The 10th installment of the Universal Reality Combat Challenge (URCC X) couldn’t have gone any better for Baguio City’s Lakay Wushu Team. This year’s URCC, held on June 30 at the posh NBC Tent in Fort Bonifacio, was dominated by the underdog team from Baguio.
After three one-sided main event fights, Team Lakay finished with nothing less than top honors. Eduard Folayang and Kevin Belingon were both crowned new champions after winning the welterweight and flyweight belts, respectively, while Rey Docyogen successfully defended his pinweight title. The competition had no chance.
The atmosphere inside the NBC Tent couldn’t have been more Manila-centered. A majority of the crowd attended the event to witness the fights of crowd favorites Richard Lasprilla and Allan Co, members of Manila’s Team DEFTAC and popular fighters of the URCC circuit. Team DEFTAC and its fighters were welcomed by most of the audience with loud cheers and hooting. Yours truly and two other friends from Baguio, a total of three people, screamed our lungs out for Team Lakay in hopes of matching the decibel level set by DEFTAC fans. Before the fights began, during a San Miguel Strong Ice game, one of the contestants even boasted “I’m here to watch my friend Richard (Lasprilla) fight and win.” The night’s outcome surely surprised that guy and the other Team DEFTAC fans.
URCC X’s three main event fights looked like a match-up between the more popular Team DEFTAC (URCC’s poster team owned also by URCC Chairman, Alvin Aguilar) and Baguio’s Team Lakay. Both teams employ different styles of mixed martial arts; Team DEFTAC is disciplined under Gracie Jiu-Jistu and mainly grappling techniques, while Team Lakay’s style is centered on Sanshou, the striking division of Wushu. At the end of the night, the Wushu boys from Baguio went home with all the gold.
Team Lakay is the brainchild of Mark Sangiao, head coach of the Cordillera chapter in Baguio for Wushu, and a seasoned martial artist with past experience in kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, and Jiu-Jitsu. Mark is also a martial arts instructor at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) as well as a coach for Wushu at the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio City. Known also as “The Machine,” Mark has competed in local and international events including Fearless, another type of mixed martial arts competition, and the Asian and SEA Games.
Combining Sanshou with mixed martial arts is Mark’s personal philosophy, and he explains why the two go naturally together. “Yung Sanshou kumpleto na, may striking at may takedown. Dagdagan mo na lang ng grappling, kumpleto na siya.” Mixed martial arts is a competition where being well-rounded in all aspects of fighting determines superiority in the ring, and in the case of Team Lakay, Mark makes sure that he and his fighters have all angles covered.
Before adding the mixed martial art aspect to the technique, however, Mark makes sure that the striking aspect is down pat. “Dapat inuuna yung striking, tapos susunod yung wrestling takedown; yung huli na lang yung grappling.” From a spectator’s perspective, this makes for a more exciting match because the fighters aren’t just on the ground wrestling each other. It is this aggressiveness in striking, as well as sheer strength, that won the matches for Team Lakay. This hybrid discipline of Sanshou and mixed marital arts has been especially effective for Mark and Team Lakay. He notes that, out of 30 fights since 2003, they have lost only one.
Mixed martial arts in the Philippines is growing in popularity, with our own local versions of fighting circuits in URCC and Fearless. Support for this sport is not exactly high but many are predicting that it will boom in a few years. “Sa mga three to five years, mag bo-boom rin yung sport dito dahil sa ngayon, hindi pa lumalabas yung mga malalaking nagsusuporta sa MMA. Pero pag naging mas interested yung mga tao sa sport na ito, doon din lalabas yung dami na nag susuporta ng MMA sa Pilipinas,” shares Mark when asked his opinion on the subject. Part of why it isn’t getting that much support is because it is said to be too brutal — it is an almost no-rules competition, after all. However, this adds somewhat to the flair of it all, since fighters aren’t limited to using only fists or feet. In this sport, the whole body is utilized, making it a more complete kind of combat.
As for going international, Mark says that Filipinos can make it and that, skill-wise, we can keep up with the best in the world. Weight, however, is a big problem for Filipino fighters who want to go international. We as a people aren’t exactly built large, and this poses a problem in the international arena. “Yung timbang na sikat sa UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship, an international fighting competition) ay mabigat talaga. Meron tayong isa o dalawang fighters na makaka-shoot sa UFC or sa Pride (another international competition). Sa Pride may Asians din naman na nag lalaban talaga doon. Usually ang televised sa UFC na lightweight ay 150 to 160 pounds. Yun na yung lightweight nila para sa TV.”
Before thinking internationally, however, we must realize that there is a lot of untapped talent in areas of the Philippines other than Manila. Last weekend’s URCC is proof enough of that. This doesn’t mean to say that competitors from Manila are completely untalented. Rather, the attention should be spread out around the rest of the Philippines. For example, just because Manila is the center of Philippine operations, it doesn’t mean that, automatically, the best of the best will come from there. We have 7,107-plus islands, and excluding any one of those islands from the search could mean we are overlooking an international champion in any given field.
For now, Mark and the rest of Team Lakay are going back up to the mountains of Baguio as champions. They came out at the top after last week’s competition and there isn’t any more fitting place to celebrate than back home.
* * *
For more information about Team Lakay, visit their website at www.teamlakay.co.nr. E-mail me at enricomiguelsubido@yahoo.com.