Cebu native Hyder Amil wins 1st UFC fight

MANILA, Philippines – Thirty-three-year-old Filipino-American Hyder Amil made his UFC debut a memorable one. He also served notice to the featherweight division that he is coming.

The Cebu-born Amil, born to a Filipina mother and an Indian-Turkish-English-Romanian father, scored a technical knockout victory in an impressive UFC debut over fellow prospect Fernie Garcia in the preliminary rounds of UFC Fight Night Hermansson vs Pyfer. The card was aired on the Premier Sports Channel on Sky Cable and Cignal as well as on streaming application Blast TV last Sunday, February 11.

Amil opened the fight with a powerful leg kick to Garcia, who took the fight on short notice. He then began to overwhelm his opponent with flurries to strikes and kicks.

The San Francisco-based Amil then dropped Garcia and was quickly all over him looking for a submission. Garcia was able to reverse being on the ground and attempted his own chokehold, but Amil escaped. 

This time, Amil looked to submit Garcia with an arm bar, with the latter fighting it off and surviving to make it to the second round.

A visibly shaken and fatigued Garcia looked to make a game of it in the early second round where he was able to land some solid shots, but compared to the volume being dropped on him, it was a matter of time before he was knocked out.

Referee Mark Smith stepped between both fighters to put an end to the fight at the 2:12 mark. 

“That’s why I am called ‘The Hurricane’, baby,” explained Amil to UFC Hall of Famer and analyst Daniel Cormier post-fight. 

Amil improved to 9-0 while Fernie Garcia fell to 10-5. This was Amil’s sixth stoppage.

“I promised that people will see the best version of myself in this fight. I trained hard for and was excited coming in,” enthused Amil who is a protégé of former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez. “I want to make my fights super exciting and for people to jump out of their seats.”

Prior to Amil’s Dana White’s Contender Series appearance where he received the UFC call up, Amil fought in Legacy Fighting Alliance and Bellator.