ULTIMATE BEATDOWN BORNEO 2.0 - BRINGING YOU MORE EXCITING FIGHTS

October is Ultimate Beatdown month. On 13 Oct, UB30 just concluded in Johor Bahru, which saw Arthur "Tazmania Devil"Adre won the Flyweight Super-4 championship.

Come Saturday 27 Oct, Ultimate Beatdown will move to the east to Kota Kinabalu Sabah for it's 31st edition or Ultimate Beatdown Borneo 2.

Ultimate Beatdown Borneo (UBB) evolved from Jesselton Fight League founded by Rayner Kinsiong. UBB had it's first event in May this year at the brand new mall in Penampang - ITCC with mixture of amatuer MMA, boxing and kickboxing and pro MMA fight.

UBB 2 will be held in ITCC again on 27 Oct, this time it will be held in the centre concourse bringing the fights more exposure to the public. For you to enjoy the action closer, get yourself cage side table ticket at only RM50. Tickets still available, call 019 8128379 to get yours now.

Plenty of action will happen in the UBB cage.. Fight will start at 2pm with amatuer fights. There will be MMA, Kickboxing & Cage Boxing bouts. 

AMATUER MMA 

1. Fahmi Sarto 82kg (Karabaw KK) vs  Wan Ruzahar heavyweight (Karabaw Sipitang)

2. Ajratul Ajmain 61kg (Karabaw Labuan)  vs Wilson Tan 61kg (NDW Sarawak)

3. Dayat (Khalifa MMA Brunei) vs Ted (Evolve MMA Singapore)

4. Ashvin Singh ( Impact MMA Singapore) vs Koo Jin Fouh (Project Mayhem Brunei)

KIDS AMATUER KICKBOXING 

1. 38 kg  Azman (Karabaw) vs Mohd Noor Hafiz (Ds'ha)

2. 50kg  Persley (Karabaw) vs Hillary Samuel Chin (D'sha)

3. 35kg  Pilbert (Karabaw) vs Khairi bin Yusuf (D'sha)

4. 38kg  Elzy (Karabaw) @adek vs Nursyafiqah Naziha (D'sha)

5. 40kg  Karwai (Karabaw) vs Muhd Farhan (D'sha)

6. 42kg   Ibak (Karabaw) vs MOhd Safwan (D'sha)

7. 47kg   Eva (Karabaw)  vs putri Nur Fatin (D'sha)

8. 28 kg  KitKat (Karabaw)  vs Mohd Shazwan (D'sha)

9. 20kg   Adden (Karabaw) vs Syed Amirul (D'sha)

10. 24kg  Avel (Karabaw) vs Putri Nur Balqis (D'sha)

