At 10, Ken Caniga’s star starts to sparkle in MMA

CEBU, Philippines – At a tender age of 10 years old, Ken ‘Shaolin’ Caniga can already be considered as one of the most promising mixed martial artists in Cebu. He cemented this claim with a stellar performance in Muay Thai event of the Batang Pinoy National Finals two weeks ago in Bacolod City.

After snaring a pair of gold medals for Team Cebu City in the Visayas eliminations of the annual sports spectacle for developmental athletes in Aklan last November, Caniga stormed his way to another golden double during the Nationals where he crushed a slew of top amateur fighters from all over the country.

“Wa man ko kulbai sa ako mga duwa tungod kay sakto man ko sa practice,” said Caniga. “Mas sayun nalang sa Nationals kay mas grabe man ako practice human didto sa Aklan.”

It has truly been a great year for Caniga. He passed his amateur MMA debut with flying colors, winning via first round TKO over Benedict Torbiso during the initial staging of Cebu Extreme Fight League last August 16 at the Cebu Coliseum.

“Happy ko nga magsige og training og martial arts, pero pareha rasad ko sa uban bata nga magduwa ug moadto sa school,” said Caniga.

Master Benigno 'Ekin' R. Caniga, Jr., Shaolin’s uncle who is also the president and CEO of Yaw-Yan ArDigma Cebu Martial Arts, Inc., firmly believes that Ken has great potential in this field of discipline and that he could be one of country’s hopes for a gold medal in the Asian Games someday.

“Actually, I have received an offer to include Ken in the Philippine Youth team that would compete in the World Youth Muay Thai tournament in Thailand next year, but I politely declined because I want to give the kid more experience,” said Master Ekin. “Expect a lot of tournaments for him this year whether it will be in kickboxing or MMA. I really want him to be exposed in tournaments with big number of crowd.”

Just like any normal kid, Master Ekin said Ken also plays and goes to school. Thats what he wants as it can also put balance to the life of the young martial artist.

So impressed with his talent that Cebu City Sports Commission chairman Edward Hayco has tapped Ken as trainer for CCSC’s grassroots development program for combat sports billed as ‘Bakbakan sa Sugbu.’

“He has a great talent and I want him to share his knowledge to those young athletes who also want to excel in kickboxing and MMA,” said Hayco. (FREEMAN)