Fil-Am MMA prospect Mark Striegl returns at MIMMA 2 finale

 

After spending 13 months on the sidelines, Filipino-American fighter Mark Striegl returns to action to face Kaiwhare Kara-France in the co-headliner of Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts (MIMMA) 2 grand finals on October 25 at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The 26-year-old Striegl (12-1) was last seen inside the cage when he squared off with Jang Yong Kim for the vacant Pacific Xtreme Combat (PXC) featherweight championship at PXC 39 in September 2013.

In the aforementioned encounter with the gritty Korean, Striegl tasted the fist loss of his prizefighting stint as Kim fastened a Kimura lock and then applied a leg-scissor choke to get the tapout.

“Losing always sucks. I definitely reevaluated things with my trainers and coaches and learned a lot [from the fight against Kim]. For this fight, I’ll be putting that new knowledge to the test,” Striegl tells Rappler.

Prior to his disappointing setback to Kim, Striegl was riding high on a 12-fight winning streak, thumping ten of his 12 opponents by submission.

Striegl was penciled to battle Ev Ting in a rematch at PXC 41 in November 2013, but the three-round tussle was cancelled after the latter failed to meet the contracted weight limit at the official weigh-in.

Five months later, PXC matchmaker Eduardo Calvo publicly verified that Striegl was no longer under contract of the Guam-based promotion, making him a valuable free agent up to this date.

It was heavily rumored after his departure from PXC that Striegl was on his way to ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC), but he neither confirmed nor denied the speculation that he received an offer from Asia’s largest MMA organization.

“As of now, I can’t say. But you never know what the future has in store,” Striegl teased.

Part of the ONE FC network, MIMMA is a televised amateur tournament in Malaysia that aims to nurture and grow local talents by preparing a platform for budding competitors to strut their wares.

The 5-foot-8 “Mugen” expressed his exuberance over having his comeback bout in MIMMA’s second season finale.

“MIMMA has proven to be a very well-run and organized show. Tune Talk (brand partner) has done a great job promoting MMA in Malaysia. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to compete for them,” he stated.

Despite the buzz from the grapevine that he is diverting his career-path to ONE FC, Striegl remains optimistic that he will be part of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster someday.

Striegl was highly touted to be following the footsteps of PXC standouts such as Jon Tuck, Hyun Gyu Lim, Dustin Kimura, Louis Smolka and Michinori Tanaka in the UFC, but the defeat to Kim derailed his opportunity to enter the world’s premier MMA company.

“Fighting in the UFC is definitely still a goal of mine,” said Striegl, who is now based in Baguio City and trains at Fight Corps MMA.

But according to Striegl, his sights are presently focused on putting himself back on the winning track.

The man standing in his re-entry to the winner’s column is Kara-France (7-4), a well-traveled combatant who has fought in various parts of Asia like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia.

“Kai is a good fighter and has proven that in his previous fights in [the now-defunct promotion] Legend FC,” Striegl said of his opponent.

The 21-year-old Kiwi already competed twice this year, outpointing Tieying Wu via unanimous decision at Kunlun Fight 1: World Tour in January before yielding to Gustavo Falciroli by first-round submission in May under the Australian Fighting Championship banner.

In his three-round tussle against Kara-France, Striegl will be moving down to the bantamweight division, which has a weight limit of 135 pounds.

Striegl is confident that he can pull off the victory over Kara-France, asserting that his strength and size will play a vital role in the match.

“I think my biggest advantage in this fight will be my size and strength since I’m coming down from featherweight for the first time,” he shared. – Rappler.com