Belingon, Catalan ready to make waves in ONE FC 8

SINGAPORE – Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon of Team Lakay in Baguio City and Rene Catalan of Makati both made weight for their respective bouts at the One FC: Kings and Champions official weigh-in, which took place at The Cathay on Orchard Road.

Belingon makes his cage return as he progresses to the semifinal round in the Bantamweight Grand Prix. He’ll go up against equally as ferocious Thanh “Aladdin” Vu of Thailand in what should be a barn-burner. Both Belingon and Vu are known for their fast and furious strikes which should provide the audience all the action they need for the night.

Both fighters took to the scales and easily made the Bantamweight limit.

Thanh Vu (61kg/ 135lbs) vs Kevin Belingon (61.1kg/135lbs)

Belingon is a Wushu specialist, pertaining to the martial art with Chinese roots that focuses on quick, fluid and powerful strikes to defeat opponents. Vu on the other hand is quite new to the MMA scene with just barely a 2-2-0 record. He is however, incredibly talented with huge potential and should prove to be a tough test for Belingon.

The two combatants looked ripped and ready to go, showing no ill-effects from the weight cut.

I talked briefly with Kevin as he acknowledged Vu’s potential threat to his advancement in this tournament. Belingon said he trained harder for this fight than any other fight and is looking to put on a great show.

Belingon is visibly the larger of the two, so the size advantage is there should he choose to use it, which I suspect he will. Look for the Baguio native to be too strong and too much for the game and tough “Aladdin”  en route to a referee stoppage.

Rene Catalan (56.1kg/ 124lbs) vs Alex Silva (56.5kg/ 125lbs)

Catalan, who trains out of Makati City, Philippines makes his One FC debut here against a tough challenger in Alex Silva of Brazil, training out of Evolve MMA in Singapore.

As Silva took to the scale, a chorus of cheers engulfed the stage as announcer Anthony Suntay introduced him to the crowd. The fan favorite, Silva, is a Jiu-Jitsu specialist to be feared. Catalan certainly has a tough night ahead of him.

Speaking to Catalan after he weighed in, he was in good spirits. Happy to be fighting in Singapore at One FC 8, Catalan expressed his desire to win but at the same time the difficulty of his opponent. Unfortunately, it could be disastrous for him should Silva be able to take the fight to the ground.

If Catalan can keep the fight standing, he has a shot to knock the Brazilian out.

Kotetsu Boku (70kg/ 154lbs) vs Shinya Aoki (70.1kg/155lbs)

The main event features two Japanese fighters going up against each other for the One FC Lightweight championship. It’s the classic matchup between striker and grappler as Shinya Aoki, a Judo and BJJ master takes on the slick Muay Thai of Kotetsu Boku.

Aoki stepped on the scale to the delight of the audience, many of which were Evolve MMA members who came to support their fighter. His intense look was on full display as he watched his opponent weigh in next.

Boku, on the other hand, was cool as ice as he bared the title belt over his left shoulder.

Aoki is surely the favorite but if there’s one weakness in his game, it’s definitely his striking which coincidentally is Boku’s forte. Boku has a chance to put some hurt on Aoki if he can stay on his feet. Boku’s striking is highly unpredictable and he possesses devastating knockout power to boot.

Sadly, as soon as this fight gets to the ground it will be all Aoki from there. Look for Aoki to go immediately for the takedown and try to grab a hold of one of Boku’s limbs. His diverse ground game will be too much to defend for the limited Boku and Aoki will leave the cage as the new Lightweight champion. – Rappler.com

Complete Weigh-in Results

MAIN EVENT

Kotetsu Boku (70kg/ 154lbs) vs Shinya Aoki (70.1kg/155lbs)

MAIN CARD

Brock Larson (83.9kg/ 185lbs) vs Melvin Manhoef (83.9kg/185lbs)
Jens Pulver (60.9kg/ 134lbs) vs Masakatsu Ueda (61kg/135lbs)
Thanh Vu (61kg/ 135lbs) vs Kevin Belingon (61.1kg/135lbs)
Arnaud Lepont (69.9kg/154lbs) vs Eddie Ng (69.9kg/154lbs)
Yusup Saddulaev (61.1kg/ 135lbs) vs Leandro Issa (61.1kg/ 135lbs)
Rene Catalan (56.1kg/ 124lbs) vs Alex Silva (56.5kg/ 125lbs)
Bashir Ahmad (65.7kg/ 145lbs) vs Shannon Wiratchai (65.8kg/ 145lbs)

UNDER CARD

Swain Cangco (92kg/ 203lbs) vs Jake Butler (92.9kg/ 205lbs)
Chen Yun Ting (56.3kg/124lbs) vs Ronald Low (56.4kg/124lbs)