Strickland keeps title; Rampage Jackson says KOTC 'right place' to start

MANILA, Philippines – American Sean “Tarzan” Strickland failed to live up to his promise but still kept his middleweight belt with a unanimous decision against Japan’s Yuske Yakashita on Friday night in the maiden debut of US-based King of the Cage in the country at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

Strickland promised “fireworks” and that he would 'kill' the Japanese challenger in the main event but none of that happened as Yakashita proved to be a formidable foe forcing the American champion to go the distance in the main event that rounded up at almost 2 in the morning of Saturday.

“He (Yakashita) was by far the toughest opponent I’ve faced,” Strickland said in the post-fight interview. “This is my favorite fight ever.”

The 21-year old champion from Corona, California extended his unbeaten record to 12 wins, nine of them coming from stoppages including a sensational first round knockout in his last title defense before the Manila trip.

But the heavy handed Strickland failed to land the knockout blow. But nonetheless, he left the Japanese challenger with a bloodied nose after the fight.

“He hit me in the fourth round and I almost went black,” Strickland said afterwards.

The American champion also made his intentions clear to stay in KOTC and nixed the idea to jump to the main stream UFC. Not just yet as he hopes to return to the country to fight again. 

"I still have a long list [of fights]," Strickland told the crowd after the fight. "I love the Philippine fans. I love the Philippine ladies. I am loving this gym [SM MOA Arena]. I hope to come back here and fight again."  

In the co-main event, Joe “The Technician” Condon also outpointed Hawaiian Kaleo Kwan in a non-title fight.

The 39-year old Kwan came in as a late replacement to Fil-Hawaiian welterweight champion Lowen Tynanes, who suffered a broken nose leading to the fight.

The win kept Condon still in contention for the title once Tynanes returns from his injury.

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who watched from the ringside, apologized to the fans after he had to leave earlier due to a tiring day in his second trip to Manila that included filming some scenes of his upcoming reality show in Spike TV. The tiresome day took the toll on the MMA great as he was caught sleeping in the fight card opener. 

But Jackson, who started his MMA career in KOTC, was awakened by some of the exciting local fights. 

The most sensational fight of the night belonged to Carlos Tiongson, who was celebrating his 30^th birthday, with a right overhead punch that knocked the sense out of Fadi Alhamoui just sixty seconds into the fight.

The 5-foot-5 Tiongson from Submission Sports stable of local MMA legend Erwin Tagle provided the most electrifying finish that had Jackson standing up from his ringside seat to watch the TV replays of the knockout blow.

Rampage Jackson talks to a KOTC staff and UFC referee Herb Dean while waiting for TV replays of Tiongson's sensational knockout blow. Alder Almo

The Bulacan-based Syrian fighter had to be taken out on stretcher after the stunning end.

Jackson, who addressed the crowd before leaving in the middle of the fight cards, thanked the fans for supporting him and the KOTC’s debut in the Philippine MMA scene.

“I think any fighter no matter of their race or where they from, if they put in the time and they have the heart and determination, they’ll go somewhere,” Jackson told a small group of Philippine media including Philstar.com a day before the fight night. “Anybody could do well if they believe in themselves.”    

“They just need to start somewhere and King of the Cage is a great place to start. It’s where I started.” 

More Filipino fighters started their KOTC career with rousing victories.

Dean Bermudez, a dead ringer of Manny Pacquiao, drew the loudest cheers after finishing off fellow Filipino fighter Rex Tanduyan via standing guillotine.

After receiving chants of “Manny, Manny” from the crowd, he obliged with Pacquiao’s trademark of flurry of punches to celebrate his smashing debut in KOTC.

In the other undercards, Rabin Catalan outpointed Genil Francisco in their junior flyweight match; bantamweight Mike Bunag also won via unanimous decision against JM Figueras while junior flyweight Ireneo Galindez scored a split decision against Neil “Yogs” Cartajena.

Ralph Francisco won via TKO after Recarto Dacuyan failed to answer the bell in the final round in their flyweight bout.  Winnie Paderna also scored a TKO win over Mark Valerio while the Reign Soto lost his first pro fight to Uno Legaspi.

Janito “The Man” Bayot won via unanimous decision in one of the most cheered fights of the night against France Curilan.

In the only light heavyweight fight, Jeff Torico forced Patrick Dos Santos to tap out.

The Fight Results: