Two World Title Fights Set for One: Defending Honor in Singapore on 11 November

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The largest sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship (ONE), has just announced additional bouts for ONE: DEFENDING HONOR, which is set to rock the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 11 November. In the main event, ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki will defend his title against Eduard Folayang of the Philippines. In the co-main event, ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat Gafurov will do battle with former titleholder Narantungalag Jadambaa of Mongolia in a highly-anticipated rematch.

Tickets for ONE: DEFENDING HONOR are available at http://www.sportshub.com.sg/sportshubtix/Pages/one-defending-honor.aspx

CEO of ONE Championship, Victor Cui, stated: “2016 has been an amazing year for ONE Championship. After meeting with the biggest names in the industry at the Asia MMA Summit, we are proud to announce a spectacular fight card set for the Singapore Indoor Stadium this November. We are going in with two world title fights that will set the ONE Championship cage ablaze with world-class MMA action and excitement, along with a series of really solid supporting bouts.”

Lightweight veteran Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki of Shizuoka, Japan, is one of the world’s most decorated mixed martial artists. He is the DREAM Lightweight Champion, former Shooto Welterweight Champion, and the reigning ONE Lightweight World Champion. The 33-year-old Aoki is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Yuki Nakai and has won multiple grappling tournaments across the globe. He also holds a black belt in judo. A veteran of over 40 professional bouts which includes an impressive 25 victories by submission, Aoki’s reputation as a grappling specialist is unrivaled. Aoki is currently riding a nine-fight win streak, and is set to step back inside the ONE Championship cage to defend his lightweight title against Eduard Folayang.

Eduard “Landslide” Folayang of the famed Team Lakay in Baguio City is one of the Philippines’ most experienced mixed martial artists. After more than eight years as a professional competing in various promotions, the wushu specialist has amassed a stellar 16-5-0 mixed martial arts record. Folayang figured in impressive victories in his last two bouts, overcoming both Tetsuya Yamada and Adrian Pang, showcasing a highly-improved wrestling and grappling offensive arsenal. Currently at the peak of his abilities as a combat sports athlete, Folayang will get the opportunity of a lifetime when he steps inside the cage across ONE Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki.

Marat “Cobra” Gafurov of Dagestan, Russia, is the reigning ONE Featherweight World Champion. An undefeated mixed martial artist with 14 wins and no losses, Gafurov is a high-level grappler with 10 of his wins coming by impressive submission over top-caliber opponents. Rarely challenged and always dominant, Gafurov captured the featherweight title with a gutsy victory over former champion Narantungalag Jadambaa in an epic battle. Now the two are set to lock horns once again inside the ONE Championship cage in a much-awaited rematch.

Former ONE Featherweight World Champion Narantungalag Jadambaa of Mongolia is one of the top contenders in ONE Championship’s deep featherweight division. At 12 wins and four losses, Jadambaa has faced the biggest names in Asian MMA and has wins over notable ONE athletes Adrian Pang, Honorio Banario, and Koji Oishi. In his last two bouts, Jadambaa finished two highly-regarded fighters in Kotetsu Boku and Eric Kelly, earning him another shot at reigning champion Marat Gafurov.

Eddie “The Magician” Ng is a 30-year-old lightweight standout originally from Hong Kong. He is a ONE Championship veteran who has been with the promotion since its first event in 2011. At his best, Ng is a devastating striker with lightning quick hands and feet, as well as a highly technical grappler with a wide range of submissions. Training out of Evolve MMA in Singapore, Ng works with the best talent in one of Asia’s top martial arts gyms. He returns to the ONE Championship cage looking to bounce back from a recent setback, but will have to go up against Adrian Pang.

Adrian “The Hunter” Pang is a mixed martial arts veteran from Queensland, Australia, with a 22-9-2 professional record. The 38-year-old Pang has decimated opponents with his power and no-frills approach to striking in nearly two decades as a professional MMA athlete. He is known for his incredible durability and overwhelming strength, along with his ability to walk through opponents with relative ease. Pang looks to make a triumphant return to the winner’s circle against Eddie Ng.

