Filipinos settle for bronzes in Asian MMA Manila Open tilt

MANILA, Philippines -- Three Filipino fighters settled for bronze medals in the Asian Mixed Martial Arts (AMMA) Manila Open as the semifinal round of the tourney commenced on Wednesday.

Rene Catalan Jr., Joeven Derder and Annie Parungao were unable to crack the final round of their respective divisions in the tournament held at the grand ballroom of the Marriott Hotel.

Catalan fell against Tajikistan’s Loiq Ikromov via second round stoppage in their men’s modern MMA -56kg event to send the Filipino to an automatic bronze finish.

Ikromov will be facing Kazakhstan’s Yernan Mussabek, who defeated Mongolia’s Darkhan Adiyakhuu via points, in the gold medal match.

Derder was also trounced by China’s Chuai Zhang in the semifinal round of their traditional MMA men’s -71kg division. Zhang will thus take on Lutfullo Sohibnazarov, who defeated Kazabai Tilenov of Kyrgyzstan via points, in the final.

Bronze medalists of the competition will bring home $2,000 each.

Meanwhile, Tajikistan’s Otabek Rajavob also progressed to the final round of the modern -65kg division after dominating Kazakhstan’s Sairan Sagyndykov, where he will face Hong Kong’s Pui Wing Chung in the final.

Kazakhstan’s Beibars Oraz also made it to the final of the -85 kg division after defeating Thailand’s Kenneth Thongsong via points. He will be clashing with Belek Abdhizhaparov of Kyrgyzstan for the gold medal.

Iran’s Mehran Yavaripoor also barged into the final of the modern men’s MMA -77 kg after defeating Hong Kong’s Jeremy Lee via points.

The gold medal winners of the tournament will bag $8,000 each while silver winners will get $4,000 each.