Published May 12, 2021, 3:42 PM
Brandon Vera (ONE Championship)
ONE Championship heavyweight king Brandon Vera is hoping to defy age once he enters the Circle against Indian wrestler Arjan Bhullar in ONE: Dangal at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday, May 15.
After training with Florida-based stable Sanford MMA, under the tutelage of coach Henri Hooft, Vera was most grateful for becoming a “student of this beautiful game again.”
“Even this far along in my career, I feel like a little kid again. I haven’t felt like this since I first started competing,” said Vera, a former UFC fighter, who holds a 16-8 record. “I’m talking about back in 2005, I haven’t felt like this since. Everybody has been using the words reinvigorated. I’m just really, really happy that I could be a kid again and go play
Published April 18, 2021, 3:56 PM
UFC lightweight star Dustin Poirier (left) and Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao (right) have joined forces to donate in Justin Wren’s Fight for the Forgotten initiative for the homeless Batwa Pygmies in Uganda. (Photos from Manny Pacquiao’s Instagram, AFP, and Fight for the Forgotten)
Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and UFC lightweight star Dustin Poirier have joined forces to provide a helping hand for the Batwa Pygmies in Uganda.
Through their respective charity groups, the Manny Pacquiao Foundation and The Good Fight Foundation, Pacquiao and Poirier have pledged $50,000 each for the construction of 32 two-bedroom homes for the Pygmies on land brokered by the Fight for the Forgotten, ran by Justin Wren, an American humanitarian and philanthropist who also fights in the heavyweight division of Bellator MMA.
The Philippine Skating Union on Facebook also congratulated Macaraeg, the first Filipino speed skater to compete in the Winter Youth Olympics, for joining UCLA, a school known for its athletics program mostly on basketball, football, and track and field.
Macaraeg, who used to play iced hockey in his youth, may maximize his speed skating at UCLA through the help of its athletic training and resources though it is still unknown if he has joined a club yet.
UCLA’s winter sports include ice hockey and figure skating.
Macaraeg attended the Monsignor McClancy Memorial High School and currently trains under Ukrainian coach Serhiy Lifyrenko in New York’s lone speed skating club Flushing Meadows Speed Skating Club.
Published April 16, 2021, 2:58 PM
Manny Pacquiao (left) and Juan Manuel Marquez (Top Rank)
Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao has extended support to his rival-turned-friend Juan Manuel Marquez as the latter announced his candidacy for Mexican Congress.
“I am humbled that you (Marquez) have taken notice of my work in the Philippines. Let us be partners in our fight against corruption. Remember always – politics is not a business, it is public service,” wrote the 42-year-old Pacquiao, also the president of political party PDP-Laban, on Twitter.
“Wish you the best, my friend. Vaya con Diyos!”
Marquez earlier cited Pacquiao, a senator in the Philippines, for his inspiration in shifting from boxing to politics in his beloved homeland.