Veteran Tagle is the 'underdog'

Erwin Tagle, despite being the more experienced fighter, will come in as the underdog on Saturday when he challenges Ale Cali for the latter’s flyweight title in Pacific X-treme Combat (PXC) 34 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Tagle is considered one of the pioneers of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in the Philippines, retiring early almost 10 years ago, when little interest in the sport was shown during its early stages in the country.

He said he became discouraged from continuing to fight after he was not paid by a promoter for an event in Pasay City. He then shifted to head coach and trainer at Submission Sports Gym in Quezon City, and lent his expertise as a commentator at PXC-organized fights.

“When PXC came to the Philippines they asked me if I want to come out of my retirement and fight, I was hesitant at first and told them: ‘I just want to watch your fights first.’ They then offered me to be a fight analyst,” said Tagle, who added that PXC promoter EJ Calvo even offered him a championship fight just to lure him out of retirement.

“I just turned 34 last week, and I’ll have my celebration after the fight. This is a big opportunity for me, since I have a few more years left to fight. So I won’t waste the chance given to me,” said Tagle, who began his fight career as a boxer before shifting to wrestling and then Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

“I’m very excited. This is my comeback fight. I saw how Ale fights, and he deserves to be the flyweight champion,” said Tagle. “(Cali) defeated a Guam fighter to win the title, so I did a lot of research. I checked how he fights and his moves, and studied the wrong things that his opponents made before losing in their matches.”

Tagle said that since Cali, the first Filipino PXC champion, is a known kickboxer, he plans to bring the fight to the ground. “Being a kickboxer, he has the advantage when he uses his feet and hands. I hope to take that advantage away from him.”

For Cali, fighting Tagle, who is one of his idols, is a dream come true.

“I’m excited about this fight. It will be a tough match for me since Erwin is a veteran fighter and is well respected in the MMA community,” said the Davao City native Cali, who will be making his first title defence since scoring a technical knockout win against Guam’s Jesse Taitano in PXC 29 early this year to clinch the flyweight title.

Tagle is on a four-match win streak after losing by TKO to Salvador Larozza in the Universal Reality Combat Championship on August 23, 2009.

Calvo, who will be promoting PXC’s seventh event in the Philippines, said MMA fans should expect an action-packed main event, as both fighters are skilled and Cali is a great defender of the ground game. “Ale climbed up the MMA ladder very fast in his short career.”

The semi-main event will have undefeated Filipino-American Mark Striegl, who trains in Baguio City, challenging Hawaii-based Harris Sarmiento in a featherweight bout.