MMA in Indonesia has been dormant in the past few years with almost zero programming and promotions running in the country. Interest in the sport has recently been jump-started with ONE FC hosting their second event in Jakarta a few days ago, and it looks like the resurgence will continue.
Legend Fighting Championship held their 7th show this past weekend, and during the show, they announced plans to venture out of their home-base of Hong Kong and Macau, and host a show in Jakarta. Legend FC 8 will happen next month, and Indonesian fans will be fortunate enough to have yet another quality card coming to the country.
The event will be at the Jakarta Convention Center on March 30, and the moment the announcement has been made, it has been assumed that Indonesia's biggest MMA star, Fransino Tirta (10-0-1) will be competing on the card. BloodyElbow.com has exclusively confirmed with reliable sources that Tirta will indeed be part of two title fights that have been recently signed and set to headline the event.
Tirta will be in his home country, gunning for the Legend FC featherweight title against Yusuke Kawanago (8-3), a talented Japanese fighter coming off a win over Chengjie Wu at Legend 6, and a split decision loss to Mark Striegl at Legend 5.
Another title fight on the top of the card will be Sengoku veteran, Jadamba Narantungalag making his first defense of the Legend FC championship he recently won against Adrian Pang. The Mongolian will be taking on Nam Yui Chul (13-3), the top Korean lightweight who is coming off a monumental win over the highly regarded ONE FC fighter in Vuyisile Colossa.
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- Speaking of the rising star in Mark Striegl (7-0), the 23-year-old Filipino fighter is coming off an impressive submission finish over Ev Ting at Legend 7, and has recently signed with DARE, a Thailand-based promotion that is part of the ONE FC Network.
- Also confirmed with reliable sources, a lightweight bout between Yusuke Kasuya (6-0) and Song Un Sik (9-3) is set for Legend FC 8. The match up was first mentioned to be in the works by Lili of MMA in Asia.
- I already mentioned that SFL, the promotion in India headlined by the Sapp vs. Thompson freakshow, will be bringing in several musicians to perform on their show. Apparently, one of these performers will likely be Jennifer Lopez. MMA is fairly new to the country, but do they really think JLo fans would be converted to the sport? Or is this just a move to get butts in those seats? Either way, it doesn't seem like a good investment in my eyes.
- URCC and PXC, the two top promotions in the Philippines, will be going head-to-head this Saturday, with both shows headlined by flyweight title fights.
- URCC will host a show in the mountain province of Baguio. It will be headlined by a Flyweight Super-Fight between URCC champion Roy Docyogen (9-0) from Team Lakay, competing in his home town against former pro-boxer Rodel Orais (2-0).
Also on the card, Interim Featherweight Champion Ricardo Sapno defends his title against Arnold Agapito, and Will Chope will take on Reydon Romero in a featherweight bout guaranteed for fireworks. - PXC on the other hand, will host PXC 29 in Pasay City on the same date. It will be headlined by a flyweight title bout between charismatic Filipino Ale Cali, and Guam's Jesse Taitano .
Also on the card, a featherweight bout between the well traveled veteran in Harris Sarmiento, and Raja Shippen, along with TUF veteran Dorian Price vs. Ryan Bigler.
UFC middleweight contender, Mark Munoz will also be attending the event.