Filipino fighter Rene Catalan is in for the long haul.
Catalan, already a veteran in the mixed martial arts scene, has set sights on ONE Championship’s world strawweight title before hanging his gloves for good.
“Yes, I am a veteran athlete and I know I’m about to face young fighters. I know that in combat sports, people will always look at the younger fighter as the one who holds the advantage,” admitted the 42-year-old Catalan.
“But there’s no question on my drive, my fire to be considered a contender again. Like I said, I’m motivated to challenge for the belt again and become the world champion before I retire.”
After back-to-back losses, Catalan was booted out of the Top 5 strawweight rankings,
The founder of the Catalan Fighting System now faces a tall order to get back his winning ways when he faces former world champion Alex Silva in ONE: NEXTGEN III on Nov. 26.
Catalan yielded to reigning strawweight king Joshua Pacio of Team Lakay in November 2019 before suffering another devastating loss to now No. 2 contender Bokang Masunyane in December last year.
Interestingly, Pacio already scored a split decision win against Silva in January 2020 to keep the strawweight belt.
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Looking back, Catalan admitted that his “heart wasn’t there” when he clashed with his compatriot in Pacio.
“I guess it’s always going to be there, that you feel half-hearted because we all want to bring glory to the country but we have to face each other,” said Catalan, who holds a 6-4 MMA record. “I still aimed to win that match because it really was my dream to win a world championship before I retire.”
Meanwhile, Silva is fresh from unanimouis decision victory against Chinese foe Miao Li Tao last August to improve at 10-6 card.
Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2021/11/11/rene-catalan-eyes-strawweight-belt-before-retirement/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rene-catalan-eyes-strawweight-belt-before-retirement)
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