Asians make mark in UFC

MANILA, Philippines -- Asian fighters continued to make a big dent in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Sunday as South Korean Bang Tae Hyun and Japanese Kiichi Kunimoto and Michinori Tanaka all won their bouts in UFC 174 in Vancouver, Canada.

Bang landed 40 strikes on his way to a third round knockout victory over Kajan Johnson, winning Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night.

Kunimoto was the other Performance of the Night winner after he made quick work of Daniel Sarafian with a first round submission triumph.

Bang improved to 17-8 (win-loss) while erasing the stigma of a painful unanimous decision loss to Mairbek Taisumov in UFC's first venture in Southeast Asia at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore last Jan. 4.

Kunimoto improved to 25-5-2 (win-loss-draw) with one no contest while posting his second win a row in the octagon after he won his debut also in Singapore following a disqualification by Luis Dutra, Jr. for dangerous elbows to the back of the former's head.

Tanaka, for his part, bested Roland Delorme with a unanimous decision win to remain undefeated in 10 mixed martial arts fights including another unanimous decision triumph over Filipino Crisanto Pitpitunge in Pacific X-Treme Combat 37 at the Ynares Center in Pasig City last year.
Demetrius "Mighty Mouse" Johnson retained his flyweight title by beating Ali Bagautinov via unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 174.

It was Johnson's fourth straight successful title defense after snaring the title with a split decision triumph over Joseph Benavidez in UFC 152 two years back.

Knowing that MMA is growing fast in Asia, considered as the birth place of most martial arts, the UFC has tapped the Asian market including Southeast Asia where it has held several fight cards in Japan, South Korea, Macau and Singapore.

UFC has in fact invaded outfits based in the Asia Pacific including PXC, which has held three to four fights in the Phl annually, by signing Asians into its fold.

The Phl also has its share of fighters in the UFC among them Mark Munoz, Brandon Vera and Mark Eddiva.