Various mixed martial artists will earn a great opportunity to showcase their worth as they fight for a huge cash prize and hopefully get a chance to reach the Universal Reality Combat Championship’s main roster in the Prodigy Progression Series (PPS).
The mixed martial arts fight series powered by the URCC, headed by the Filipino MMA founding Father Alvin Aguilar, was formally introduced to the media at the Dynasty Fight Club in Parañaque City last Friday.
Rene Catalan Jr., son of former ONE Championship title contender and 2006 Doha Asian Games wushu sanda gold medalist Rene Catalan Sr., and Marvin Malunes were some of the fighters that attended the press conference.
Aguilar, also the president of the URCC, confirmed that a total of P1-million prize pot is at stake in the MMA tournament series, backed by Dynasty Fight Club owner Jun Lee.
“In this format, we’re going to make sure that we will be giving the highest payday ever in Philippine MMA history for all the winners,” said Aguilar. “This will be a big life changer for a lot of fighters.”
The tournament’s final champion of each division will take home half of the pot, while the other finalist takes home P300,000. Third placer bags P200,000.
The date of the tournament’s finals will soon be announced.
Lee praised URCC and Aguilar for the wonderful program for MMA fighters as it sustains their livelihood and lets their fighting career continue.
The fighters, according to Aguilar, are divided into four weight classes, flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, and lightweight categories.
The tournament is now ongoing every night starting 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Aside from the tournament’s final champions, the monthly winners starting July will also be rewarded with a prize of P300,000 for first placer and P100,000 for second. Third placer gets P50,000.
While amateur rules will be applied in the PPS, Aguilar is looking at the possibility that the champions will eventually get their first pro contracts in the URCC.
“We’re giving them very very good contracts,” Aguilar continued. “We are promoting a platform where it will become self-sustaining, hopefully. All the fighters can benefit, and later on, we can actually give them good careers in MMA.”
All the fights will be streamed live on the IWantTFC app, with Aguilar announcing that they are currently working on a national television deal to air the said battles.
