SABAHAN KELVIN AND AUDREY AIMS TO CHILL BANGKOK

11 Mac 2017, ONE Championship: Warrior's Kingdom will be held in Bangkok. The fight cards feature some of the best MMA talents in Thailand. With 11 Thai fighters in the cards, it's Thailand vs the rest of Asia. The atmosphere inside Impact Arena will be loud and hot as Thai fight fans are very passionate and they will be fully behind their fighters with deafening cheers.

Amidst this high pressure atmosphere, two warrior from Sabah Malaysia will aim to bring the chill to Bangkok. The two are Kelvin 'Ice Man' Ong and Audreylaura ' Ice Comet' Boniface. They are both fighters from Borneo Tribal Squad (BTS).

Kelvin in ONE's photoshoot wearing the BTS fight shorts with unique  Sabahan native motifs

This is Kelvin's debut in ONE Championship and his 2nd pro MMA fight. Kelvin's pro debut was in Jul 2016 WSOF Global Championship 3, in which he won against Fhilipino Jesdan dela Pena by TKO in 2nd round. ( read about my write up on Kelvin's debut here )

Winning his pro debut in WSOF GC 3

Kelvin has a quiet personality and is a very humble man. But when he steps into the cage, he is ice cold and merciless. To fight in ONE Championship as the biggest MMA promotion in Asia is certainly a dream come true for him. He is very thankful to his coach and mentor AJ 'Pyro', himself a ONE Championship fighter.

Kelvin with BTS fight team lead by AJ Pyro ( R )

Kelvin never misses training even though he has a very busy schedule working. He helps out in his family business running a stall in the LIDO market in Kota Kinabalu. He stepped into BTS two years ago and Coach AJ notice how hardworking this man is and decided to work closely with him to polish his skills.
"Kelvin has the heart and right attitude, so it's my job to improve his skills and mold him into a fighting machine" 

said Pyro.

Kelvin will be facing Sagetdao Petpayathai. This is Sagetdao's MMA debut but he was household name and a legend in the Muaythai circle in Thailand when he fought actively from 2004-2014, winning numerous titles such as MAX Muaythai, Lumpinee Stadium, Rajdamnern Stadium, WBC World Champion, WPMF World Champion.

At 30 this year he is retired from Muaythai and has been teaching in the EVOLVE MMA gym in Singapore. Sagetdao is well known for his vicious knee and strong clinch and he look to begun his new journey in martial arts through MMA.

Kelvin's team mate is Ice Comet - Audreylaura Boniface. This is also Audrey's debut in ONE Championship and her 2nd pro fight. Her debut was in Thailand's Full Metal Dojo in Jul 2016. Before that Audrey fought in ONE Silat ( with rules similar to MMA ). Read about Audrey's MMA debut in my previous write up here .

Audrey en route to winning her ONE Silat match

Audrey's involvement in martial arts started when she was in university as she got into Taekwondo, In BTS she has picked up crucial ground game and has won medals in BJJ comp. She has a day job as a doctor in the emergency and trauma department in Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kota Kinabalu

Dr. Audrey in the house ...and the Oval cage!

Being a doctor has both advantage and disadvantage. The good side is, she understand stress very well and is used to work under pressure and her work trains her to think lightning fast. In the down side, her dedication as a life saver took her time off from training. So whenever she has the time she will put in lots of effort and focus on learning as much as she can from AJ Pyro.

Audrey with BTS fight team

She never thought that she will be a pro fighter, and she owes this trust to AJ Pyro. AJ sees the potential in her. As she has the mental strength. 
" It's easy to train the physical skills and conditioning, but mental toughness is something you need to develop mostly on your own, and Audrey already has this in her"

Audrey with her mentor and coach AJ Pyro Lias Mansor

Audrey cherish the opportunity, and she has uses her MMA training as a stress reliever from her stressful job. Becoming a fighter certainly gave her a new aim in life as she is able to be role model to other Sabahan female.

Having Ann Osman as her team mate certainly is an advantage as Ann has given her many pointers in terms of fight skills and also how to deal with the jitters of fighting in the big league.

Audrey needs all her mental strength she can get as she will be facing Thai's MMA darling 'Tiny Doll' Rika Ishige. This is Rika's MMA pro debut. She is the girlfriend of Thai MMA superstar Shannon 'One Shin' Wiratchai, whom will also be fighting on 11 MAC in the co-main event.

