HAVING grown up in the Bay Area in California, Filipino-American striking star Sean “The One” Climaco is proud of the place that raised him, but he’s also proud of his Cebuano roots.
Climaco promises to bring some of that Visayan flair with him when he returns to ONE Championship against Johan “Panda Kick” Estupinan in a flyweight Muay Thai bout at ONE 168: Denver inside Ball Arena on September 7.
The 30-year-old turned heads in his ONE debut by knocking out Josue “Tuso” Cruz in the first round, and he plans to represent even harder in his return.
“It would be an honor to represent the Philippines and where I’m from, the bay area in California. I’m ready to represent,” Climaco said.
“Just being a Filipino, a lot of Filipinos got their fighting spirit in them, especially the Cebuanos. My family’s from Cebu.”
For years, Climaco’s been toiling hard in the U.S. Muay Thai circuit and is delighted to finally get the opportunity to show the world what he can do.
It didn’t take long for the Californian to put the division on notice. His snappy jab rocked Cruz before a body shot folded the Mexican completely to give Climaco his victorious debut.
The Road to ONE: USA winner admits that even he was lost in the moment after that knockout win, but he’s happy to show that he deserves to be on the global stage nonetheless.
“Everything happened so fast in that moment. I didn’t really have time to soak it all in. Everything happened so fast, let alone the fight,” he said.
“It showed that this is where I belong. I belong to be fighting against the world’s best. I’ve been training for the last 16 years now and it’s all paid off. This is where I want to be.”
Knowing that he’s finally on the highway to superstardom, Climaco wants to fastrack that rise by putting on a show against an equally game opponent in Estupinan, who made a name for himself in ONE with an impressive and exciting debut win against Zafer Sayik.
“Winning is the only option for me. I know I’m gonna run through this guy. I’m just taking it one fight at a time like I said before. I have a six-fight contract, let’s see what happens in each fight,” he said.
“I’m slowly starting to make my way up, you know, become more of a bigger name, trying to build my following. So, I’m just taking it one fight at a time.”
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