FILIPINO-SWISS mixed martial artist Chriss Valdez Hoffman takes a crack at the world-famous Octagon of the Ultimate Fighting Championship when he battles Korean Sang Hoon Yoo on May 28 in Shanghai, China.
The event, entitled Road to UFC, will be held at the UFC Performance Institute of Shanghai with four non-tournament bouts featuring Hoffman and Yoo in the welterweight.
“Words can’t express how excited I am, to represent my teams, @deftac.ph and @360martialarts.ch, and my countries (Philippines and Switzerland),” said Hoffman in a social media post.
“Be assured, that I will give it my best and work my ass off to achieve what every fighter is dreaming of… to fight in the UFC,” he added.
“It’s now or never, and I choose now!”
Now based in Zurich, Hoffman recently went back to the Philippines and successfully defended his middleweight title against Min Seok Kim of South Korea in Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC 83) in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte.
The two-division URCC champion stopped Yoo in via technical knockout in the second round to improve his MMA record to 8 wins against only a loss and solidify his stature as the only two division-champ of the URCC being the middleweight and light-heavyweight belts owner.
Five homegrown fighters have fought in the UFC before, namely Carls John De Tomas, Jenel Lausa, Mark Eddiva, and Dave Galera. The most famous UFC fighter with Filipino bloodlines and who held titles at one time were Brandon Vera and Mark Munoz.