AMATUER KICKBOXING

1. Rasyiid 60kg (KK Boxer) vs Danial Chia 60kg (Dr Martial Arts, UITM)

2. Abu Bakar Melin 70kg (Dr Martial Arts, UITM) vs Marcellus Lee 70kg (Karabaw KGU)

3. Aaron Erik 78kg (Dr Martial Arts, UITM) vs Dylan 78kg (Revo)

4. Henson khoo 60kg (KK Boxer) vs Efrayanle Jodin 62kg (Revo)

5. Ashraf Shafiqrie 55kg (Karabaw Sipitang) vs Jorvan  Jonest 54kg (Revo)

6. Sharifah 55kg (Fitlab) vs Wong shy zen (D'sha) 55kg

7. Norbert Nowell 55kg (Fitlab) vs Nizar bin Arshad 55kg (Karabaw Sipitang)

8. Farah Zeehan 52kg (Fitlab) vs . Evon Tan 50kg  (NDW Sarawak) female

9. Muaz Aizat 45kg (Karabaw Sipitang) vs Haziq Izzudin 48kg (Karabaw Tamparuli)

10. Ady Erawan 52kg (Karabaw Tamparuli) vs Mohd Nurhisyam 55kg (Karabaw Sipitang)

11. Allan Goh 61kg (NDW Sarawak) vs Mohd Farhan Darwis 60kg (Karabaw Tamparuli) 

12. Muhd Syahruzfikry 55kg (Karabaw Sipitang) vs Mohd Aliff Iqbal 55kg  (Fitlab) 

13. Asmawati 59kg (Karabaw Papar) vs Jie Han 59kg (D'sha)

AMATUER BOXING

1. Roderick Kwan 65kg (Rhino)  vs Mohd Fari 64kg (Fitlab)

2. Ghause 59kg ( Brunei, House of Fitness) vs Wesley Oliver 60kg (Karabaw Tamparuli)

3. Muhammad Faiz 53kg (Bunei, House of fitness) vs Jayrol John 52kg (Fitlab)

4. Jassica Chong 57kg (KF) vs Zubaidah binti Zainoh 57kg (Brunei TBC gym)( Female)

5. Steve Kong 75kg (Sarawak, Knight) vs Muhammad Hafiz 83kg (Revo)

6. Mohd Rifqi 52kg (Fitlab)  vs Mohd Hilmi 52kg (Revo)

7. Erikson 57kg (Rhino) vs Muhammad Fakhri 54kg (Brunei, House of Fitness)

8. Fathullah 65kg (Fitlab) vs Ednan 65kg (Underdog Street Boxing)

9. Mohd Syairil Sabri 60kg (Karabaw Tamparuli) vs Aswadi 60kg (Underdog Street Boxing)

Then following that for the 2nd edition of UBB a new format has been introduced. For the first time in this region a 5 vs 5 no gi submission only grappling match will be held inside a cage. Two teams will compete, Fluffy Unicorn  vs Powerpuff Ponies.

Team art design by John Augustine Lee

Don't let the cute names fool you, these are bunch of killers! And they will be going for submission all day!

Team Fluffy Unicorn is made up mostly of Sarawakian and two Bruneian. Notably Nathaniel Lakai, he is MIMMA5 Lightweight Champion. His brother Nigel is an active martial artist competing successfuly in BJJ, MMA & Kickboxing. The two Zaim from Brunei and Raphael Moa of Sarawak are high level accomplished grapplers. 

As for Team Powerpuff Ponies , they are all from Sabah. Most of them with high credentials in MMA. Samuel Lai is MIMMA3 Semi-finalist & JFL Finalist. Hasbullah is JFL Bantamweight champion. Joel is MIMMA5 Semi-finalist. Alex Fong is a pro fighter with ONE Warrior Series. As for Anrian he is a highly skilled grappler winner of various regional grappling competition.

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There are 2 co main event to whipped up your appetite for pro MMA fights. 

For male fight, Sabahan Mohd Rashidin will bang it out again vs Filipino Jayson Margallo. This is a rematch. They first met in Philipine's Cage Wars: Battle of Legazpi in August. In that fight Jayson broke his 4 fight losing streak by a round 1 submission over Rashidin. 

Usually Rashidin is a colourful fighter that always play it smooth during fight. But in Legazpi that day he seems not himself and was very stiff & looks nervous, hence losing the fight early in round 1. Both agree to a rematch  and will be now in Rashidin's homeland with his supporters boosting his spirit by the cage side.

For female fight, it's Magdelina Meding of Karabaw Labuan vs A'bell Angian of Rhino from Sabah.

This will be Mag's 2nd pro fight. She is Sarawakian but represent Karabaw Labuan. She debut at the same event with Rash; Cage Wars. In that bout, she went through a hard fought 3 round that ended not in her favour. She is back to redeem her record and A'bell is in her way.

A'bell @ Cyvilnie Angian is from Inanam. She has a day job as a pre-school teacher in training base in Keningau. At night she trains like a women possessed, at Rhino Fitness Kickboxing and Muaythai under Kru Jonathan Quan and Ranjit. This is A'bell's 1st MMA Pro fight. She is strong in her stand-up arsenal. She has a record fight of more than 10 times in amateur Muaythai & semi‐pro Muaythai and also in K1 Kickboxing tournament. She was selected to represent Sabah in Borneo Cup 2017 Muaythai tournament. She is still new in grappling but is willing to take up the challenge.

