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Saturday, July 28, 2018

An interview with Nik Harris




Can you tell readers about how you got into martial arts and your journey in martial arts? Who influence you? What was your motivation back then? What martial arts did you started with?
I've always enjoyed martial arts be it in works of fiction or in the competitive sports arena, whether it be boxing, wrestling (WWE) or Silat, I've always had interest in the field, my main idols were Muhammad Ali, The Rock, Bruce Lee among a plethora of great inspirational athletes and martial artists

What prompted you to fight MMA? Tell us about those early days of MMA, the days of Malaysia Fighting Championship, early Ultimate Beatdown and F3, what was the atmosphere like and how is it different from the promotion today?
I've always had this urge to test myself in stressful situations to estimate how I would handle the pressure, MMA is the perfect litmus test not only the physical aspect but the mental aspect as well. In terms of early MMA days, imagine a dodgy bar, not much crowd control, being burned by unruly cigarette smokers as you walked into the cage, very underground and very much of the Fight Club feel throughout.


Fighting in the early days of MMA in Malaysia



You're from Kelantan, tell us about life growing up as a child? You are a very straight forward person, you speak what's in your mind and willing to go against stereotype to get your point across, what molded & develop this personality of yours?
I am Kelantanese by name and heritage but culturally I felt more of a connection with my mother's Sabah side of East Malaysia, I spent my childhood mostly in Kuala Lumpur and lived a fairly average and active outgoing life in KL and speaking my mind has worked as a double edged knife, I just call it as it is "to address the pink elephant in the room" so to speak and I attribute that to my mum and dad who always champion the right thing to believe in and to fight for your beliefs.

You fought twice in ONE Championship 2013-14 and had a perfect no loss record, why did you stop? Did the contract end?
It is one of my crowning achievements, to fight on the stage of ONE Championship, I did not stop more like I was stopped from competing, ONE terminated my contract after my loss to Matt Pelino after the MM'Arr fight.



In 2012, Nik lost to Brad Robinson in Ultimate Beatdown. But he avenge the lost in ONE FC16 in 2014

built tough, he's able to take it...
...and able to dish it out too!

Tell us about that MM'Arr fight? Were you satisfied with the results? What did you did wrong? Would you want to avenge that lost to Matt given a opp?

I was on a cruise ship to partake in a MMA bout against another popular Malaysian MMA personality (Matt Pelino) the entire experience was out of this world, the results will always be unsatisfactory but I have grown from it, I would say one of the major setbacks made during the fight was to accept the fight despite a weight discrepancy in favor of Matt, I have no regrets however, it is a learning experience after all

During your fighting days, you had a desk job, but you quit it to go pro, tell us how did you survive? Was it through fight earnings? 
I survived through sheer will and sacrifice, teaching Personal Training sessions whenever I can while balancing group classes and also helping out with my dad's company from time to time, I worked in advertising and events at one point but it got in the way and for a period between 2012 to about 2015/2016 I was heavily involved in the fitness and martial arts industry which paid for most of my bills and fed me the food needed to get by.





How and who gave you the nick name The Hound? What does it signify?
The politically correct and boring answer is I drew inspiration from the nonchalance of the character of the same name from Game of Thrones, the real answer is that I used to be a ladies man during my early days of training, my former coaches would call me a "Bloody Dog!" or "You Bloody Hound" and the name stuck! 

I decided to shorten it to "The Hound" to adopt the nom-de-guerre of the Game of Thrones character and if you wonder, ...
Yes, I would kill you for some chicken!


I remember you started a MMA podcast? How did that go?
I did it mostly for fun and to fine tune some production skills I learned while job hopping, creating content which was relevant towards the Malaysian MMA scene, however, with my personal and career development booming, I have to put a short hiatus on creating the podcast cause it's a lot of work and my time is spent doing other things but I do believe it is only a matter of time before I get back to it!


You also have great interest in the tech & gaming industries...what is your role there? What are you looking to achieve?
I've always been an avid gamer and tech enthusiast, I love how technology is integrated into our daily lives and the speed at which it evolves is phenomenal, gaming is a branch of technology and entertainment that speaks to everyone cause we love entertaining ourselves! 

In terms of my role in the industry is that I am a streamer/content creator/ community and social influencer and media all in one for everything and anything related to gaming!


You are one of the pioneer in MMA in Msia...tell us how do you see the development of MMA in Malaysia, what do you think we still lack of? On the other side, do you think we have what it takes to be a force in Asia, or at least in Asia?
I don't consider myself a pioneer, more that I was just here when it all started, the MMA industry has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of it's visibility and the amount of content readily available is all right at most but there still needs to be more players (and not just fighters) within the industry. 

