Shelved for over a year due to numerous injuries, Red Romero makes his much-awaited return to the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) cage to defend his featherweight title.
However, he will be going up against Malaysian Jian Kai Chee on July 25 in “URCC 25: Domination” at Fontana Convention Hall in Clark, Pampanga.
“Some would say that Kai Chee is the favorite, but I wouldn’t bet against a Filipino fighter,” said URCC president Alvin Aguilar.
Seeing his hot run stopped, Romero (8-5), the pride of Deftac, is raring to once again show why he is the king of the featherweight division and reclaim the thunder he last showed when he took the belt from Richard Sapno in November 2013.
However, it will be a tough assignment for him against Kai Chee (4-5), who has been a thorn in the side of his opponents despite falling in three of his last four fights.
But Romero has shown strides, Aguilar says, and has been in tip-top shape in training for this fight.
“He’s ready to go,” he said.
Aguilar also sees this main event as a clash of two nations, with Romero aching to hoist the country’s colors and once again be at the top of the MMA scene in Southeast Asia.
“We were first in MMA and jiu jitsu. But Malaysia and Singapore were able to afford the best trainers, and Jian Kai Chee was a product of that program,” he said. “He might be favored and taller, but for me, it’s better to bet on the Pinoy fighter.”
Aside from the featherweight title main event, Andrew Benibe (6-7) of Benibe MMA will also defend his bantamweight belt against Jerson Estoro (5-3) of Prizefighter, while the vacant flyweight title will also be up for grabs as Alvin Ramirez (6-6) of Yaw Yan Buhawi faces off against Japanese Hideo Morikawa (7-3) of Zendokai.