The night will climax with the main card. Pro MMA between Eazy Anuar of Khalifa MMA - Brunei vs Jess Delapena of Tribal Submission - Philipines.

Eazy is considered the father of MMA & BJJ in Brunei. He is credited as the one that kept BJJ alive in Brunei and brought it to the next level. He started BJJ many years back as a off season activity when he is not playing rugby. He love it so much that when his instructor left, he decided to teach even though he was still a white belt. 

Through teaching, sharing & actively competing, Eazy has improve his own game tremendously and has won numerous grappling tournament around the region, notably Singapore Grappling Challenge, Pan Asia, Philipines Open, Copa de Malasia, Bangkok Open, KK Luta Livre championship belt, finished 8th in Vegas BJJ World's masters.

Eazy is also well verse in stand up too. He holds a 9-0 undefeated boxing record. He coached and mentored many  Bruneian MMA prospect. Early this year, he open his own gym - Khalifa MMA , quit his demanding government job and at 33 this year, he felt it's about time for him to accomplish another dream - fighting pro MMA. 

Jess has 1-4-0 pro MMA record and gain all of his 5 fight experience fighting in Philipines. UBB2 will be his first fight outside Philipines. He is very excited to showcase his skill to the fans in Borneo and promise to bring the fight to Eazy. 

In their face-off on Friday night in BESS ( Borneo E-darts Sports Society ) Eazy and Jess had an aggressive head push session. Will this be the sign for a all out fight in the UBB cage? COme and find out for yourself. OK after reading this move your butts to ITCC Mall and witness UBB2 !

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MIKE SIDIS PRO DEBUT IN ULTIMATE BEATDOWN BORNEO

The small island of Labuan is off the west coast of Sabah. It has beautiful beaches and is an International Offshore Financial Center. It is also well known for having cheap booze and cigarettes due to it's tax free status.

This is also home to Mike Sidis, the 1st MMA pro athlete from Labuan. Mike will debut in his first pro fight in Ultimate Beatdown Borneo on 12 May 2018 at ITCC. Mike will be feature in the main fight of the night vs American Ryan Feltner

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Going into this fight Mike has a 3-1-0 amateur MMA record and a 3-0 amateur Kickboxing record. Mike did not expect to turn pro. He just love to compete. To him fighting is a personal thing. It motivates him to improve his skills, his mental preparations and force him to watch his diet. It doesn't matters who the opponent is, the one that matters is himself.

Working in the oil & gas industry in Labuan, his job deals with handling industrial chemicals. It's a job that does not have fix working hours or days. It requires him to be on call for any work that requires him to travel offshore, either working on an oil platform or boat for days or weeks.

This obviously does not give him the luxury of consistent training. Even though it's a challenge, Mike does not mind. He says that his irregular working schedule forces him to really focus on his training when he is able to hit the gym. It becomes a quality over quantity matters. He will pay attention to drill techniques properly and learn as much as possible from his coach Alvin Chong.

Mike trains at Borneo Combat Gym Labuan (BCG), founded by Alvin. If not offshore, Mike would wake up around 4am, he will pack his cloths ( working and workouts )
" If you see my car, the amount of cloths I have others will think that I am in the business of selling cloths. "

He needs all these clothings as by 6.30am he will reach town and will do his morning run. Around 7am he hit the gym for pad work, sparring and BJJ roll. Then he change to work cloths and works starts around 8am till 4.30pm. Then it's back to BCG again for another session of workout. By the time he finish & get home, it's usually 7 or 8pm .

It wasn't always like this for Mike. He used to weigh around 110kg, a very heavy smoker and drinker. That was 3 years ago. 

Mike first experience in martial arts was when he was in high school in SM.St Anthony Labuan, he took up karate class, but he didn't excel. 

" I remember entering my first and only Karate tournament, I suck at it, only won 1st round."

For tertiary education he came to Kota Kinabalu to attend PTPL College. After that he got the job in Labuan and was occupied with work. Working out was far from his mind. In mid 2000, there was a combat sports event in Labuan call Ultimate Warrior. He watched as he brother fought and reach the final. It moved him to consider the sports.

