Dream slipped on the ground

NAGOYA – Jean Claude Saclag’s campaign as an MMA fighter in the 20th Asian Games ended yesterday with a silver-medal finish – just like his run as a wushu athlete in Incheon back in 2014.

His golden dream here ended buried on the mat.

The 31-year-old fighter from Baguio fell to Tajikistan’s Otabek Rajabov in the men’s traditional -65kg MMA final at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games in a classic striker-vs-grappler duel that ended exactly where Saclag didn’t want it: on the ground.

“It was like three people were lying on top of me,” Saclag said in Pilipino of the 23-year-old unbeaten Tajik.

It didn’t start that way. Saclag won the early standing war, uncorking a looping head shot that knocked Rajabov down.

Then came the mistake that cost him the gold.

“My coach told me to wait for him to stand up, but I saw his eyes, he was still dizzy, so my killer instinct kicked in,” he said.

He dove in. Rajabov grabbed him. And that was it – the start of a sorry end.

Once on the canvas, Rajabov never let him breathe. Saclag spent most of the fight pinned, smothered, and shut down.

The loss mirrored Incheon 2014, when Saclag, as wushu artist, also settled for silver.

The silver still assured the Philippines twin podium finishes in MMA’s debut at the Asian Games, following Carlos Alvarez’s bronze in the -77kg class a day earlier.