Galera bows out in UFC debut; Fil-Am also loses

MANILA, Philippines - Singapore’s Royston Wee beat debuting Filipino entry Dave Galera via unanimous decision to lead the winners in the UFC Fight Night 34 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore Saturday night.

The 35-year-old Galera, who won three of his fights via submissions and the other two on knockouts, had no answer to Wee’s ground and pound and lost the bout that everyone thought he would win given Team Lakay’s reputation of producing prized and champion fighters.

Hawaii’s Dustin Kimura weathered Fil-Am Jon delos Reyes’ furious strikes and caught the latter with a Kimura armbar to prevail with 2.13 left in the first round

Former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine made an impressive UFC debut as he downed former Pacific  X-Treme Cagefighting standout Hyun Gyu Lim of South Korea with a unanimous decision win to underscore his bid for the vacant welterweight title.

Scores were 49-46 and 48-47 twice for Saffiedine, who improved to 15-3, to gain the Fight of the Night honor.

Although the top Filipino bets lost, the Philippines remains a top venue for a future UFC fight card in Southeast Asia following its successful staging in Singapore.

UFC has expanded to Asia as early as last year when it held cards in Japan, South Korea, Macau, China and just recently, Singapore.