By Kevin Estrada
On the leap day of the year, the country’s biggest amateur combat sports event launched its first ever standalone event at the Gold’s Gym in Mandaluyong City, as King Of the Fight’s seventh installment was contested in three disciplines.
With 49 fights across the fields of boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts, it came in a long way for the organizers, especially to UFC Gym Philippines manager Gab Pangalangan, whose event started in September 2018 as one of the attractions of a similarly popular bodybuilding convention in Subic.
“When it came here, we started an MMA event to happen inside Muscle Contest,” he said on its beginnings more than a year ago.
After the success of the inaugural event, KOTF put up the kickboxing and boxing fights that catered to the first timers, as six events later after being in the shadows of Muscle Contest, had the strength to hold its first event on its own last Saturday.
However, he was not alone in making it possible, he had a lot of help in the field of combat sports, especially when he had former URCC Lightweight king Carl Sabeniano being one of the working minds behind this event.
For Pangalangan, the aim KOTF is just two-fold.
“We’ve come together for the love of the sport,” he added. “To give Filipino athletes the avenue to test themselves, and gain more experience and exposure in case they aspire to be professional fighters down the road.”
After KOTF7, Pangalangan bared that they are going to get bigger as they are targeting their return to action in May in Marikina. But that was just an appetizer for their rest of 2020.
“This all leads up to King of the Fight 10 in October,” he then said, citing amateur fighters who are already fighting more than three times in their events. “Which is where we we’re crowning our first champions.”
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