Munoz, Eddiva eye UFC wins

MANILA, Philippines – Two Filipino fighters, Mark Munoz and Mark Eddiva, will try to win their bouts in two separate Ultimate Fighting Championship fightcards on June 1 (Phl time) with hopes of making their home country proud.

The United States-based Munoz will tackle Gegard Mousasi in a five-rounder in the main event of the UFC Fight Night in Berlin Germany hoping to get back on the line for a crack at the middleweight title currently held by Chris Weidman.

Eddiva, representing Team Lakay, for his part, is seeking his second win against Brazilian Kevin Souza in UFC Fight Night in Sao Paulo, Brazil at the Octagon after shocking heavy favorite Jumabieke Tuerxun of China in The Ultimate Fighter China finale in Macau last March 1.

Munoz is seeking to bounce back from a painful first round defeat at the hands of Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida in October last year in Machester, England, his second in his last three fights, the first one coming at the hands of Weidman, who eventually won the middleweight crown after stunning win over Anderson "The Spider" Silva.

Munoz, who has 13-4 (win-loss) record against Mousasi's 34-4-2, said he's in for a tough showdown.

"This is a great match up with Mousasi. He’s an unbelievable striker and he’s got great jiu jitsu. He poses a big problem for a lot of people," Munoz said recently in his website www.markmunozmma.com.

For Eddiva, a Southeast Asian Games wushu gold medalist, he left recently for Sao Paulo after training hard with Team Lakay's Mark Sangiao and his new Iranian wrestling coach Ali Heydarabadi.

Eddiva has won his first six mixed martial arts fights, including that shock unanimous decision win over the previously unbeaten Tuerxun. Meanwhile, Souza has an impressive 14-3 slate, including a split decision win over Felipe Arantes in September last year.

Munoz and Eddiva are two of the growing list of Filipinos fighting in the world's biggest MMA stage.

Recently, Fil-Am Robbie Lawler knocked out Jake Ellenberger in the 1.54 of the third round of one of the main events of UFC 173 in Las Vegas, Nevada last Sunday to improve to 23-10 and a potential title crack.