Fil-Am Muñoz wants to be 'Manny Pacquiao' of MMA

A jubilant Mark Muñoz after his TKO win over Ryan Jensen in UFC 108. (Photo by UFC.com)

Up and coming Filipino-American mixed martial artist (MMA) Mark Muñoz is a self confessed Manny Pacquiao fan.

In fact, he wanted to be the Manny Pacquiao of MMA.

“[I’m a] huge [fan of Pacquiao]. Very very huge,” Muñoz said in a phone patch interview with several sports scribes in the Philippines. “Actually, I trained with Freddie Roach when I was in LA. The reason why I wanted to train with Freddie is that I can see Manny.”

The 6-foot tall fighter known as the “Filipino Wrecking Machine” said he doesn’t just admire Pacquiao’s boxing skills but also his down-to-earth attitude.

“I got to see him train and how he treats people,” said Muñoz, who already scored 2 wins in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). “He’s a very good role model aside from his boxing. He’s a very good person.”

“That’s what I wanted to be. I definitely wanted to be the Manny Pacquiao of mixed martial arts,” he added.

Muñoz broke into the MMA scene with two successive wins in the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) where he scored first-round victories over Chuck Grigsby and Ricardo Barrios.

Although he lost his fighting debut in the UFC to veteran MMA fighter Matt Hamill, he made it up by scoring two more victories over Nick Catone and Ryan Jensen.

‘Mayweather’s just scared’

When asked about the cancellation of Pacquiao’s bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr., Muñoz said the American boxer is only looking for excuses to postpone the fight.

“I think Mayweather is scared, I think he’s putting it off,” said the MMA fighter.

Muñoz, one of the many fight fans who wanted the mega-bout to happen, said the cancellation only made the Pacquiao-Mayweather clash bigger than it was.

“It’s actually a big fight, huge fight right now but I think they‘re gonna make it a bigger fight because now it wasn’t gonna happen so people are talking about it now. I think it’s gonna happen,” he said.

He also frowned over the demand by Mayweather’s camp to have Pacquiao undergo Olympic-style drug testing.

Muñoz said he is puzzled over the move to change the drug testing process that has been used in boxing for years and years.

“I think he’s just finding a reason to cancel the fight. I don’t like how it’s been carried out, I don’t like it at all,” he said.

Still, Muñoz wanted the fight to push through.

“It has to happen,” he said.