MANILA, Philippines – The founder and president of the Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) has expressed his support for the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) and lashed out at critics following the cancellation of the UFC Fight Night Manila card.

The UFC was set to hold an event at the Mall of Asia Arena on October 15, but announced its postponement over the weekend following an injury suffered by BJ Penn, who was set to fight Ricardo Lamas in the main event.

GAB chairman Abraham Mitra on Friday confirmed the cancellation of the event but at the same time said he was "saddened by the rumors that the cause of the cancellation is the drug testing procedure that GAB requires of all professional athletes."

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"The insinuations dragging the country's anti-drugs campaign into this issue are unfair, irresponsible and counter-productive. Third parties should not take this unfortunate cancellation to take a stab at our President's efforts to cleanse our country of illegal drugs," Mitra stressed.

URCC president Alvin Aguilar on Friday backed GAB, emphatically saying that drug tests have always been required for "fighters, judges, referees, ring announcers, and even promoters" annually.

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"It is nothing new, and it is something I fully support," Aguilar said in a strongly worded statement. "Who would want an MMA fighter on shabu fighting, or a fighter judged by an official on shabu? These tests are also done in the U.S. and everywhere else where there is proper regulation."

Aguilar said he understands that foreigners will "always judge us in the negative no matter what," though he also pointed out that these same "foreigners" make the mistake of judging Filipinos by the standards of their own culture.

For Aguilar, what is more hurtful is that Filipinos themselves are "so quick to judge and condemn our country," he said.

"Porke may sinabi ang puti naniwala kaagad kayo. Kung alam niyo lang na mas matalino at mas magaling tayo sa mga nagsasalita against us," Aguilar said.

(Just because the white men said something, you will believe them? If you only knew, we are smarter and better than those who speak against us.)

"Do some research and find out the REAL reason for their cancellation here. I know it and maybe some of you do, but resorting to blaming our President Duterte and our war on drugs is just terrible," he added.

The UFC did not in any way referred to or insinuated that President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, which has seen the death of over 3,000 drug suspects in just his first 100 days in office, had anything to do with the cancellation of the event.

Instead, the UFC in a statement made it clear that it will have to reschedule the fight card "due to the loss of the main event."

Penn, the former UFC champion who was set to end a two-year retirement with the fight against Lamas, explained in the same statement that he suffered a rib injury during training camp.

"I apologize to the fans in Manila who were expecting to watch me compete," said Penn. "I hope to be back in the Octagon soon."

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)