Former UFC campaigner Will “The Kill” Chope announced his return to Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) with a bang, capturing his third weight title with a dominant performance on Tuesday night.
Chope’s grappling and jiu-jitsu techniques proved too much for Filipino Arvin Chan’s striking skills, winning via a rear naked choke to annex the interim welterweight belt in the URCC 81 Decade of Success at the Cove in Okada Manila.
And he did it with nary a trouble, finishing off Chan at 1:45 in the first round in his first URCC fight in three years.
“I just wanted to cement my legacy here in the URCC,” said the 33-year-old Chope, the 2013 featherweight and 2016 lightweight URCC champion. “This like my comeback fight in the URCC and Arvin Chan has a seven-fight win streak so I did my best to get him at his neck.”
Chope’s impressive win was witnessed by over 3,000 live spectators.
The 6-foot-4 Chope, now based in Bangkok, Thailand, improved his win-loss record to 40-19 — 27 by submissions, 23 of which came by way of the same rear naked choke move — while the 5-foot-10 Chan fell to 9-6.
To the surprise of the crowd, URCC welterweight champion Jon Adajar climbed up the cage and challenged Chope to a unification bout next year.
Meanwhile, the South Koreans busted the Filipino troika of Sugar Ray “The Mammoth” Estroso, former URCC champion Caloy “The Bad Boy” Baduria and Boss Bullet Manlilic in a thrilling 3 Versus 3 battle that was part of the main event.
Dedspite Won Tae Cho’s defeat due to a disqualifying kick against a fallen Bullet, the Koreans still prevailed after Estroso suffered an injured shoulder prior to the fight’s resumption. This forced Team Philippines’ Baduria to fight on his lonesome against South Korea’s chosen fighter.
Team South Korea then chose the bigger Jeong Minhun over Jeon Young Jun, and Minhun easily clobbered and pinned Baduria to the corner. Baduria fought valiantly but absorbed several unanswered blows that prompted the referee to stop the match.
“It was such an awesome night. Everybody went all out but it’s just too bad the last fight ended that way. The Koreans were supposed to be disqualified for a foot stomp [on Bullet] while Sugar hurt his shoulder,” URCC founding President Alvin Aguilar said.
In other MMA bouts, Mariano “The Hitman” Jones of Costa Rica crushed Filipino Gester Maglaque at 4:39 of the first round in their 185-lbs clash, Dunlee Stewart beat John Tirona via first round technical knockout in their 170-lb tussle, Kimbert Alintozon defeated Junie Kimayong via rear naked choke in the second round of their 125-lb affair, Rhyle Lugo won over Alex Aballe (145 lbs) via first round stoppage, and Eros Baluyot outlasted MJ Abrillo (125 lbs) via arm bar in the second round.
In equally thrilling bare-knuckle bouts, Joseph “King Pinoy” Cabral defeated Damsa Abrenica via first round stoppage, Mark Jalaron beat Denzel Dimaguila via first round TKO, and Dondon Serrano whipped Sherwin Niro via a second round TKO.
