Modern day Cordillera warriors now called fighters in various martial art disciplines may have found another avenue to strut their talents not only in the country but in other parts of the world.
This came up as a Korean and longtime partner of local martial arts tournament organizers along with his partners in the boxing world have stretched their arms in partnership with local promotions to bring young Cordillera fighters to various fighting leagues in the US and in other parts of the world.
Ami Cha otherwise known as Master Cha and his student Mr. Son Gudal known during his fighting days as Fighting Son – now the owner of In Do Na Ra Store in Seoul and Busan Daegu, South Korea, signed an agreement with local tourney organizers led by Edwin Aliong of the Universal Martial Arts for this purpose. The new promotion group is called the Universal Cosmic Martial Arts Promotions with Son Gudal as chairman. Mr. Son once played in a boxing exhibition bout with another Korean during the 2nd Quarter Storm Tournament in La Trinidad, Benguet organized by Aliong in partnership with Gray Area Solutions last June 2013.
“The very purpose of this endeavor is to bridge these many young fighters to the various combat arenas in the World. We have seen how passionate young martial artists here are and we want that shown to the fans out there,” Master Cha said in statement.
It should be noted that the Cordillera has been put in the map many times by Mix Martial Arts (MMA) fighters most famous of them is Edward Folayang the reigning One Lightweight Champion. Other famous MMA fighters include, Kelly Brothers Eric and Eduard, Honorio Banario, Kevin Belingon and the younger ones like Joshua Pacio and Danny Kingad.
The Universal Cosmic Martial Arts Promotions however will be nurturing and promoting fighters not only in MMA but also in boxing, kickboxing and muay thai. What is important is that the fighters will have to pass the test that shall be given by the promotions for them to be qualified for matching in any available fight arena in the US, it was learned.
Edwin Aliong in a statement is hoping that the promotions will be able to start with at least a few fighters whom he knows can easily pass the test as he trained many of them and had seen them fight in local tournaments. Baguio City and the Cordillera are known to produce fighters who could easily adopt with the rules of any tournament beccause boxing and kickboxing have been the most common martial arts being taught in martial arts gyms and clubs here. With that as foundation, fighters from this part of the country can easily dominate national martial arts championships in muay thai, kickboxing, boxing, and MMA.**By Janardhan kumar
