ONE
Championship bantamweight standout Mark “Mugen” Striegl (14-2) is set
to face Brazil’s Rafael Nunes (10-1) when the promotion returns to the
Mall of Asia Arena on Friday, December 2
for ONE: Age of Domination. Streigl, 28, joined ONE Championship in
2015 and was recently named one of the hottest prospects in Asian MMA.
The
Filipino-American stalwart splits his training between Evolve MMA in
Singapore and the high-altitudes of Baguio City for his next matchup and
says mixed martial arts is getting really big in the Philippines.
“Baguio
is one of the best places to train in the Philippines because it’s high
altitude. It’s 5,000-feet above sea level. It’s great for strength and
conditioning,” said Striegl. “Manny Pacquiao also trained in Baguio in
the past for some of his biggest fights. It’s been fantastic for my
training.”
Striegl
made his ONE Championship debut in April of 2015, defeating American
Casey Suire impressively by first round submission. In his second bout
months later however, he fell to Filipino-Australian prospect Reece
McLaren.
Since
his last bout, Striegl has been hard at work preparing for his return,
training with none other than ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon
“The Truth” Vera.
“Here
in Manila I’ve been fortunate enough to train with Brandon Vera and AJ
Matthews. Mark Munoz also came through one time so I got to pick his
brain a bit,” said Striegl. “There are so many good gyms to work with in
Manila. MMA is getting really big in this country. I’ve just been
jumping around and training with Brandon and it’s been great.”
A
well-rounded mixed martial artist with strengths in both striking and
grappling, Striegl is one of the country’s top combat sports athletes.
He began his career competing for various MMA promotions across Asia
before landing a roster spot in ONE Championship last year.
As
someone who has seen the rise of MMA as a sport in Asia, Striegl can’t
help but feel in awe of the tremendous growth of combat sports in the
region and credits a majority of it to eight-division boxing world
champion Manny Pacquiao.
“MMA
is getting really big in this country, thanks to ONE Championship.
There’s a deeply embedded combat culture in this country with boxing.
There are a lot of gyms all around and so many good places to train and
so many good people to work with,” said Streigl.
“One
of the greatest fighters of all time, Pacquiao, is a legend here and
pretty much all over the world. He has put the Philippines on the map as
far as fight sports are concerned. He’s a true global icon and one of
my inspirations.”
During
his time in Manila, Striegl says he just recently met Pacquiao for the
first time in person. Pacquiao is training for his highly-anticipated
return to boxing against WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas this November 5. He is also a full-time politician who owns a seat at the Philippine senate.
“I
went to one of [Pacquiao’s] senate hearings and met him afterwards,”
said Striegl. “Super nice guy, super down to earth guy. Just a humble,
nice guy and I think that’s why he has so many fans. He’s the people’s
champ. Everyone can relate to him.”
Pacquiao’s
unique style, Striegl says, is something he tries to emulate in the MMA
cage. And just like Pacquiao, Striegl aims to bring a world title back
to the Philippines.
Against
Brazil’s Nunes this December, Striegl has the opportunity to get back
on the right track in his pursuit of ONE Championship gold. It won’t be
easy, but Striegl says by channeling his inner- “Pac-Man”, he hopes to
be able to make his people proud by becoming a world champion.
“One
thing I love about Manny’s fight style is that he’s an action-packed
fighter. He just keeps going and going and moving forward. That’s
something I try to do in my fights,” said Striegl.
“You’ll
never see me in a boring fight. I always press the action, I always
come forward. I’m not a point fighter. Sometimes I put myself at risk by
doing that but it’s better than being a point fighter, like a Floyd
Mayweather-style kind of fighter.
*This is Press Release
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