There might not be any Filipino fighters on the roster these days but fight fans from the Philippines will get to see at least one familiar face at UFC 286. Red Dela Cruz is in London for the fight card this weekend.
These days Dela Cruz’s octagon side appearances are few and far between although she was at UFC 284 to see Islam Makhachev outpoint Alex Volkanovski. These days the Filipina is based full time in Australia but she got the call to resume ring girl duties at the O2 Arena.
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Test of time
The UFC has signed numerous Filipino fighters in the past decade but none of them has stood the test of time like Dela Cruz. The likes of Rolando Dy, Jenel Lausa and CJ De Tomas all saw their careers with the promotion cut short after suffering a series of losses.
Of course being a ring girl is not quite as hard as being an actual fighter. But Dela Cruz an be proud of her achievement in holding the role for nearly a decade.
She won a competition in 2015 called ‘UFC Octagon Girl Search’. Dela Cruz has already come to the attention of MMA fans after working as a ring girl for PXC.
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Proven path
PXC is now defunct but at the time the Guam based promotion was putting on a big push in the Philippines. Dela Cruz worked at events which featured future UFC fighters like Alex Volkanovski, Frank Camacho and Mark Striegl.
It wasn’t just the fighters that the UFC snapped up from PXC. Dela Cruz became an octagon girl after winning that competition and will be celebrating a decade in the role soon.
This weekend she will be octagon side to see Leon Edwards defend his welterweight title against Kamaru Usman in his homeland. The UFC seems to only bring Dela Cruz along for the biggest cards and this weekend’s event in London definitely looks to be a big one.