The industry needs people will to spend on it and people to get behind, I never would have thought to see Agilan Thani fight Ben Askren but it is happening and that is one prime example of MMA growth.


What type of music pushes you when you workout? 
I listen to all kinds of music, so I don't have a particular type of music I listen to, but I do have moods, normally for cardio I listen to a lot of jazz and funk with upbeat and fast paced music.

Your much anticipated
MMA fight in Hypercore last year didn't materialise, can you help shed some lights on what happen to that event?
Show didn't materialize, I got pretty bummed out about it.
I got fat and stopped training for awhile, at the time I was training at REPS with Luc Rousseau, my old wrestling coach from Muayfit Sayeed was there as well. It was a good time.

After the fight was cancel, how did you occupy your time? You still train regularly?
Every so often I did, but I got fat pretty quick cause of that lack of motivation as well as work piling up, it's actually pretty crappy how I felt, but I still stayed in touch with martial arts, priorities had to shift to fit the time.




Tell us your latest development in the gaming industries that you are involve in?
It's insane!
How do I even begin? As of right now till August, I am a commentator for Mobile Star League : Mobile Legends edition! It's a tournament of some of the highest level teams in the region, 10000 USD is up for grabs! 
It's crazy! I could literally go on and on but it will take up 80% of the interview.




Why you decided to do a grappling match? How did this Copa Da Malasia fight came about? Were you offered Peter Davis right away?
Copa Da Malasia dropped me a PM, by that time, I have gone over the slump and started training, from sneaking in gym sessions between work and meetings and streams, to joining up with the masters of Ninja-ness at Monarchy, Copa said the terms were as such and it was Peter, it's a grappling super fight, I just wanna feel that fire again, and Peter is a steady competitor, he will bring out the best in me.


Tell us about your grappling/BJJ competition record.
I have one Silver from Copa a few years back, can't remember which one, I also had a Bronze medal from a submission grappling inter-gym tourney at Leverage, it was a fun time! I lost by Triangle in that one, so less fun as a whole, but learning was mostly what happened after that.



What was your training schedule like in preparation to face Peter?
To some speculation, there were some of the guys who asked me if I was dodging Peter (we train out of the same gym) by not coming at the times he train, there is some truth but mostly fiction to that, because it is a grappling fight, I feel more at ease for some reason but there were times where I was relived my schedule just didn't jive to his, trade secrets afterall :P but for the most part, it was my schedule being very erratic, so I had to squeeze in whatever I could.


Tell us about this Copa fight? What is the rules set?
It's IBJJF blue belt modified for submissions only, 7 minutes of russlin' and tusslin'



Will you be back fighting MMA soon? What about Kickboxing? What is your plan for the rest of the year in terms of martial arts?
YES I WILL! :D 
I say that with a big smile on my face, I am at a stage where I feel like my options are not limited, I just want to have fun on my own personal Karate Kid journey.
I am open to anything and under the tutelage of my Master and all the coaches (nothing but love for these band of rag tag ninjas) and the help of the team at Monarchy who are all hard-working as well as super nice individuals help me get better, I think there will be more talks about martial arts in general soon once I complete this Super-fight with Peter Davis.



Saturday, July 21, 2018

BAC 6 - EVERYBODY DOES KUNGFU FIGHTING



In a short two years time Borneo Combat Gym (BCG Labuan) has successfully organised 5 Borneo Amateur Challenge (BAC), in the island of Labuan. It was a brainchild of Alvin Chong - BCG founder. Alvin wanted an event that can bring all type of martial artist together.

Focusing on K1 Kickboxing, which have simple easy to understand rules and enable martial artist of different style to test their skills against each other in combat. With the raise in popularity of MMA, BAC also included MMA bouts in their fights.

Alvin always emphasize on developing new talent, be it talent in combat sports or developing talent in organising and managing the event itself.

Alvin (center) with BCG coaches and trainers

Come this weekend 21-22 July, BAC will enter it's 6th edition, and this time everybody is gonna do Kung Fu fighting. Yes this will be the 1st Wushu edition.

Wushu has been in Alvin's mind for sometimes now. Being a martial artist, Alvin believe in the value of what martial arts teaches, such as respect, honour, integrity, indomitable spirit. He always put high regards on traditional martial arts. Although he started his martial arts career in Muaythai and TaeKwon-Do, Alvin always have high regards on Chinese martial arts.

In 2017, he went to Beijing to learn Shuai Jiao from a Grandmaster Wang. ( Shuai Jiao is a type of traditional Chinese grappling / wrestling art with thousands of years of history ). And in Dec 2017, Alvin organised the 1st Borneo Martial Arts Expo (B-MAEX), which brought together numerous martial arts in Labuan and the Wushu group was one of the biggest turn out.

