Erwin Tagle
Ringside Wisdom
Erwin Tagle's battles mainly consist of executing and evading crushing blows, devious takedowns, and sly submission maneuvers. That's when he steps into the ring (or cage) and faces mostly bigger and heavier rivals. But Tagle, one of the Philippines' premier Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters, admits that the battle is tougher outside of the fighting arena. Issues like the impression that MMA is a sport only for the elite or too violent to be even considered one, are some of the things that Tagle contends with. In working to improve its popularity, he says that it all starts from the grassroots. "Para maka-relate ang Pinoy, kailangan from nobody tapos biglang sisikat, tulad ni (boxing superstar Manny) Pacquiao. From there, you create more awareness and exposure," says Tagle. On the sport's supposed violence, Tagle takes pointers from the history of the world's most popular MMA body, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). "The UFC was banned in the US when it first started. Ngayon, natatalo na nito ang boxing and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) sa pay-per-view," he adds. "That's what awareness and exposure can do. ‘Di pa ganun dito pero darating din tayo doon."
Tagle backs up his vision with action. "Habang lumalaban ako ngayon, I'm finding and handling fighters at the same time," he says. Tagle has a stable of fighters in Baguio that he trains with. He's also their fight promoter. "Noong umakyat ako sa Baguio, maraming fighters na mas magaling pa sa akin," he says. "Kulang lang sa exposure and I help them in that aspect para mas makatulong sila sa pamilya nila." Compensation-wise, MMA fighting is not very enticing, but Tagle believes that with persistence, things will soon change. "My goal is to develop great fighters from the grassroots, and give the fighters the right exposure," he says. "Kapag naka-relate na ang masa sa sport and sa fighters, I believe better compensation will follow. Mas mahirap naman ‘ata ang ginagawa namin compared to basketball players so the fighters deserve as much credit as them."
Being an MMA fighter is no walk in the park. Tagle and his team train seven days a week, and it's not your ordinary workout. For six days, they train alternately on endurance-specific weight training and kickboxing with takedowns in the morning. In the afternoon, they have alternate days of training on wrestling moves and their ground-and-pound skills. They do long runs on Sundays for cardio. Don't be discouraged, he says. "I started in this sport at 110 pounds. With passion, hard work, and determination, you can excel," Tagle says. "Sa MMA, technique can beat size and Filipinos can really excel in the sport. It's not just about brute force, a lot of it is based on how strong your mind is."
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Men's Health Philippines - July 2007
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Fighting Words
Outduel anyone in your daily scrapes
1. Learn from legends. Tagle believes in UFC legend Randy Couture's mantra: Iron sharpens another iron, while man sharpens another man. No training is better than training your skills against another fighter. Tagle lost his first pro fight but he took notes, trained with the people he met in the dugouts and the country's finest grapplers, and worked his way to being one of the country's top MMA warriors.
2. Beat your worst enemy—yourself. "Tayo din ang nagse-set ng sarili nating boundaries," he says. "Take those limits out and you can do anything. Kung sa tingin mo kaya mo maging head ng company, kaya mo ‘yan. Tanggalin mo sa isip mo na hindi mo kaya and work on your goal." It's his best gameplan in competing at the Universal Reality Combat Championships.
3. Self-defense 101. "Marami akong pwedeng ituro pero ito ang pinaka-effective—tumakbo ka," he says. "Iwas-gulo, ‘yun ang pinakamaganda."
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