Shannon and Rika

Facing off at the roof top of Banyan Hotel Bangkok

Rika has background in Taekwondo and Judo. With a doll of a face, she is becoming the media darling of Thai martial arts. The support she will get will definitely be hot and 'Ice Comet' will need to cool down the temperature with her calmness and composure.

Among the other fights to watch out for is the Joshua Pacio of the fame Team Lakay of Philipines vs Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke (DSA). Joshua is a young fighter at 21 years but posses a 11-1-0 record with all the win by finishes. He is certainly a great straw weight prospect, challenging for the title last year against Yoshitaka Naito. Joshua was dominating for two rounds until in third round a costly mistakes allowed Naito to get his back to sink in a rear naked choke.

Joshua will need all his skills as he faces the ex straw weight champion, Dejdamrong. DSA was the inaugural straw weight champion when he took the title in May 2015. He lost the belt to Naito a year later in a high pressure match as ONE Championship debut in Thailand.

It was a heart broken moment when he had to tap out to Naito's choke in the fourth round, disappointing the thousand of Thais coming to support him. This is DSA first fight after the loss and he is very determine to win the title back and winning back the hearts of the Thais.



The co main event will see Thai MMA hearthrob Shannon 'One Shin' Wiratchai vs Richard Corminal of Philipines. Shannon is one of the first Thai to venture into MMA, mixing his striking skills from Kung Fu with his accomplished Judo skills with plenty of BJJ and wrestling. He is a very exciting fighter to watch with memorable and attention grabbing walk out. He dresses in Pokemon theme in his last win in Kuala Lumpur against Malaysian Peter Davis. Everyone is eager to see his walkout this time in Bangkok.

More importantly from his walk out antics, Shannon is prolific striker and a has a suffocating grappling skills. His fights are exciting to watch in the Oval cage. He has unorthodox striking and will attack from odd angle and unpredictable moves.

Filipino Richard Corminal is base in Kuala Lumpur, fighting out of Muayfit. He holds a record of 4-1-0 and all 4 wins via KO/TKO. Inspired by Manny Pacquiao when he was young he took up boxing and eventually Muaythai and grappling. Leaving Manila to earn a living in Kuala Lumpur, Richard now is a instructor at Muayfit.

Corminal understands very well that he is the underdog. But he is happy that the pressure will be on Shannon due to his fame and the demand of performing in home crowd. Richard aims to keep the fight standing and spoils the party of Shannon.



ONE Championship Warrior Kingdom will be headline by Female Atom weight Champion Angela Lee defending her title. Angela is of mixed Singaporean and Korean heritage and trains at Asia’s premier mixed martial arts gym, Evolve MMA in Singapore.

Lee’s beautiful combination of solid striking and grappling skills has proven to be a potent formula for success as she remains unbeaten in her MMA career. In her last bout, Lee captured the inaugural ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship with an awe-inspiring victory over Mei
Yamaguchi. Lee will now make the first defense of her title against Jenny Huang.

26-year-old Jenny Huang is a female mixed martial artist representing Chinese Taipei. Unbeaten with a professional MMA record of five wins and no losses, Huang also owns three impressive submission victories. In her most recent bout, Huang electrified the arena by executing an extremely rare submission, the gogoplata, overcoming a spirited performance from the Philippines’ April Osenio. In her next bout, Huang will challenge ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee for the title.

photos from : http://www.atimes.com

BAC4: SHOWDOWN IN LABUAN

Come Saturday 4 March, around 60 warriorsts from all over Borneo will again converge for the 4th time in the tiny island of Labuan. This is Borneo Amateur Challenge 4! ( BAC4)

BAC is organised by Borneo Combat Gym of Labuan. In one short year in 2016, BAC has successfully been organised 3 times. Held in the roof top of Labuan Times Square inside BCG, overlooking Labuan's scenic harbour view, it has steadily built a reputation as the premier amateur martial arts competition in Borneo.

Labuan's economy is in the doldrums this pass 2 years when oil price went low and affected badly the oil and gas industry which is the lifeline of Labuan's industry. The local authorities has since try to revive Labuan's tourism sector to liven back the business sector in Labuan.

