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MANILA, Philippines – The country will be grooving to the tune of 2Pac’s “California Love” on May 16 as two-division world champion Urijah Faber has set foot on Philippine soil.
Faber arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday morning, May 12 ahead of his challenge with former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in a featherweight fight that serves as the main event of UFC Fight Night 66, which takes place at the 20,000-seater SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila.
“The California Kid” is a regular visitor and was remembered when he spearheaded a string of seminars, community outreaches, and mall tours in Manila during the summer period of last year.
For the first time since April 2010, Faber is moving up to the 145-pound weight class, where he reigned as the World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion for two and a half years.
Faber transferred to bantamweight, where he compiled a 9-3 record in his last 12 bouts and scored notable victories over the likes of Takeya Mizugaki, Ivan Menjivar, Scott Jorgensen, Michael McDonald, Alex Caceres and Francisco Rivera.
The opportunity to fight a future Hall of Famer lured him back to featherweight, where Edgar had his past four outings.
Aside from Faber, other participants for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s maiden fight card in the Philippines have arrived.
(READ: Fighters arrive for UFC Fight Night Manila)
Phillipe Nover, who meets Korean fighter Yui Chul Nam in a three-round featherweight match, is already in Manila to finish the last leg of his training camp.
Roldan Sangcha-an’s opponent Jon delos Reyes travelled from Guam to square off with homegrown talent from Baguio City, while Kajan Johnson flew in from Canada for a lightweight showdown versus Chinese combatant Lipeng Zhang.
Dhiego Lima, who squares off with Chinese welterweight Jingliang Li, had a morning run along Roxas Boulevard.
– Rappler.com
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