THE Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) is gearing up for an event this December.
One of the cards will include Kiko Matos who agreed to take the place of Badang to face FlipTop rapper Damsa.
Matos responded to a challenge issued by Damsa with Badang begging off from the scheduled tiff.
The actor appeared in a Sports On Air Zoomcast to officially accept the challenge.
But along with that came fair warning from Matos. He said the rapper should be careful about what he wished for and issued bold statements.
“Kung gusto niya ako labanan… Game! Pero hindi ito fliptop battle. This is MMA,” said Matos.
“Damsa, magpakita ka! Kung hinahamon mo ako, magpakita ka sa December 5. Dahil sigurado ako na nandoon ako. Game ako.”
Even before inking any deal with URCC, Damsa has been posting on social media that he will be fighting Matos and it urged him even further to accept the fight.
“Confirmed pala, ‘O Sige, Game! Let’s do this,” Matos reacting to Damsa’s pre-empted posts on FaceBook.
“Talagang desididong tao ito, eh. Ewan ko ba sa mga fliptop rappers na ito kung ano pumasok sa utak nila, siguro sa tagal ng lockdown, siguro may COVID na utak nila, ngayon gusto pumasok sa MMA?”
Matos is no stranger to the URCC cage. In the past, he was pitted against another grudge match against Baron Giesler in June 2016. He also had another match with Billy Jack Sanchez the year after.
The actor-turned-fighter is well aware that Damsa was said to be a fighter himself and has experience in martial arts.
“Kahit nanay ko marunong nga makipag-away, eh” shrugs Matos when asked that Damsa can also fight.
“Ang alam ko, boksingero siya. Nag-background check na ako kung sino siya,” he said. “Boxing pero MMA pinasok niya. Hindi lang ito throw of hands. May kicks dito at may grappling dito.”
In preparation, Matos has already contacted his trainers to prepare for this fight and has a strategy in mind to take on his opponent.
“Si Damsa, boksingero. Ako, grappler. I do things on the ground. Kung baga, imagine niyo, pagdating sa sahig iyon ang karagatan at ako ang pating. Kapag pumasok siya sa mundo ko, sa sahig, siguraduhin niyang aahon siya. Kasi kung nasa sahig kami, (explicit) kainin ko siyang buhay.”
The actor also admitted that during the pandemic, his life had a rough patch to make ends meet.
“Challenging itong pandemic na ito pero laban pa rin,” he said.
“Bago mag-lockdown, meron akong trabaho sa ABS. Ganda ng role ko, ‘kala ko ‘yun na yung launching ko pero nag-lockodown, nagsara ang ABS… ngayon hindi ko alam gagawin ko,” Matos reveals.
“Kahit anong trabaho gagawin ko. Kung bigyan niyo akong laban, lalaban ako.”
URCC founder Alvin Aguilar was informed that Matos was taking his gripes in the interview and sent a message to one of the hosts that “The fight is on” for December 5 with the venue still to be announced.
