MMA bets are battle-ready

MANILA, Philippines — Three Baguio fighters are locked and loaded to make a splash in the debut of mixed martial arts at the Inae Sports Center in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games starting today.

Jean Claude (The Dynamite) Saclag, 31, takes to the mat in the 65kg traditional event while Carlos (Limitless) Alvarez, 27, battles in the 77kg traditional division and Gina (Conviction) Araos, 37, sees action in the 54kg modern class in quarterfinal matches today. Winners advance to the semifinals tomorrow and survivors go for gold on Tuesday.

The trio qualified for the Asiad through the qualifying 4th Asian Mixed Martial Arts Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last May. Saclag and Araos won gold medals while Alvarez settled for bronze. Saclag’s victory was spectacular as he stopped Zhussupov Chingiz of Kazakhstan in the first round.

Traditional MMA fighters wear a gi, shin pads, open-finger gloves, mouthguards and groin guards (for men). Modern fighters wear shorts and rash guards (sleeveless for men, sleeved for women) insead of a gi. In Nagoya, the MMA coaches are Richard Lasprilla, Lester del Rosario and Rex de Lara.

MMA coach and practitioner Franco Rulloda is the only Filipino on the roster of the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Organization supervising the Nagoya event. He is a lecturer for sports federations regarding rules and regulations with the added responsibility of creating more MMA officials.

“MMA combines all the combat sports into one event like UFC,” said Rulloda. “Prior to the Asian Games, there were qualifying rounds and competitions in China and Uzbekistan. The Asian Games campaign is a collaborative effort of the Nasyonal Mixed Martial Arts Pederasyon ng Pilipinas, the Wrestling Association of the Philippines with Alvin Aguilar and Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas with Wharton Chan, all under the supervision of POC president Sir Bambol Tolentino. Our three fighters had prior stints with other NSAs but now are part of the national MMA program under POC and PSC.” Saclag was previously in wushu, winning the gold medal at the Sanda World Cup in 2014 and silver at the 2014 Asian Games. He’s a three-time kickboxing SEA Games gold medalist. Alvarez is a ONE Championship veteran with a 5-2 record, two by KO and three by submission. Araos is a two-time kickboxing SEA Games gold medalist.