In a way the economic downturn is good for the fitness industry. People tend to spend less in the club and night life and opt to vent out their stress in the gym...these creates good , motivated fighters. BAC also attract participants from Brunei, Sarawak & Sabah which brings in the much needed tourism revenue for Labuan, when these participants spend shopping and on food and beverages.

This year Ronald Tee is leading the BCG team as the Organising Chairman for BAC4. According to Ronald,
" Tourism Malaysia involvement will further strengthen our BAC branding and as well to establish better rapport for BCG not only in Labuan but as well in Malaysia. For this year, it will be the first time BAC event being listed in Calendar of Events 2017 by Tourism Malaysia. This strategy co-operation is ideal for mutual benefits and help to boost the local tourism industry"

Coach Alvin Chong, the founder of BCG is a visionary. He doesn't just want BCG to be a place where fighters come and train for fitness and be able to compete, but also building their confidence and character through martial arts. BAC is a way he builds this soft skills for his team of coaches.

Alvin and his BCG team promoting BAC4

Letting them lead in organising events and competition will help them develop good management skills that will help them to be better leaders. As leaders, in turn he hopes they will contribute back to the communities in helping others.

Ronald leading the BCG committee meeting

I ask Ronald on how is the experience so far as the organising chairman.

"It has been a privilege for being selected by Coach Alvin as BAC4 Organising Chairman. The experience is overwhelming but yet gratifying as I have been given a chance to learn on collaborating with sponsor, managing and working with the team, enabling and fostering interpersonal relationship and as well as building my leadership skills."

Aside from being a fighter and coach, Ronald is also a certified referee

BAC4 together with STAND & FIGHT FEST in Sabah, is also a continuation of selecting potential athletes for a place in the National K1 Championship, planned to the held in Labuan end of 2017. BAC is a offial ISKA sanction fight.

The hi-light of BCG4 is the Super4 MMA. The fighters involved are Ericorry of Keningau MMA, Shah Rizam of Labuan Tomoi, Md Noor Gani of Team Karabaw and Lu Yi representing Naga Knabalu.

The 1st leg of this Super4 MMA will see Ericcory vs Rizam, 2nd leg is Noor Gani vs Lu Yi.

The winner of 1st leg vs the winner of 2nd leg will be the main event of the night.

The champion will receive a championship cup sponsor by Keningau MMA (KMMA)

According to Mohd Bin Bakri, founder of KMMA, 

" I'm glad to sponsor the championship cup, as this will help develop the sports. KMMA has just moved to a newer and better premises and I'm happy that KMMA has grow and many of our fighters has gain much experience by participating in BAC. This is my way of giving back."

Mohd and his fight team

Ericcory of KMMA is from Tamparuli but has been in Keningau for the last 10 years. At 23 this year, martial arts has always been his interest but never had a chance to take it up until in 2015 when he walked in the doors of KMMA, following a friend.

Ever since, Ericcory has absorb all that has been taught and is raring to go. He participated in BCG and Fight Fest and has a current record of 2-1. Ericcory will rely on his grappling skills as he has develop it through Luta Livre taught by coach Mohd himself and coach Antonio Battistessa of Sabah Top Team. Recently he also took up a MMA seminar in Sabah Top Team taught by coach Mark Sangiao, the successful MMA coach of Team Lakay, Philipines.

In the 2nd leg, look out for Md Noor Gani of Team Karabaw. He is a striker with some amateur MMA experience from Jesselton Fight League. He also fought pro before in freestyle martial arts in the 2016 ONE Silat.

His opponent Lu Yi was train by Master Tang of D-30 Muay Thai Miri. He has since moved to Kota Kinabalu and now represent Naga Kinabalu. This young lad is ferocious in terms of learning. What he lacks in techniques he made it up with relentless spirit, which saw him participating in various martial arts events such as BJJ, Pro Muaythai, No Gi Grappling, MMA and Kickboxing.

In the co-main event is the MMA Super Fight of Joel Nickolson Lawrence (Sabah Top Team) vs Mohd Rizal ( Team Karabaw ). This is a good match as both are strikers. Joel is more technical from his background in Taekwondo.

Joel initially wanted to fight at 56kg but organiser could not find him a match at that weight and Rizal stepped up and they agree to fight at 62kg.

