Ilonggo Catalan cruises way to ONE’s strawweight top 5 fighters

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Sports Association ONE Championship revealed its official rankings in mixed martial arts (MMA), kickboxing, and Muay Thai.

The rankings are based on the fighters’ most recent performances and the quality of the fight, analyzed by ONE’s panel of industry experts.

7 Filipinos made it in ONE’s final ranking release, and all of them belonged to the top 5 of their respective divisions.

One of the 7 qualifiers, Iloilo native Rene “The Challenger” Catalan, was ranked as the number three strawweight after a thorough deliberation.

Although falling to compatriot Joshua Pacio in his last fight via Arm-Triangle choke, Catalan remains as one of the seasoned veterans in the division.

Catalan also recorded one of the longest winning streaks in ONE history with six and was almost undefeated for three years from 2016-2019.

The Ilonggo MMA veteran’s superior punching power is still out there ready to hound opponents and is still waiting for an official comeback if he decides to fight once again.

Meanwhile, Kevin Belingon was ranked as the number one challenger in the bantamweight division, Denice Zamboanga is atomweight’s number one challenger, Danny Kingad placed as flyweight’s number two fighter, Lito Adiwang is the fifth-ranked strawweight fighter, Gina Iniong is fifth among the atomweight fighters, and Pacio, who handed Catalan his most recent loss, is strawweight’s number one ranked champion.