Confident with the the response and wanting to elevate Wushu further in Borneo, the idea to make BAC Wushu edition quickly was set in mo


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This weekend event is divided to 2 category;
Taolu - which is sets of patterns perform with weapons or empty hand. Taolu present the tradition and arts aspect of Wushu. Participants are judge by their grace, skills, balance and posture while executing the set movements. Sanda - full contact kickboxing utilising hand, feet, sweep and throws. Sanda or sometimes call Sanshao is the combat aspect of Wushu. Expect to see rapid combo of strikes and body slams.

Taolu will be on 21 July and Sanda on 22 July 2018.

10 weight classes for Males and 6 for female in Sanda
Come and watch top BCG Labuan fighters in action on Sunday

Fitness ethusiasts, don't miss the Zumba session and the fitness test.


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BAC 6 will be held in Labuan Financial Park. Public can come and view in comfort of an indoor air-conditioned venue and do some shopping at the same time. According to Alvin close to 150 participants is expected for this two day event.

For pre-event activities, a 3 days judging course was organised from 18-20 July to educate and develop more qualified referees and judges.

Set-up in progress on Friday night
Rehersal and practice
Judging course
Exclusive athlete T-shirt

Press con with Hazan Dahari (3rd from right) Director of Jabatan Belia Sukan Labuan. Picture by Mohd Faizal Mansor of malaysiaaktif.my

This event is hosted by BCG and joint organised by Labuan Sport Kick Boxing Association, Labuan Wushu Association, Supreme Fitness. It is sanctioned by Youth and Sports Ministry, ISKA and Wushu Association Malaysia. Sponsors are Labuan Financial Park and Grand Dorsett Labuan





Friday, July 13, 2018

ANTONIO BATTISTESSA - SPREADING LUTA LIVRE IN BORNEO


12 JULY 2018. The land below the wind, Sabah became the place that witness Coach Antonio Battistessa of Sabah Top Team being awarded Black Belt in Brazilian Luta Livre (BLL). For the uninitiated, BLL is a grappling form of martial arts originated from Brazil. It has similar movement techinques as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The biggest difference is, it is practice & competed without a Gi.

The BLL Black Belt was awarded to him by Master Nicolas Renier. Founder of NR Fight Team. A maestro in grappling art, 2nd Dan BLL Black Belt and a veteran of ADCC.


Master Renier was in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to conduct the BLL Summer Camp and Belt Grading at Sabah Top Team. 



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It has come a long way for Coach Antonio, hailing from Pescara Italy, in his 20s he has competed professionally in Muaythai and MMA in Thailand and Europe; and taught martial arts seminars around South East Asia. He settled down in his wife Gloria's home town of Kota Kinabalu, founded Sabah Top Team and has now fondly called Sabah his home. ( read my previous post on Coach Antonnio )

12 years of training and spreading the art of BLL finally see him earning a Black Belt, Making him the first in Malaysia to achieve this. Coach Antonio has work hard to promote BLL. From his base in Kota Kinabalu, he has coach tirelessly and also travel around Sabah to teach BLL.


He founded Rampage MMA, an amateur MMA competitions and encourages his students to use the techniques learn from BLL in Rampage FC many other regional MMA competitions. His student, Joel Nickolson and Gloria Isabelle made name for themselves in MIMMA season 5, where Joel fought valiantly to reach the semi-finals and Gloria went all the way to the finals to challenge for the championship belt.

Antonio also founded 'Persatuan Brazilian Luta Livre Negeri Sabah' ( Sabah BLL Association ) to further established BLL in Borneo and Malaysia. He is very much supported by his compatriot Afonso Cego, a BLL Black Belt base in Philipine, through BLL Asia Pacific Union.

Since 2016, Antonio has been organising BLL summer camp to spread the knowledge and awareness in Sabah. The summer camp yesterday conducted by Master Renier was the 4th one and more than 20  martial artist took up the seminar to deepen their knowledge of No Gi grappling and submission.

some of the attendees of the 4th BLL Summer Camp

Antonio does not stop there, as right after the summer camp, he will be busy organising another huge BLL event. The 1st BLL Asia Open will be on Saturday 14 JULY, located at Palm Square Centerpoint Mall.

This first ever event in Asia will see kids category under 12 competing. For adults. Women category has 3 weight division competed. Male has 6 weight division. This inaugural event will be graced by the new Sabah state Youth and Sports Minister YB Poon Ming Fung.




Winners will bring home a cool Luta Livre medal....
and sponsored products from MILO