26-year-old Timofey Nastyukhin is a professional mixed martial artist competing in ONE Championship’s stacked featherweight division. He owns a 10-2-0 record with all of his wins coming by spectacular finish. With four submissions and six knockouts on his resume, Nastyukhin is considered one of the finest offensive fighters in the promotion. He owns stoppage wins over top fighters Rob Lisita and Yusuke Kawanago, and now returns to action against Japanese MMA veteran Kotetsu Boku.

Kotetsu “No Face” Boku, although originally from South Korea, is a Japanese mixed martial arts legend and the former ONE Lightweight World Champion. With more than 30 professional fights on his fight resume, Boku has the experience of a seasoned veteran and has seen it all inside the cage. Always a crowd pleaser, Boku utilizes his dynamic boxing background with world-class grappling to subdue his opponents. He’ll now get the chance to put on a show once again opposite Russia’s Timofey Nastyukhin.

21-year-old Singaporean prospect Amir Khan is a professional mixed martial artist competing in ONE Championship’s stacked lightweight division. He is considered one of the most promising young talents to represent the country on the international stage of MMA. Khan is currently riding a two-fight win streak with both victories coming by way of knockout. He will make his much-anticipated return to competition by taking on the undefeated Samir Mrabet.

Samir Mrabet is a 31-year-old professional mixed martial artist from Brussels, Belgium, by way of Monarchy MMA in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Unbeaten at four wins and no losses, Mrabet owns three highlight-reel finishes over solid competition and is currently on a two-fight win streak in ONE Championship. Featuring a robust ground game coupled with a solid striking arsenal, Mrabet is set to take on Singaporean prospect Amir Khan.

Women’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Michelle Nicolini is a 34-year-old professional mixed martial artist competing in the ONE Championship women’s strawweight division. Nicolini is a member of the BJJ Hall of Fame and an eight-time black belt world champion, and owns a 2-1 record which includes two impressive submission victories. A tremendous technical grappler, Nicolini recently relocated to Singapore to join the Evolve Fight Team and will make her ONE Championship promotional debut against Egypt’s Mona Samir.

Mona Samir of Cairo, Egypt is a professional mixed martial artist with a 1-2-0 record. She made her promotional debut against ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee a year ago, and has since then gained additional fight experience in other MMA promotions. She returns to ONE Championship to take on a monumental challenge against eight-time BJJ black belt world champion Michelle Nicolini.

Additional bouts for ONE: DEFENDING HONOR will be announced at a later date.

For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

The Passing of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago

Wazzup Pilipinas!
"I join the nation in mourning the passing of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. The Filipino people lost a champion of women rights and defender of the country’s sovereignty. I send my prayers and thoughts to her loved ones during this time of grief.

My party, Akbayan, had the chance of working with Senator Santiago on several important issues. In 1999, she and Rep. Etta Rosales filed the Anti-discrimination bill to protect the rights of each and every citizen regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Senator Miriam, a fellow Ilongga, is also one of our staunchest champions of the Reproductive Health Law. With her, reproductive health and women's rights advocates weathered enormous obstacles to the law's passage. With the broader movement for reproductive health, we share the victory of having given ordinary Filipino women the right over our own bodies and the power to determine the welfare of our families.

We also had the privilege of working with her in safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and national interests. We thank her for joining us in filing a joint resolution that sought to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

I am saddened that we didn’t have the opportunity to work together in the senate. With her passing, I will continue to find inspiration from her tireless advocacies and her work in public office to pursue legislation for the welfare of ordinary citizens and the sovereignty of our nation. This would serve as a fitting tribute to her memory." - Sen. Risa Hontiveros

IPC Cites Hybrid Cloud as Key Step Towards Business Success

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Local cloud and data center services pioneer IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.) believes that Hybrid Cloud setups, a combination of public cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and physical hardware-driven systems, are key business growth strategies, especially for medium to large enterprises that already have operational IT systems in place.

Businesses of today face challenges that not only dampen growth but moreso threaten their very survival. As the digital age forces companies to rely heavily on ICT (information and communications technology), business processes are changing and IT systems have become mission-critical, thus compelling CTOs to seek IT infrastructure options that bring high systems availability without breaking the bank or getting into a fight with the CFO.

A Hybrid Cloud configuration involves the use of public cloud resources combined with hosted physical machines to run and maintain specific systems for an organization. There are companies that would like to take advantage of the cloud but would also like to maintain data or applications using their own physical resources. This setup is a viable solution to a slew of business concerns, i.e. maintain control over a particular component or set of data within a system, backup and disaster recovery, security or compliance issues, and data sovereignty. In addition, the public cloud components allow companies to scale up or down as needed and pay only for what is used.

According to IPC’s director for product management & marketing Niño Valmonte, a hybrid approach enables companies to maintain control of an internally managed private cloud while relying on the public cloud as needed. Though they operate independently, they can be setup to communicate over an encrypted internet connection in order to fulfill specific tasks.

For instance, during peak periods in the retail industry such as the holidays, applications, or even portions of applications of an order entry system can be migrated to the public cloud, thus providing more stability. This will also allow for more flexibility and scalability.

“IPC is in the best position to help companies achieve a hybrid cloud setup that is efficient, secure and effective, being both a highly experienced Internet data center operator and pioneer cloud IaaS provider in the country,” Valmonte said. “We leverage our state-of-the-art data center facilities and robust network infrastructure to provide the entire spectrum of IT infrastructure solutions ranging from data center co-location, hosted private cloud infrastructure, hybrid cloud, virtual private cloud, and public IaaS.”

On the rise

Ease of use and customization possibilities are key drivers for businesses shifting to hybrid cloud setups. A study by the International Data Corporation (IDC), revealed that over 70% of enterprises in Southeast Asia are integrating hybrid cloud in their IT strategy. According to IDC, enterprises realize that adopting hybrid cloud is important to reduce cost and achieve business transformation, agility and scalability.

“2016 will be a big year for solutions built on hybrid cloud architectures with 65% of Asia Pacific enterprises to commit for its implementation,” said Chris Morris, Vice President, Cloud and Services, IDC Asia/Pacific.

IDC believes that the big drivers for increased implementation of hybrid clouds are IT’s continuing quest for optimized infrastructure, and the ability of solution builders to source application and infrastructure components from multiple providers to construct a hybrid cloud-based solution.

“With increasing cloud spending, many enterprises will have begun use of hybrid solutions without direct involvement. With the business unit managers increasingly buying their own cloud solutions, hybrid cloud architectures can proliferate, and sometimes not be aligned with the enterprise architecture,” added Morris.

Another study, made by Frost & Sullivan, shows that Hybrid IT is the “new normal” for companies in the Asia-Pacific. “At their core, successful hybrid cloud strategies support the delivery of high-value applications and services to the business, while at the same time driving cost and inefficiency out of the IT infrastructure,” the report said.

Hybrid cloud environments are becoming more popular in the marketplace, as they enable IT to remain flexible and respond quickly to market demands, as well as providing lines of business with the resources they need to succeed. Additionally, cloud users recognize that different workloads or applications perform optimally in differently configured environments: configurations that work well for one application or workload may not work for another. And many workloads share data that is drawn from different sources outside of where the application itself resides. As such, businesses are integrating a variety of infrastructures to create a complete, hybrid cloud environment.



Boosting digital shift

“Adopting a hybrid cloud strategy is definitely key to boosting digital transformation. It allows companies to utilize the cloud for scalability while keeping critical data and processes in check whether in their offices, or colocated in IPC Data Center. This way, companies enjoy a highly flexible and customizable IT environment,” added Valmonte. “Digital is the New Normal, and the time to make the digital pivot is now.”

According to Gartner, digital transformation has become a key factor in future business growth and success, and the latter will be defined by how well companies, organizations, and governments leverage the technology to enable partner and customer engagement across a wide range of digitized processes.

IPC, through its carrier-grade, telco-neutral data centers, provides highly secure colocation services as well as its IaaS product, IPC CloudServers, or a hybrid setup that involves both. With expertise in the full range of IT infrastructure implementations, IPC is able to efficiently assist businesses in setting up their own hybrid systems.

Learn how IPC’s infrastructure-as-a-service can solve real life business problems at cloud.ipc.ph.