He started training with Alvin, but it didn't last as he got suck into the lifestyle of oil & gas worker. After work usually they hit the local pubs and clubs. As Labuan is a tax haven for alcohol & cigarettes, plus the good income from work, they would party away till late night.

"I used to smoke around 3-4 packs a day, and the drinking session is like no tomorrow, ...although I still manage to wake up for work the next morning,...I don't know how, hahaha"

This unhealthy lifestyle soon took a toll on him. His health deteriorate. Then in 2014, without thinking through properly he quit his job in short notice. He was directionless and emotionally very down.

Thankfully his close friend David Wong decides to get him to start exercising together. Together they started to jog and doing light work out. As Mike began to lose weigh and gets healthier, this motivates him to take it a level higher.

He heard that Alvin is moving his BCG gym to a bigger and better place. As the new BCG was being set up, Mike remember he constantly bug Alvin on when will the gym be ready as he was very eager to began training there.

The new BCG opened at the 5th floor of Labuan Times Square in October 2015( read the story here ).  Mike began to have proper training with good facilities and good coaching from Alvin. He also started BJJ under coach Nazrul.

As his skills and fitness improved, he decided to up it another level by committing to a fight. It was in Borneo Amateur Challenge (BAC) 1  that he took his 1st MMA fight. Initially signed up for Kickboxing at 85kg, but couldn't find an opponent for him. 1 week before event, coach Alvin asked him to switch to MMA at 75kg. At first Mike was reluctant. But Alvin managed to convince him and he followed Alvin's advice in cutting weigh and manage to make weigh.

It was a tough but valuable experience for him. He learn to know about his body better. It taught him about focus and commitment and to act professionally even though it was a amateur fight. In that fight he fought Nathaniel Lakai from Warmonger Miri ( Nathniel is the current MIMMA Lightweight Champion). He lost the fight as Nathaniel's grappling was much better.

Mike has since added grappling and wrestling to his arsenal. But he still prefers to stand and bang.

Mike standing in front of the statue of Datuk Peter Mojuntin, a local Kadazan statesman from his mother's home in Penampang

On taking this fight, due to his irregular working schedule, he almost pulled out but Alvin again convince him to persevere. Again applying the concept of quality over quantity he train whenever he can, sometimes doing shadowbox on the helipad of a oil platform. Mike also practices mental alchemy. It's a meditation method that helps him to mentally be calm and control his emotion

" One can never be fully prepared. There's always something you need to improve on, nothing is perfect, but I am ever ready to step into the cage.  This works for me, as I see this fight as a learning process.There's no pressure for me to win. I just wanna enjoy the fight and do my best on fight night."

In his Jesselton Fight League 2 bout

"After this fight, win or lose I will celebrate by having a glass of stout!"

 It's going to be a classic match between a striker and a grappler. Come and support Mike as he steps into the Ultimate Beatdown Borneo cage to represent Labuan.

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About Ultimate Beatdown

Ultimate Beatdown is base in Johor Bahru. It is the most successful and the longest running MMA promotions in Malaysia. Founded by Melvin Yeoh, former ONE Championship fighter and widely considered as the pioneer of MMA in Malaysia. It started off as an MMA only promotions, but has these pass few events evolved to a multi style promotions which include cage boxing and Kickboxing. There was even a cage grappling super fight in pass event.

This Saturday event is the first time UB venture out of Johor. Working together with Team Karabaw lead by Rayner Kinsiong, this special edition will be located at 1st floor, convention center of the new high-tech mall – ITCC in Penampang

Come and experience the new Ultimate Beatdown Borneo edition this Saturday 12 May. UBB will feature 14 bouts of Amateur Cage Kickboxing. 10 bouts of Cage Boxing. 10 Amateur MMA . It promise to be a night full of actions as many season fighters from Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak, Japan and from India will showcase their skills and showmanship. 

Fights starts at 1pm to 6pm. 6pm onwards is MMA bouts. 

Tickets are still available at only RM10 ( free seatings ) Please call 019-8128379

ULTIMATE BEATDOWN BORNEO FEATURING RYAN FELTNER

Redemption. It’s on Ryan Feltner’s mind. He wants to wipe off the horrible lost in FMD 13 last year. It was a 5 second lost via TKO. Ever since then, American Ryan ‘Bodat’ Feltner has been focusing on training to get better and seek a fight to erase that nightmare in Bangkok.

Come 12 May, he will have his chance. Ryan will be featured in the main card for ULTIMATE BEATDOWN 28 : BORNEO. He will be fighting pro at middleweight against local Malaysian from Sabah pro debutant Mike Sidis.

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At 29 years old, Ryan has 4 MMA fights experience. 1-1 at pro. But his journey began when he was very young. At 8 years old struggling to focus on his studies and getting bullied regularly, his aunt signed him up for Taekwondo classes.

When he turned 11 he moved from Arkansas in the south to Michigan in the north, but things didn't gets better. The bullying got worse, mainly because southerners speak a different slang than northerners.

It was on a fateful day in a playground that 7 older kids jump him. Ryan did not concede defeat, he fought back even though the odds was against him. He managed to knocked out 3 of them before he was taken to the ground as they kicked and stomped on him. It was fated that the teacher on duty that day, Mr. Hutchinson saw what happened and came to break off the fight and chase the delinquent away.

He sat Ryan up and asked whether he was okay. He said Ryan was really tough and brave but that he need to learn control. Turned out that Mr Hutchinson was the school’s wrestling coach. From then on he joined the after school Wrestling Club program, in which he gets to train with the high school wrestlers.

“ I'll never forget the act of kindness and understanding that coach Hutchinson showed me. It paved a way for me to become a better person.”

Ryan didn’t compete in wrestling when he was in Michigan because he started at a considerably late age compare to others in Michigan where they train at a very early age and the local competition circuit is very high level at his age group. But the exposure and the chance to be able to train with other athletes gave him a good foundation in martial arts.

Ever since then Ryan has trained in American Kenpo (considered as one of the first MMA systems introduced to North America consists of Goju-Ryu Karate, Chinese kenpo and Judo.) He has also started training in BJJ 3 years ago along with Muaythai, Sanda and western boxing.

Jobs opportunity was tough back then and he being a person with high principle and an independent attitude, Ryan at one time was homeless and live out of his truck. He even experience rummaging through garbage bin for food just because he does not want to beg for food.

Making a huge decision one day to just leave America and use whatever little money he has, he board a flight to Malaysia. Seeing that Malaysia MMA scene is growing, Ryan felt that he found a place close to his heart, he found a place to develop his art and also to contribute his knowledge to the local Malaysian combat sports. It is also a place that he found love, where he met his wife from Penang.

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He is now a certified personal trainer and specialize in nutrition and rehabilitation. He is currently training at Batam Fighter Club with 70kg Indonesian One Pride MMA Champion Jeka Saragih.

Recently Ryan travelled to the north eastern part of Thailand ( the Issan province close the the Lap border). It is where many Thais start their careers as Thai boxers. The training here is more raw and hardcore but not many gyms here openly accept foreigners. He search around and was rejected by all until finally he found Kru Kreed.

Ryan considered the experience with Kru Kreed as the best striking coach he ever had. 

“He said I can kick and punch but I'm not using any technique. So he started me from very basic training and in my one month my technique got better than from a year of training anywhere else.
But it was not easy. The training was very hardcore and intense. My legs was bruised and battered so bad, I could hardly walk.”

But it was a no pain, no gain journey for Ryan. He felt his striking improve leaps and bounds.

Ryan is looking to showcase what he has learn from Thailand on Saturday night, combining his improved striking with his strong grappling.

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On his fight with Mike Sidis, 

“It's a classic match-up between striker and grappler. I have worked extensively on my submissions and to refine my stand-up techniques. 

I understand that my opponent is a kickboxer. You never want to underestimate someone but I've watched his tape and I'm not really impressed with his stand-up skills.

