ONE strawweight contender Rene “The Challenger” Catalan is the hottest athlete in ONE Championship today.
He highlighted his skills when he stopped Yoshitaka “Nobita” Naito in the first round at ONE: REIGN OF VALOR in Yangon, Myanmar in March.
Almost seven months have passed since that win, and as he waits for his next challenge, the Catalan Fighting System founder looks back at that star-making victory.
"That has to be the most satisfying win in my entire career. I was such a huge underdog, and no one ever really believed that I can beat Naito cause we all know his caliber. But I did it!” Catalan said.
“It was far from easy but it’s in matches like that where you’ll see how important it is to come in confident and determined. That no matter the challenges, if you’re decided to get it, you’ll get it.”
The 40-year-old showed no signs of slowing. He came prepared and repeatedly stuffed Naito’s takedown attempts while striking on the feet.
After getting into a favorable position with a minute left in the opening round, the multiple-time Wushu World Champion rained down ground and pound, and eventually the referee was forced to stop the bout.
The victory may have looked easy in the eyes of spectators. But for Catalan, the win was a by-product of his dedication to the sport and his motivation to reach his ultimate dream – becoming a World Champion.
“I’ve never stopped training. From the moment that they told me I’ll face Naito, I knew that I had to prove that I still got it, that even at 40, I am still peaking in this sport. I knew I had to prove that it’s not too late to realize my dream of becoming a World Champion.”
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Naito. I only had one game plan in that match, and that was to stop his takedown attempts and get that KO. It wasn’t easy, but I was very confident in my capabilities.”
Being the likeliest contender for current ONE Strawweight World Champion Joshua “The Passion” Pacio, the Filipino is confident he can carry over the momentum from the Naito win if this match happens.
“That match really gave me momentum. Now I’m working double-time because I want to put on a better performance than my last one,” Catalan said. “Whether it’s for the World Title or not, fans can expect the most explosive Rene Catalan that they have seen. I will not stop, I will keep on working until I get that belt around my waist.”
Catch ONE: CENTURY – the biggest World Championship martial arts event in history. No organization has ever promoted two full-scale World Championship events in one day, with 28 World Champions competing in multiple World Title bouts.
PART I will be aired live on Cignal TV at 11:00am Philippine Standard Time (PHT) on Sunday, 13 October. TV5 will cut-in to live broadcast 10:30 am.
PART II, on the other hand, ABS-CBN S+A or Cignal TV at 6:30pm Philippine Standard Time (PHT). TV5 will show the special delay live at 9:30pm PHT.
All preliminary matches will aired on ONE’s Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts.