ONE Championship fighter bags gold in 2019 Philippine Beach Games

May 30, 2019May 29, 2019Mark Raymundo

(Press release from Sprawl MMA’s wrestling coach, Karlo Sevilla)

Rodian “The Redeemer” Menchavez, an athlete for ONE Championship – “the premier MMA organization in Asia” – won the gold medal in the 90 kg, men’s division of the beach wrestling event held last May 25 during the 2019 Philippine Beach Games (PBG) in Lingayen Beach, Pangasinan.

Enroute to the gold, Menchavez of Brawlers’ Lab martial arts and fitness gym, beat three other wrestlers; the toughest being former Philippine national wrestling team mainstay Maxwell Francisco, Jr., who settled for silver.
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ONE Roots of Honor Aftermath: Is It Time for Joshua Pacio vs. Rene Catalan?

April 28, 2019April 28, 2019John Hudson Go

A Filipino vs. Filipino World Title Fight is in the Horizon

On April 12, 2019, Joshua Pacio became a two-time ONE Championship world champion after knocking out Yosuke Saruta with a head kick in the fourth round of their strawweight title bout at ONE Championship: Roots of Honor at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. More importantly, the victory laid to rest the controversy of his split decision loss to the Japanese three months prior.

With an emphatic victory against Saruta, the question begs: Who’s next for “The Passion”?

Enter Rene Catalan. After starting his MMA career with back-to-back losses to eventual champions Alex Silva and Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke (DSA), “D’ Challenger” has stringed an impressive six-fight win streak in the competitive strawweight division of ONE, highlighted by his TKO victory over former champion Yoshitaka Naito. Prior to Naito, Catalan bested then undefeated Stefer Rahardian, a ONE national tournament champion who was himself poised to become a contender in the stacked strawweight division.

I’ve said before that I wouldn’t mind seeing Pacio, Naito, and Silva compete for the strawweight crown over and over again due to how technical and evenly matched these fighters are. Silva, in particular, has yet to compete against Pacio – an interesting prospect should Silva string a couple of wins to get him back into title contention. At this point in time, however, having Naito or Silva as the next challenger does not make sense: Naito is 0-2 after back-to-back losses to Pacio and Catalan; Silva is likewise on a two-loss skid against Naito and Saruta.
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Rene Catalan is Proving All the Doubters Wrong at 40

March 10, 2019MMA Phil Contributor

Rene Catalan records sixth straight win in ONE Championship over former champ Yoshitaka Naito

Editor’s Note: I wanted to do justice in covering this milestone for Rene Catalan, so I asked Catalan Fighting System long-time student and fellow MMA writer Dreau Lanot to share Catalan’s journey from his perspective.

By the age of 40, most combat sport athletes have already slid past their prime and are considered done. In MMA, where the demands to the body and psyche are far more steep, the peak performance window of a fighter often closes earlier. However, for Rene Catalan, he has fought against and triumphed over too many odds to simply yield to Father Time.

Catalan was already 34 and has been a few years removed from his last combat exposure when he signed with ONE in 2013. His MMA career started in the shadows: a submission loss on his debut, followed by a no-contest from absorbing illegal blows, and then a knockout.

It took over three years and a couple of camp relocations before he could find his winning formula; the Filipino Wushu-Sanda record holder only earned his first MMA win in September 2016 against Chinese opponent Zhang You Liang.
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