Joel is the semi-finalist of 2016 MIMMA4 losing to eventual champion Damon Soo. He has a record of 3-2. In last year's Jesselton Fight League in 1 Borneo, Joel defeated Australian Nathan Hynes with a standing guillotine, a month later he fought in Fight Fest 3 but lost to Mohd Hasbullah in a thrilling match.

Joel will be relying on the great learning he got from Coach Mark Sangiao in the MMA seminar he attended at Sabah Top team with Ericcory.

Mohd Rizal or known as Ladda to his friends was also feature in JFL last year. He fought Indian Rudranash but lost in a 3 rounds decision. In that fight Rizal has still not fully recovered from his fight a few weeks before in National Muaythai selection, but Rizal showed tremendous fighting spirit...always moving forward and actively looking to engage.

To those who knows him, they attribute one of his strength to his mental fortitude. Rizal has a never retreat never surrender attitude. His is not bothered by pain and taunt. He says he will turn into a beast when he enter the cage. But outside it, he says he is a friendly person. Rizal has experience in Muaythai, Kyokushinkai Karate and K1 and Pro Silat in ONE Silat tournament.

In Sabah Fight last Dec, Rizal fought in the co-main event vs Madjais Opong. He executed an excellent combos of kicks and punches in the fourth round to end the fight with a TKO.

Expect fireworks tomorrow when this two meet!

Competition will start at 9am tomorrow till 7pm. Stay tuned to Warriors of Borneo Blog FB for updates.

Full Metal Dojo 13 - A wild night where Wild Card dominates

The 13th series of Full Metal Dojo 13 went down at Insanity Nightclub, Bangkok on 25 FEB. 9 fights were featured, in a night of wild fights, wild results, wild party and Wild Cards! ( read the pre-event write up in this link ).

On cage side was ex UFC and Strikeforce fighter Jason 'Mayhem' Miller and One Championship fighter Brad Robinson giving live commentary for the benefit of those who watch it on the live FB streaming.

main event

Co-main event

Brad Robinson and Jason Miller on cage side

Check out the full results from Tapology :

In a highlight reel finish and one of the most shocking results was the Lightweight fight between Javier Trujilo of Bangkok Fight Lab vs Ryan Feltner “Crazy Gweilo”.

Ryan live up to his nick name Crazy Gweilo ( which means crazy white guy in Cantonese ) as he rushes in carelessly and his chin went straight into Rustam's right hand. The timer in the live stream was not even started yet when he fell down from that right.

Boom!...Fist to chin = KO ( pix by Brady Weeks )

Possibly the fastest KO in Asian MMA ( pix by David Ash )

Javier deliver a few hammer fist to seal the deal, but Ryan was already out even before the additional punches as referee Dana Blouin came in to stop it. This could be the fastest KO in Asia MMA.

" He doesn't even know which country he's in! " said Jason Miller as Ryan still look dazed when he stood up.

It was cross border rivalry at its best at the Featherweight fight, Maes Meu of Cambodia vs Jirawat of Thailand.

The Thai rushes in with a push kick. Maes instintly side stepped and Jirawat missed, slipped and fell. As he got up, Maes taunt him. Jirawat attacked and got a body lock and brought the fight to the ground. Maes able to switch, they scrambled and both got to their feet. But Jirawat looks better at grappling as he body locked Maes, picked him up and slammed him on the canvas.

Maes spend the rest of the 4 minute on his back as Jiriwat's superior wrestling control the game.

At the start of 2nd round, Maes return a favour with a front kick of his own which Jiriwat barely blocked. They grappled and Jiriwat executed a perfect Judo throw on Maes and he rushes in with a soccer kick that almost connect.

Referee rushes in to break the fight and gave a verbal warning to the Thai as FMD rules does not allow soccer kick to the head of a down opponent.

Pix by Brady Weeks

The fight restart and Meas connected with a front kick, punch exchange and Jiriwat with the take down. As Jiriwat was in Maes guard, he gestured with his left hand and the referee cut in and Jiriwat complaint of a eye poke.

Fight resume and this time Jiriwat with a hard right low kick and went in to grapple, again he executed a throw and the fight remain on the ground for close to 2 minute, as Jiriwat disengaged, they stood up. 

