Kiko Matos, Conan Altatis

Kiko “Badass” Matos defeated Billy Jack “The Ruler” Sanchez via rear-naked choke at 2:50 of Round 1 at “URCC: XXX” on Aug. 12, Saturday, at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila. This marks Matos’s first URCC win and his first win as an MMA fighter.

“URCC: XXX” also marks Sanchez’s first fight in the cage and first MMA loss. As for Matos, this is not the first time he fought in the URCC cage.

In 2016, Matos and Baron Geisler both made their URCC debut. Their fight ended in a draw after two rounds.

Kiko Matos, Conan Altatis

Sanchez became known to the Filipino MMA community after a video of himself calling out Matos and Geisler went viral. When URCC contacted Sanchez, he left his job in Qatar and accepted the offer to fight Matos.

In a post-fight interview at “URCC: XXX,” Matos thanked the Lord for giving him the strength, the patience and the right mindset. He also thanked his family, particularly his mother and his girlfriend Maria Martinez, who watched the fight at the Araneta Coliseum.

“After the bashing, after… after the trash talking, it’s all done for me,” Matos said referring to his feud with Sanchez. The actor-MMA fighter added that he made Sanchez’s nose bleed and made him tap out during their fight in the cage so he no longer needed to prove anything.

On July 25, Matos and Sanchez met for the first time at the “URCC: XXX” press conference at Winford Hotel and Casino in Manila. During the conference, I learned from URCC founder and CEO Alvin Aguilar that a celebrity was supposed to fight Matos but backed out.

Aguilar did not mention the name of the celebrity then. But during my post-fight interview with Matos, he revealed that his original “URCC: XXX” opponent was his fellow actor Polo Ravales, who was at the VIP area during the fight night.

“Polo Ravales, I’m calling you out,” Matos said. “Fight me!”

Watch the post-fight interview with Matos here: