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AS BOLD as the Cebuano fighters were in their guarantee of victory in their upcoming fights tomorrow in the Universal Reality Combat Championship fight card called ?Proving Grounds,? their opponents from the north exhibited supreme confidence in the press conference and at the weigh-in yesterday at The Loft.
Andrew Bernibe, a veteran of the the mixed martial arts (MMA) arena with eight fights tucked in his belt, shrugged off the weight disparity in his upcoming main event fight with the ?Persian Warrior? Sabah Fadai. Bernibe tipped the scales at 143 pounds while Fadai barely made weight as he towed the limit at 149 pounds for their featherweight match.
?I did not come all the way to Cebu to lose. Though I'm not one to make any promises, I will do my best to win this bout,? said Bernibe, who is representing the Maics Gym of Manila.
Bernibe believes that the weight difference will not play much of a factor. ?He may be taller but not bigger. He has a good stand-up fighting technique but I think I'm the more experienced fighter. He is not a whole lot stronger so I'll try to see what he gives me and adapt to that,? he said.
Tension was also present at the weigh-in of Southeast Asian Games wushu gold medalist Mark Ediva of the Lakay Wushu squad, after he went over the weight limit. He tipped the scales at 154 pounds, a good four pounds over the 149 pound limit.
He was given two hours by the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) representative Rolando Mendoza to make the weight or face the corresponding sanctions. He was still in the process of shedding the excess poundage as of this writing.
Ediva said that there might have been some miscommunication between his camp and the organizers as he thought that their fight would be done one weight class higher. His opponent, Engi Piloto weighed in at 147 pounds.
?Hindi ko talaga masyado kilala ang aking kalaban sa mag-train ako para sa lahat ng circumstances. Most of the time, gagamitin ko talaga ang wushu since ito ang forte ko,? said the soft-spoken Ediva, who is currently undefeated at 3-0. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio
