Fil-Aussie Josh Culibao gets massive opportunity in UFC 275

MANILA, Philippines – “The goal is to get a win and in doing so, propel me up the UFC featherweight rankings.”

Filipino-Australian mixed martial arts fighter Josh Culibao is looking forward to chalking up a second consecutive win against Korean counterpart Choi Seung-woo come UFC 275 Teixeira vs. Prochazka on Sunday, June 12, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The two will figure in a featherweight match in the preliminary card of the UFC’s first number fight card in Asia.

The Sydney-born Culibao scored a unanimous decision win over Shayilan Nuerdanbieke in May 22 last year to hike his UFC record to 1-1-1 for an overall of 9-1-1. 

“I like the fight,” Culibao said of his match with Choi (10-4-0, 3-3 in the UFC). “He is a very good stand-up fighter. And I am the same thing. So it will be a good match-up between two strikers.”

Culibao is giving up two inches to the six-foot Korean, who lost to Alex Caceres via rear naked choke in the second round in October of 2021.

“Choi is tall and has range. So we’ll see how we can fire away against each other.”

For Culibao, fighting was a big part of him growing up.

“I had three older brothers and I was the bunso. And you know how it is when you are the youngest,” related Josh.

However, that isn’t the reason why he got into mixed martial arts.

“My father preferred boxing to basketball. We liked films by Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and the like. So combat sports were always a part of our family viewing,” related the 28-year old. “When my eldest brother Justin saw the benefits of securing his black belt in taekwondo, our father made the rest of his children learn the martial art.”

“What made me want to take up MMA was when I saw Royce Gracie beat all these other guys without throwing a punch. It blew my mind. That was unbelievable!”

“In my first time trying MMA, I got choked out 10 times and it humbled me. That means I had to take it seriously.

And now, Josh Culibao has an opportunity to showcase his wares in front of a large global audience.

“This is big,” noted Culibao of UFC 275. “If I want to make serious moves in the rankings, this is the start. It won’t be easy, but I will give it everything I’ve got. And there aren’t many Filipinos in the UFC. You can say that I am also doing this for our people.”

UFC 275 will be shown live on the Premier Sports Channel on Skycable and Cignal as well as on the TapGo streaming application.