MANILA – Ilonggo mixed martial arts fighter Rene Catalan suffered a submission defeat to Eros Baluyot in the main event of the URCC 87: Heroes on Tuesday night at the Xylo at the Palace in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.
It was a sorry defeat for the Santa Barbara, Iloilo native who made a return to the octagonal ring by way of URCC after almost three years of inactivity.
The 44-year-old Catalan accepted his loss to the much younger Baluyot but rued the URCC ring referee for allowing the latter got away with an illegal hit in the head.
“First of all, I would like to give thanks to our Almighty God for keeping me safe in the fight and I also want to congratulate Baluyot for the win,” Catalan wrote on his Facebook page.
“The fight, however, is not a good call (by the referee). I have (tried) to call the attention of the referee for (the) illegal strike (of Baluyot), but, in the end, (the) decision is final,” he added.
Catalan, however, said he has no plan to retire yet from the sport and has declared his readiness to compete in the next promotional event of the URCC.
“This is not yet a sign of retirement from me and I am ready to fight in URCC 88,” the Ilonggo fighter said. “I will just recover from this defeat and prepare for the next one.”
Catalan, a three-time wushu world champion, a former MMA world title contender in ONE FC, saw his MMA record dropped to six victories and six losses.
The Ilonggo fighter is on a losing skid, including a stoppage defeat to South African Bokang Masunyane on December, 2020 in Singapore in ONE FC.
The 30-year-old Baluyot, a two-time International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation world champion, maintained his clean MMA record after three matches./PN