I am confident of victory. I feel I'm more athletic and more experienced and more well-rounded. I have the ability to take the fight to the ground and keep it there. Fighting against a strong wrestler is completely different than a BJJ guy. There's nothing more embarrassing than getting thrown like a child and being held on the ground knowing you can't get back up."

Ryan says that he believe that people are underestimating him quite a lot because they are judging his ability based on his last fight, the 5 second loss in FMD 13. He does not mind being the underdog. It gives him more motivation to proof them wrong.

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About Ultimate Beatdown

Ultimate Beatdown is base in Johor Bahru. It is the most successful and the longest running MMA promotions in Malaysia. Founded by Melvin Yeoh, former ONE Championship fighter and widely considered as the pioneer of MMA in Malaysia. It started off as an MMA only promotions, but has these pass few events evolved to a multi style promotions which include cage boxing and Kickboxing. There was even a cage grappling super fight in pass event.

This Saturday event is the first time UB venture out of Johor. Working together with Team Karabaw lead by Rayner Kinsiong, this special edition will be located at 1st floor, convention center of the new high-tech mall – ITCC in Penampang

Come and experience the new Ultimate Beatdown Borneo edition this Saturday 12 May. UBB will feature 14 bouts of Amateur Cage Kickboxing. 10 bouts of Cage Boxing. 10 Amateur MMA . It promise to be a night full of actions as many season fighters from Sabah, Brunei, Sarawak, Japan and from India will showcase their skills and showmanship. 

Fights starts at 1pm to 6pm. 6pm onwards is MMA bouts. 

Tickets are still available at only RM10 ( free seatings ) Please call 019-8128379

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MIMMA 5 GRAND FINALS - NATHANIEL LAKAI THE NEW FACE OF MMA LIGHTWEIGHT IN MALAYSIA

Nathaniel ‘The Sinister’ Lakai from Miri Sarawak is the new face of MIMMA lightweight. In MIMMA 5 league standings, he leads the table with 22 points. Going into the semi-finals he was supposed to fight the highly rated Jace Law (MIMMA3 Champion), but Jace pulled out and Nathaniel was left without an opponent for awhile. Until he was match up with Asuad bin Khalid, a fighter he beat in League 5. ( read more about him in my preSemi-finals coverage ).

We had a chat with him as he prepares for his grand finals appearance this Friday.

Congratulations on your semi-finals win. Please take us through your semi-finals fight...did it go as plan or you had to adjust?

“1st round I was pacing myself, figuring out if he'd change his game plan for this second match, nothing changed much. So I just set up my take-downs and controlled him on the ground. Could have finished him but I couldn't find any openings as I remembered Asuad is a hell of a fighter, he didn't tap to any of my chokes on the first match, so I was looking to submit through joint locks.”

With this win, he was schedule to face last year champion Hui Keng Fai in the grand finals. Again fate has it that his opponent was changed. This time due to Keng Fai’s contractual agreement with Ringstar which deters him from taking a fight so close to his pro boxing title match in April.

Did you celebrate the win?

“Not really, I went home poured me a huge glass of wine and played Player's Unknown Battleground. I was really tired and I’m on fight season so you'd see me in cyber cafes or at home playing games, so no big partying.”

He will be facing Syafiq Jamal. Whom was 2^nd in the league standings. Syafiq lost to Keng Fai the in semi-finals via submission and has been given another chance to redeem his loss.

The grand finals fight will be a rematch as Nathaniel met Syafiq during league 2 and have a 2^nd round submission win over him.

Although he is very much at home on the ground, while preparing to face Keng Fai, Nathaniel has been focusing on his striking under his mentor and Coach Trevor Salang in Warmonger. Nathaniel is eager to bust a few moves to add to his grappling game.

with his coach Trevor (R) and team mates Emilia

success for Nathaniel & Emilia ( Warmonger ) in grappling comp Sabah Grappling Quest last year

cornering his brother Nigel and other Warmonger team mates in Borneo King of The Cage in mid March 

looking for the win

Aside from preparation on physical sides, do you do any mental preparation?

“I listen to alot of DhyaanGuru's music to keep me calm and focused."

What about walkout song? Do u have one confirm for MIMMA final?

"J. Cole’s  FIRE SQUAD. I haven't told them yet. But hopefully they approve it with all the cussing in it."

Haha so what's your back up if it gets banned?

“ Jay-Z Hard Knock Life. Pretty hard with all these rap songs and cuss words in it, LOL”

Nathaniel has serious cravings for his mum’s cooking of pork in soy sauce…his mum is very much waiting to cook him that very dish, once he bring back the Lightweight belt home to Miri.

FIGHT FEST IV : ART OF COMBAT

Back in 2015, Johan Julian had a vision to make combat accessible to general public. He believe that the combat sports scene in Sabah is still fragmented and he envision an event that can bring together different types of martial arts in a single event. He call it FIGHT FEST

Johan Julian Abdullah

He put that vision into reality when he kick-started the first event, FIGHT FEST: KINGS OF KINGS at Dewan Masyarakat Kota Kinabalu in April 2015. In that historic event saw the first K1 Kickboxing competition ever being held in Borneo under the sanction of ISKA. 

That event saw the epic battle between Dean Hamsah and Azrin Kadri, in the Super 4 MMA. Both warrior gave their all and went down as one of the best MMA fight in Borneo. That inaugural event also saw MIMMA 1 heavyweight Champion, Adrian Tham won his first K1 Kickboxing Super Fight.

Dean Hamsah (R) vs Azrin Kadri in FF1

Following the success of the first event, sponsors came in and Julian held his second event; FIGHT FEST: ACT OF WAR in Citymall, in Sept 2015 with POWER ROOT as the main sponsor. A successful K1 Kickboxing tournament and MMA super fight saw the mall packed with crowds. Mohd Hasbullah established  himself as the top flyweight in Sabah by winning The Super 4 MMA. 

Read the event coverage here

To further expand the activities of FIGHT FEST, Julian organised MATA LEAO in March 2016 in Likas Sports Complex. This was one of the first submission only grappling tournament ever held in Borneo using ADCC rules set. Click to read the event coverage here.

Fight Fest again broke new ground when it organised the 1st martial arts business summit, I believe the first in Malaysia to do so. That inaugural event in August 2016 saw 8 speakers from different industry came together to present their topic and exchange ideas between the industry players and martial arts enthusiast. Warriors of Borneo was honored to be invited as one of the speakers.

October 2016 finally saw Julian's vision fully came together in FIGHT FEST 3: KINGDOM COMES. Sponsored by FITLINE, a plethora of combat sports activities converge in Suria Sabah Mall which saw; Luta Livre Workshop, K1 Kickboxing Tournament, MMA Super-Fight, Shogun BJJ Tournament, Mata Leao Submission Grappling, Cosplay, Trade booth, Video Games competition and Functional Fitness.

One of the most memorable activities was the flash mob dance lead by Thomas Tay of FitLine and Michelle Koh of Fuze Fitness which saw a record breaking convergence of close to 250 dancers in a mall.

Flash mob dance in support of Pink Ribbon Sabah

Michelle Koh leading the energetic dance session

This was also the first time Fight Fest offer a title belt fight, which saw Anil Mehta of Team Relentless India bringing home the 65kg K1 Title Belt.

In Feb 2017, Fight Fest went to the grassroots. They collaborated with SIDMA College to held a K1 Kickboxing tournament for newbies call FIGHT FEST: YOUNG GUNS.

This 7-8 October, the 4th edition is back with FIGHT FEST: ART OF COMBAT (FF4) brought to us by DEKOJUTA as the main sponsor. The iconic shopping mall of Centre Point Sabah will be the new venue sponsor and Extra POWER ROOT the official drinks.

