Mark “Mugen” Striegl’s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) struggles in chalking up a win continue as he absorbed a second straight knockout loss against a possibly rusty opponent, leaving him still winless in his two-fight UFC stint.
The Baguio City-based Filipino American was handed a second straight stoppage inside the octagon by veteran fighter Chas Skelly during UFC Fight Night: Hill vs. Walker held at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on February 19, 2022 (February 20, Philippine time)
Striegl lasted up to the 2:01 mark of the second round when Skelly ended the undercard fight with punches and a knee strike. “The Scrapper” showed no signs of rust despite a 2-year, 5-months lay off.
Striegl came out looking to do damage with his striking, connecting low kicks. Skelly, however, turned the fight into a grappling match and took the fight to the mat.
The American’s strategy worked in his favor as he completely outwrestled Striegl during the round, scoring with ground and pound.
Both fighter exchanged hits early in the second with Skelly aggressively pushing forward with his jab and Striegl countering with leg kicks to keep him at bay.
Skelly again put Striegl to the ground but the 33-year old Fil-Am escaped and got back to his feet.
Skelly quickly got back to work, firing a left elbow and two rights, setting up the fatal knee that sent Striegl sprawling on the mat.
Anything followed at this point was almost moot and academic as Skelly followed the attack with heavy ground and pound, forcing referee Keith Peterson to halt the fight.
Striegl’s second loss in the UFC came after a year and 4 months. He suffered a first round stoppage in his UFC debut fight against Said Nurmagomedov in October 2020.
His MMA career-record dropped to 18-4 with 1 no contest. This is the first time he suffered back-to-back defeats in his mixed-martial-arts career, although this is just the second time he had multiple fights in a major promotion.
He was 2-1 in ONE Championship, with wins over Casey Suire and Sotir Kichukov sandwiching a loss to Reece McLaren during a brief 2015-16 run.
He has yet to win another fight after three straight fails, the third being a no-contest Universal Reality Combat Championship bout against Shunichi Shimizu that ended on an accidental groin strike right before he joined UFC.
He racked up four straight wins prior to this, starting with the Kichukov unanimous decision win followed by three victories under the URCC banner.
His struggles was not limited to failures in the ring. There was also a positive Covid-19 test that prevented him from debuting in August 2020. He had to rehabilitate from damage to his orbital socket. He was also injured while training in 2021, forcing his return to the ring be pushed back.
Striegl is not a local Baguio boy, being born in Tokyo. He first came to Baguio on February, 2011 for a URCC fight against Crisanto Pitpitunge of Team Lakay. He was mesmerized by the City of Pines and one of its beautiful lasses. This made him choose the City of Pines his permanent training home so far.
Meanwhile, the 36-year-old Skelly improved to 19-3 with one no contest. He was appearing in his 12th UFC bout, possibly his last, as he openly discussed possible retirement during the post-game interview.
He now rides a two-bout winning streak, defeating Jordan Griffin by unanimous decision on September 2019.
He had been with the promotion since he made his debut fight on April 2014. If he does bid the fight game goodbye, he will leave an impressive 8-3-1NC UFC mark.
By Armando M. Bolislis
