On Feb. 19, 2011, Mark "Mugen" Striegl won his third MMA fight after defeating Crisanto Pitpitunge via rear-naked choke submission at URCC Baguio 3: Invasion at the Baguio Convention Center in Baguio City, Philippines. Eventually, the American-Filipino fighter decided to move to the city for good.
"When I first came in the Philippines for a fight, my first fight in the Philippines was actually in Baguio, and I've never been to Baguio prior to that," Mugen said in an interview with Yibada. "So I took the bus up, you know, I took the long, you know, back in the day, the non-deluxe bus, it stops, it took me like seven hours."
Mugen continued, "I've never been up to Baguio before, so mysterious, all the way trekked up the mountain, got to Baguio and had a fight a few days after that and what I noticed in the fight was how tired I got."
What the MMA fighter realized was that it was from the high altitude. He explained, "Baguio is 5000 feet from sea level, which means there less oxygen in there so it made it very difficult to breathe during the fight."
"I was so tired during the fight but thankfully, I won the fight, and then after that, I, a couple of months later, I just decided to pack my bags and move to Baguio, and fell in love with, that's it," Mugen recalled. "I fell in love with the city and, yeah, right now, I regularly commute between Baguio and Manila."
It is the same the same reason why legendary Filipino boxer Manny Paquiao trains in Baguio City, Mugen said. He added, "The altitude is really an advantage for fighters and athletes in general."
In Baguio City, Mugen trains in the same boxing gym that where Pacquiao trains but they never crossed paths. The former said he just sees all the posters of the latter on the wall, which give him "extra motivation."
Here is a clip from the interview with Mugen: