A proud Filipino, MMA fighter Mark "Mugen" Striegl wants to win a title for the Philippines. He was born on June 23, 1988 in Tokyo, Japan, to an American father from New York and a Filipino mother from Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.
Growing up in Tokyo, Mugen said his mother would make sure that he and his elder brother knew their roots, particularly their Filipino roots. Every year, they would travel to Manila and to their mother's hometown, Calapan, he said.
In an interview with Yibada, Mugen was asked if he could speak Filipino. He replied, "Konti lang," which means "A little" in Filipino.
"I'm studying right now," Mugen said. "It's a working progress. Give me six months and I'll be fluent. That's my goal actually, by the end of the year."
Apparently, Mugen is a goal-oriented fighter. He said, "First and foremost, my goal is to win a world title for the Philippines. That, that's been my dream since, even since I was a kid. I wanna win a world title for the Philippines, bring it back home to Manila."
"I really wanna raise awareness in the level of sports and nutrition and health here in the Philippines," Mugen continued. "I teach P.E. at a school in Baguio."
Aside from being an MMA fighter, Mugen has a mission to accomplish as a teacher. He explained, "I understand that there's still limited level of nutrition and health with a lot of these kids and athletes that I work with, so it's definitely something that I want to improve. "
It was in Baguio City where Mugen fought his first MMA fight in the Philippines, which was his third MMA fight in general. He defeated Filipino fighter Crisanto Pitpitunge via rear-naked choke submission.
Mugen fell so in love with Baguio City that he decided to live there for good. He even considers himself more Filipino than American.
Watch a portion of the interview with Striegl here: