Cebu City Sports Body to Support MMA in Cebu Starting With ‘No Way Out’ on Feb. 18

The Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) is giving its support to mixed martial arts (MMA) in Cebu, starting with Yaw-Yan Ardigma’s Cebu Extreme Fight League (CEFL) “No Way Out” on Feb. 18 at the Cebu Coliseum.

CCSC Chairman Eduard Hayco said he shares Yaw-Yan Ardigma founder and CEO Master Benigno “Ekin” Caniga’s goal of developing the fast-rising sport in Cebu and finding some of the best talents that will represent Cebu in MMA tournaments in Manila.

“CCSC has always been supportive of the development of young Cebuano combat athletes just like what it did in the past few years in the ‘Bakbakan sa Sugbu’ that provides MMA clinic in depressed barangays in the city and it also helped the Muay Thai Team Cebu in achieving our goals of winning tournaments,” Caniga said in a statement.

The monthly “Bakbakan sa Sugbu” will resume on Saturday at the Cebu City Sports Institute.

The monthly sporting competition for neophyte athletes who were given skills training at the Barangay Sawang Calero facility of the Cebu City Sports Commission will return since it was cut short in 2016.

The tournament allows the CCSC to discover new talents in boxing, arnis, weightlifting, muay thai, archery, table tennis, mixed martial arts, karatedo and air rifle shooting and dancesports among others.

The resumption on Saturday is extra special as it will be graced by Philippine Sports Commission chairman William “Butch” Ramirez and Philippine Sports Institute national director Marc Velasco, who will observe how CCSC conducts the games.

Bakbakan sa Sugbu is a pilot project of CCSC aimed to attract children from the neighboring barangays surrounding the CCSI to get involved in sports. (PNA)LAP/EB/EBP