ANDREW BENIBE exacted sweet revenge on Reysaldo “Onyok” Transmonte to claim the vacant Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) bantamweight belt in the main event of URCC 25: Takeover on Thursday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
In their last contest during the undercard of URCC 24: Uprising last November, the judges favored Transmonte via a controversial split-decision finish. But this time, the pride of Maic’s Gym wanted a more convincing finish to settle the score.
Benibe fought off a long and dragging match controlled by Submission Sports Philippines bet Transmonte and found an opening with less than a minute left in the fifth and final round.
As blood streamed from Transmonte’s right ear from Benibe’s vicious strikes to the head, referee Joey Leibitin called a halt to the bout at the four-minute and 37-second mark.
Unsuccessful in his last three fights in the ONE Fighting Championship and URCC cages, Benibe finally caught his first win since 2011, when he scored a technical knockout victory over Sulpiano Laurio Jr. in URCC 20 on November 5, 2011.
“Bago nitong fight na ito, sobrang dami ang dinaanan ko—personal problems, health issues, maraming injuries. Coming into this fight, medyo mahirap siya kumpara sa laban ko before,” Benibe said. “Kahit lamang siya o mas marami siyang damage na nagagawa, I still kept on fighting kasi wala akong balak na umuwi ng talo.”