Rex de Lara

Rex “T-Rex” de Lara, 36, and Jayson “Oragon” Margallo, 24, will battle it out in the bantamweight division at “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors” at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines on March 15, 2019. They are two of 11 Filipino mixed martial artists on the card.

“Brave 22: Storm of Warriors” is the first Philippine event of Bahrain-based MMA promotion Brave Combat Federation. On February 18, 2019, the promotion inked a deal with Philippine television network TV5 during a press conference at the TV5 Media Center in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila.

I had a short interview with de Lara during the event. He revealed that Margallo was not the opponent originally set for his “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors” fight.

According to de Lara, he was supposed to face fellow Filipino fighter Jessie “The Finisher” Rafols, 32, at “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors.” De Lara added that a fighter training out of Bali MMA in Bali, Indonesia was also considered but in the end, Margallo was finalized as de Lara’s opponent.

De Lara is training out of Mindanao Ultimate MMA while Margallo is representing UGB MMA. Both fighters are making their Brave CF debut at “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors.”

Competing professionally since 2010, de Lara is riding a two-bout winning streak. He said, “This is our debut in Brave so you go for the debut so you want to win the fight.”

On the other hand, Margallo started competing as an amateur fighter in 2014. He turned professional in 2015.

“I sparred before with Jayson,” Margallo told me. “He fought a lot and he wins a lot. He’s a matured MMA fighter now.”

Out of the nine MMA matches on the “Brave 22: Storm of Warriors” card, three are between Filipino contenders including the bantamweight contest between de Lara and Margallo. To Margallo, de Lara said, “Let’s have a good, clean fight, enjoy and entertain the Filipino people.”

Here is my short interview with de Lara: