Sabong terms
The words you hear around a sabong pit and on the 3dSabong.com broadcast, from Meron and Wala to the kristo's calls.
- Sabong
- Cockfighting, in Filipino.
- Sabungan
- The cockpit: the arena where fights are held.
- Sabungero
- A cockfighting enthusiast; someone who breeds, keeps or fights gamecocks.
- Sultada
- One fight, one match on the card.
- Meron
- One of the two sides, traditionally the one with more backing; shown in red.
- Wala
- The other side; shown in blue.
- Llamado
- The favourite: the bird most expected to win.
- Dehado
- The underdog.
- Parehas
- An even match, with neither bird the clear favourite.
- Tabla
- A draw. Neither side wins.
- Kristo
- The cockpit's caller, who works the crowd before a fight and is famous for remembering every call by hand signal.
- Sentenciador
- The referee, whose decision ends the fight.
- Ulutan
- The matching of birds by weight before a derby.
- Derby
- A competition in which each entry fights several times over the event.
- Tari
- The single blade tied to a gamecock's leg in Philippine sabong; the person who ties it is the mananari.
- Bitaw
- The release: the moment both birds are let go.
- Takbo
- Running away. A bird that runs from the fight can lose by takbo.
- Gamefowl
- Chickens bred for fighting; the males are gamecocks, young males (under a year) are stags.
- Tres-dos, otso-dies…
- The kristo's calls for how lopsided a match looks, read as ratios: tres-dos is 3 to 2, otso-dies is 8 to 10.
3dSabong.com uses Meron, Wala, Tabla, takbo and the stages of a real fight. It has no betting, so the betting terms are explained here for understanding only.