trainer Master Benigno “Ekin” Caniga and GM Max Caballes, arrived yesterday in San Francisco, California to compete in the annual Navarro’s Mixed Martial Arts Championships.

The team departed last Oct. 31 confident of making a decent performance in the prestigious MMA tournament.

Johnlery will compete in five different martial arts this Friday, including grappling, sports grappling, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and Arnis.

According to Navarro, Johnlery’s speed will be his key to winning the tournament since most other fighters will rely mainly on their weight.

For Ekin, his son has a bigger chance in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu since his son is an instructor of this martial arts and has already taken down big men during sparring sessions here.

Around 150 fighters from different countries are competing in the one day tournament.

“I invited them because I also wanted to share the knowledge of our martial arts, its not just about the competition,” said Navarro.

For Navarro this is YawYan Ardigma’s stepping stone in the international MMA scene because of Johnlery’s participation. “I consider Yaw-Yan as our sister school because I have learned a lot from them and they also learned from me,” added Navarro.  /CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL