When it comes to Filipino mixed martial arts, people first think of the team that gave birth to four mixed martial arts world champions, "Passion" Joshua Pasio, "Gravity" Gogje Iustaquio, "Silencer" Kevin Bellingan and "Landslide" Eduad Flajan. In fact, the Philippines has another fighting force, the Catalan Fighting System.
The leader of the Catalan fighting system is the "challenger" René Catalan, who has won the World Wushu Championship, the Wushu World Cup and the Asian Games gold medal. After coming to the ONE Championship, he won six consecutive victories, including a round of 4 minutes and 32 seconds TKO former champion "Nobita" Naito Akira, so he was given the opportunity to compete with filipino fighting genius "Passion" Joshua Pasio for the grassweight world championship gold belt. In the strongest civil war in the Philippines, René lost the challenge to the young Pasio. He was then swept ko by South Africa's "little giant" Bokon Ma Songyan. The 42-year-old René was badly injured, but the Catalan Regiment had more than one soldier. Robin Catalan, a 30-year-old "Siriguenan", is to carry the banner for the Catalan family. He will take on Japanese general "Son of the Dragon" Sawada Ryuto in "ONE: Indestructible III" on February 5.
The Catalan family had 13 children, Robin was the 11th, and he had 8 brothers who chose a career in martial arts. The three brothers René Catalan, Robin Catalan and Ruhr Catalan all went to the Cage. Robin practiced Sanda with his brother and won the Philippine National Wushu Sanda Championships in 2007 and 2008. But Robin realized that it was difficult to surpass his brother in the field of Sanda, so he switched to the rules of Muay Thai and won 27 all in one fell swoop. After winning the IFMA Muay Thai World Championship in 2011, he began practicing mixed martial arts under the influence of his brother René. Robin officially joined the ONE Championship in 2016, but the road to transformation has not been smooth.
In the face of the top straw masters, Robin found that he still had many shortcomings, he lost to former champion Alex Silva and former champion challenger Hayato Suzuki in the ground fight, and his standing technique failed to withstand the strong attack of Thai champion Ponceri Misanti. After failure, Robin continued to refine his style. In the November 2019 "ONE Championship: Top of Destiny", Robin faced Olympic wrestler "gladiator" Gustavo Bharat, seized the moment of Balat's hesitation, saw the opportunity to hit the temple with a high sweep leg, and directly ko the opponent, proving his progress in the mixed martial arts arena.
When René fell, the flag of the Catalan Fighting System was carried by Robin Catalan. This time, his opponent, Sawada Ryujin, was a Brazilian jiu-jitsu master and a karate black belt. Sawada won consecutive victories in the ONE search for warriors, became a signed player, and entered the famous Evolution Boxing Gym to train with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion Alex Silva. In the "ONE Championship: Domination Era II" match with Chinese boxer Miao Litao in October last year, he showed super ground control skills and won the victory.
In the past, Robin has repeatedly lost to the best fighters, can he overcome his former weaknesses and prove himself to be the leader of the new generation of Catalan fighting systems?