Mark Climaco has been doing all the moves you’d expect from someone on the heels of a UFC contract. He works with a top-ranking team at the American Kickboxing Academy. He also has consecutive wins over fellow LFA prospects. All he lacked was the opening to get the contract in front of him.
While the Contender Series comes at the end of the summer, Climaco has chosen another option – the road to the UFC.
“They came to us with this offer. They said we could do it or try for the Contender Series and I liked the idea of the tournament,” Climaco explained. “I like that it’s a sure-fire course for the decade — it’s not dependent on how Dana White views the fight.”
Some of that is due to his enjoyment of the tournament. However, some are also due to some negative experiences his acquaintance had with the Rival series in the past.
He said, “I have people I know who went out there and fought hard battles and unfortunately they didn’t get the contract.” “That kind of puts them in a tough spot, so I like the format of the tournament.”
Not only is it a clearer route, but Climaco sees a lot of other benefits from the tournament format. One such benefit is the ability to get a few high level fights before making it to the octagon.
“The way I see it, it’s three more fights of experience for me,” Climaco said. “It’s the perfect thing for me, in my opinion.”
Among these other benefits is access to an unprecedented market. Although he was born in the United States, Climaco hopes to drum up the fans of his parents’ home country while competing in Asia.
“I’m going to take advantage of the Asian market – get my name out there,” he said. “That was a big part of the motivation. I have this background – I was born in America, but my blood is Filipino. It’s a great opportunity to represent the Philippines and keep the Philippines behind my back. It’s been a while since the Philippines had such a high profile status in the UFC, so I’m looking forward to working my way up.” To be the next Filipino star.”
He will take his first step down this path this Saturday on the way to the UFC. It will be shown in the first episode on Saturday, which starts at 6 AM EST. He will face Jong Hyun Lee in their opening round match for the Flyweight Championship.
You can hear the full audio of this interview at 26:33.