By Kevin Estrada
For the first time in more than a year, the Catalan Fighting Systems will have two bouts on the same card when they are featured on ONE Championship: Big Bang Friday in Singapore.
In their meeting with the press, both Rene Catalan and his protégé Jomary Torres are hoping to end their slump as they will come inside the circle as rated outsiders when they faced separate unbeaten foes to open the five-match billing.
It will be the first for the Iloilo-based gym since Masters of Fate last year to have more than a pair of combatants in the same card.
Torres, whose last bout was a no-contest against Taiwan’s Jenny Huang at Fire and Fury ten months ago, admitted that it was a tough 2020 for her, with the lockdown due to the pandemic even threw a curveball in her plans to bounce-back.
“Mahirap yung buhay kasi, and dahil sa COVID-19 nakakulong kami sa gym,” said the Zamboanga native, who will battle unbeaten prospect Ritu Phogat in the curtain-raiser at women’s atomweight hoping to end her losing skid at four.
For her to upset the Indian stalwart, they are taking extraordinary steps in negating Phogat’s wrestling, as they have to play their a-game in hopes of making it to the division’s Grand Prix.
“Di ko alam kung how many rounds, basta I do my best na manalo para sa Pilipinas.”
Like Torres, the third-ranked strawweight contender is looking to make a case for himself when he takes on South Africa’s Bokang Masunyane right after her bout with Phogat.
Both Catalan and Masunyane were inserted to the card on a short notice, with the Danny Kingad-Kairat Akhmetov fight was postponed after one of the Team Lakay’s cornermen tested positive for the coronavirus.
The former wushu world champion, who had been battling grapplers before, is hoping for another shot at the belt currently held by Team Lakay’s Joshua Pacio, who knocked him out in the main event of Masters of Fate last year.
“I’m hungry. My goal is to come up to be the number one. That’s why I will fight strong to reach my goal.”
With the same predicament as all the fighters, the 41-year old is hampered by the long layoff. Being the late bloomer at MMA, he hopes that he learned something from his setback to the reigning ONE straw-weight king.
“It’s really hard for me. But it’s a good preparation for me because they [ONE Championship] gave me more than six weeks to prepare.”
Follow the writer on Twitter: @kevinlestrada