Restart and Jiriwat ducked Maes' punches and went for the body take down, but this time Maes got hold of a guillotine and shortly after Jiriwat tapped out.

It does not look like a deep guillotine, perhaps Jiriwat was already out of gas. Victory to the Cambodian.

Brad mentioned that he's been in the Asian MMA scene for around 10 years and they used to be no grappling or wrestling in South East Asian fighters, but now it's amazing to see Thais and Cambodians going at it with body slam, double leg take down and plenty of grappling.

The co-main event which almost didn't happened when Tiger Muay Thai's Ali Motamed's opponent pulled out in the last minute. In came the ever ready Luke Adams of Juggernaut Fight Club Singapore and FMD have a great match up at the co-main event.

pix by David Ash

Ali look lighter as he move laterally side to side stalked by Luke. A couple of kicks exchange at the beginning , Luke grabbed Ali's left kick got a single leg , good cage control and wrapped up both Ali's leg for a take down. Luke control well from top. When they stood back up, Luke easily took Ali down. At a north south position at one time landing knees. Even tried a toe hold but Ali survived.

pix by Brady Weeks

Ali tried to escape but gave his back and Luke capitalised and control the whole remaining round from top.

Round 2 was similar story, Luke exerting dominance from top , for almost 3 minutes constantly looking for a submission finish. In the slippery moment, Ali manage to switch, got top position, stacked Luke. Luke rolled and Ali connected with a knee to Luke's head. Luke scramble forward for Ali's leg, Ali escaped.

pix by Brady Weeks

The stalked each other. Luke's right brow bleeding. Luke again going for a take down, Ali avoided. At 1 minute left, referee Olivier Coste call for a time out to check the gash on Luke's right brow.
Medical team deliberated and decided to call off the fight as the cut's opening was too big.

Ali won by TKO and improved to 4-0. Luke was still fresh and could go on to dominate but it was not his night. This warrant for a rematch.

pix by Brady Weeks

Pitting two ex FFC warrior creates a highly anticipated main card in Tommy 'Wild Card' Hayden vs Will 'The Kill' Chope. In a combined record of 61 fight for both fighters, this is considered the card with the most experience fighter ever put up in FMD.

In FMD style, Tommy Hayden's walk in song was Trey Parker's 'Now you are a man', ...sang live by FMD's founder Jon Nutt himself.

Tommy Hayden walking out to Jon Nutt's singing

Will was expected to control the distance using his longer reach. But Tommy was very effective in initiating a few feints and immediately to the take down in the beginning of all 3 rounds.

pix by Brady Weeks

pix by David Ash

pix by David Ash

The clash of styles was very obvious, Tommy totally control the fight. He may be shorter but he does came well prepared looking rather buffed. He took the fight where he wanted...onn the ground and put a whole lots of pressure on Will and totally shuts down Will's game

Tommy earned himself a Full Metal Dojo's Samurai Sword as the winner of the Lightweight title. Tommy's victory capped off a very glorious night for Bangkok Fight Lab, making them 4-0 in FMD 13.

Where else can you win a Samurai Sword but in FMD

Time to partyyyy!

As for Will, it's just another day, another fight. He's in good spirit and will take this loss as a learning to do better against wrestler. No rest for him as on 5 March he will be in China to fight again

After fight, the party continues at Insanity, then to Movenpick, to Hooters and finally the FMD crew went to Guns n Roses concert in Bangkok!

Caught up with Jon after fight...

WRB: Did the show went as you expected?
JON: "I knew FMD 13 was gonna do well, but I didn't think it was gonna do that well in terms of the view in FB. We had like 100,000 view on FB. It was absolutely nuts! It far exceeded expectations!"

WRB: The Cambodian vs Thai match was a killa!
JON: "Definately gonna have more Cambodians on the next show. And Koreans, yea more Koreans on the next show. I had no ideas how large our market in Korea was. A lot of love from the Koreans."

WRB: Any rematch you wanna set up?
JON: "The only rematch I want to make is Luke Adams vs Ali Motamed. Luke Adams took the fight last minute and didn't have much prep. I think he definately overlooked Ali Motammed, ...Ali Motammed is a stud!"

The Rockstar of Asian MMA - Jon Nutt

FMD will be back!