Event poster design by Iylia Azri Garewal

Mr Sherzali Asli , Director of DEKOJUTA with Julian

Mr. Sherzali Asli when presenting the sponsor K1 Title Belt to Julian mentioned,
" DEKOJUTA  strongly supports FIGHT FEST, as an event that promote healthy lifestyle for everyone. In particular practicing martial arts as a lifestyle that builds mental toughness, mould good character, instill discipline and promotes physical well being. 
These are all attributes that can build a progressive generations to bring our state Sabah and Malaysia to new height."

Julian with Mr Edward Chang, General Manager of Pan-Pacific Construction, the management company for Centre Point Sabah

Julian with Antonio Battistessa. Antonio is founder of Sabah Top Team and president of Luta Livre Asia Pacific Union. The MATA LEAO grappling tournament will be refereed by Antonio

Continuing the concept of a martial arts festival, FF4 will see these activities ;

• Muaythai Novice Tournament 
• K1 Kickboxing Super Fight
• Kids Muaythai
• K1 65kg Title Fight
• Shogun BJJ Tournamanet
• Mata Leao Submission Grappling
• Virtual reality games
• Martial arts demo
• Trade booths

The Muaythai Novice Tournament is supported by Muaythai Association of Sabah and Muaythai Association of Kota Kinabalu District. Julian expect to see 50 Muay thai exponents take part. This tournament is held to unearth more new talents for Sabah Muaythai. Giving this young guns a level playing field where the criteria of the participants is that they must be amateur with maximum 3 fights experience.

As for K1 Kickboxing tournament, this is supported by ISKA. Super Fights are special bouts where match between two highly skilled and accomplished combatants are pitted against each other. FF4 will see 11 Super Fights with the highlight of the event is the 65kg Title Fight between Kinabalu Kings Reyan Abdul 'Pemburu Bayang' and Kinabalu Fighters Aziz Hoo GwoJye 'The Shantung Zai' 

Title fight Reyan vs Aziz

Some of the other exciting Super Fights,...

Rosdee ( Black Mamba ) vs Yi Ran (D-30)

Neara vs Baeby (BRL) 

Shazmiel (Kinabalu Kings) vs Danial ( Clownbox)

Zul 'Corner Shot' vs Morris (D-30)

Edilah (BTS) vs Nurul (Karabaw)

Azril (BRL) vs Wawan (66 Unicorn)

Awie (Tim Muaythai ) vs Andrew (BRL)

 

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will also be competed under the banner of SHOGUN. For the uninitiated, this is a grappling contest utilising wrestling moves, locks, take down and positioning to gain points and control over opponents. This is contested with competitors wearing 'gi'. A martial arts uniform made of thick and durable fabric.




For MATA LEAO Submission grappling tourney, the high-light will be the fight for the Blue/Purple Belt category which for the first time a title belt will be given to the winner. This category is for Absolute ( no weight limit ). MATA LEAO competed using the Luta Livre rules set ( which is a hybrid of ADCC & IBJJF rules ), and is sanctioned by Luta Livre Asia Pacific Union. It is competed wearing rash guard ( without the traditional 'gi' )

Jitendre Khare of Team Relentless India has confirmed his participation to fight for the belt. Jitendre is a ex state Judoka of India and is widely considered as the pioneer of MMA in India with direct involvement in Yoddha Fighting Championship, an India base amateur MMA league that has become the platform for new MMA talents to emerge from India.

Jitendre himself is founder of Team Relentless, which has produce a number of India's champion.

Jitendre Khare of Team Relentless

To keep us all entertain, these are the activities:

Evolution Fight Team will demonstrtae on TaeKwon-Do

Persatuan Silat Gayong will demonstrate the traditional Malay martial arts of Silat

Michelle Koh with Fuze Fitness

Virtual Reality games by Virtual Dimension

on ground activities by Power Root

test the power of your strike with Combat Science conducted by Hilmi Reitz

Fight Fest event poster designer Iylia Azri, whom will also launch his Fight Comics combat sports inspire tees, check out the limited edition design which will be on sale there

fight gear from RAMPAGE will be on sales, check out this local brand that provides high quality fight gear to suits your training, sparring and competition needs 

keep your self posted to Warriors of Borneo blog FB to see updates of Fight Fest IV