DALLAS, TX, February 17, 2012 – As a two-time veteran of the XKO organization, middleweight “Transylvanian Vampire” Ciprian Hangan has fast become known to local fans as one of the fastest-rising stars coming out of the DFW scene. He’s earned that distinction with 2 devastating knockouts in his first two pro Xtreme Knockout bouts and is looking to do more in tomorrow night’s XKO 14 main event against Jay Jay Sanchez – another undefeated fighter with a 2-0 record in the organization.
Now while Hangan’s fans may be expecting yet another knockout, they could be in for a surprise from the Dallas MMA 300 fighter as he looks to showcase other facets of his game.
“I’m a judo player that practiced judo to the highest level – to the national gold medal three times,” he says about an aspect of his game local fans may not even know about. “I’m a black belt in judo and I have plenty of wrestling experience too. I’ve just been focusing on my striking recently to get in on the level of my other skills but I want to be known as a well-rounded fighter.”
Coming into his fight with Jay Jay Sanchez, Hangan plans to showcase some of that all-around game he alluded to.
“I’m planning so submit him,” he said to us laughing a little bit, no in cockiness but almost in disbelief that he was forced to make the prediction. “I guess I’ll have to show the world my ground skills so maybe I will plan to take him down and finish him on the ground. We’ll just have to see how the fight unfolds. Every time I fight, I deliver. I don’t go in to win or scared to lose. I actually just go in ready to fight and put on a good show for the fights so it should be exciting no matter the outcome. The team at Dallas MMA 300 have me well-prepared so I’m excited to see what happens.”
As for the other thing everybody’s been wondering about – Ciprian also shared some insight on how he got his nickname, “Transylvanian Vampire.”
“I’m actually from Transylvania,” he says about that moniker. “I lived like 10 miles away from the village surrounding the castle of Dracula so I thought this was a good representation of my country.”
The way he keeps going into the cage looking for blood has him earning that nickname for an entirely different reason altogether.
Show up at The Gym this Saturday night to see Ciprian in action against Jay Jay Sanchez in the main event at XKO 14.
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