FIL-AUSSIE fighter Josh Culibao seeks to hoist the country's flag high and proud as he steps into the Octagon this weekend in UFC Fight Night: Holm vs Aldana at UFC Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
Culibao, 26, takes on Canadian featherweight Charles Jourdain in one of the preliminary fights, eager to get his first win in the promotion after losing in his debut against Jalin Turner last February.
Culibao (8-1) was a late replacement for the match against Turner and fought in a heavier lightweight division, where he suffered a second-round technical knockout loss in Auckland, New Zealand.
The Sydney-based fighter admitted struggling to cope up with the first loss of his career.
"It was a hard thing to deal with. Everyone can make excuses for me, it’s short notice, you weren’t ready, you were fighting one weight class, everyone can make those excuses," he said. "But to me, I just had to learn to take it on the chin and say that Jalin was the better fighter that night and that’s it."
The Jourdain fight is also his chance to show how good Filipino fighters can be in the world stage as he follows the lead of the likes of Mark Munoz and Brandon Vera, warriors who paved the way for this generation of MMA fighters.
"Growing up watching Brandon Vera, Mark Munoz, those guys were massive inspirations to me," he said.
"For some reason in my mind, I never thought that us Filipinos can be successful at the sport like that and they sort of changed my mind. They sort of said, 'Look, we’re Filipino as well but we’re still able to compete at the highest level.' And they really were my inspiration."
Culibao also draws strength from what Team Lakay did in ONE Championship, with fighters like Eduard Folayang and Joshua Pacio ascending to the top of their weight classes.
"The guys from Team Lakay, they’re also a massive inspiration to me," he said. "I may not be grown, born-and-bred in the Philippines, but I do have Filipino blood running through me and seeing the way they fight, the way they perform, it does give me inspiration seeing that."
Culibao, who traces his roots to Pampanga, is aching to show the world what he's truly made of when he lock horns with Jourdain (10-3) in a weight class he's comfortable with and with a full training camp under his belt.
"I just wanna show everybody I’m not that same guy who fought one weight class on short notice. That's not me," he said. "In this fight, you guys will see."
"You do not understand how hungry I am for this. It is something that has been eating up me and I’ve had to deal with it during this whole COVID situation, the whole lockdown, the whole quarantine, and it’s been eating up me. So now that I am able to get a full training camp, I just wanna go out there and put up a fight," he said on The Hit List.
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