STAND - Time for The Junior to Come Out and Play

The rush beating of hearts, the hurried breathing from nervousness, heads spinning with so many thoughts of what you should or should not do...these are the feelings many experience before especially when they want to get in the ring to face their opponent. Most of this feeling is because of lack of experience. Usually after a few fights, most will learn how to deal with it and learn from the pass and move forward.

This is what STAND wants to achieve. To build the younger generation of fighters by giving them opportunity to fight. Fight among their peers, not someone older with more experience.

STAND Junior edition orgarnised by Karabaw and sponsored by Borneo Majubina and supported by MILO will go down this Saturday 20 May at Karabaw HQ gym in 88 Marketplace, Kota Kinabalu.

According to STAND founder Rayner Kinsiong, this is the first time in Malaysia Junior Title Belt are up for grab in 10 categories for boys and girls. The winners will need to defend their Title Belt in future STAND Junior event.

The fights are sanction by ISKA ( International Sports Karate Association ) and will be 2 mins x 3 rounds with 1 minute rest in between rounds, with amateur rules. Open to only fighters age below 18. Head gear, mouth guard and shin guard is a must to keep all fighters safe.

Team Karabaw Tamparuli, their Junior ready to come out and play!

STAND Junior edition will the fifth STAND event being organised. The original idea began with having a kickboxing event to be the platform to unearth and develop new talent in combat sports. Kickboxing under K1 rules are chosen because it uses rules that can benefit all type of stylist. Practioner of different style, such as Taekwon-Do, Karate, Silat, Kung Fu, Muaythai can get in the ring and compete in a common rules fight.

Rayner is very proud of the achievement and the progression of STAND so far, but he still harbour much hope that the state sports ministry are able to see the positive impact they are doing to the young people, and hope that the ministry will come in and support this effort.

He said he received many request from different districts such as Sandakan, Tambunan and Keningau to have STAND organised in their place because lots of people can see that STAND are able to move more young people to learn martial arts, to be active and live a healthy lifestyle.

He would love to full-fill their request, but obviously financing it is the biggest challenge. Organising a combat sports tournament is not a way to earn money. Many times he has to sacrifice his own time and invest his own money into making it happen. And he said without the constant supports from his family and his Karabaw family, STAND would not be what it is today.

MILO supporting the development of Junior Kickboxers. Myself with Rayner handing over the sponsored MILO

And most importantly too, is to have sponsors that are equally passionate about the event they are involve in. This is where he said he is very thankful to have Borneo Majubina Aidil Zakuan believing in the same objective and supporting the same cause as he does which together they have build STAND.

STAND is only in it's 2nd year, it is still in a developing stage but is surely charting it's course to have more events this year and years to come. With the support of all party, STAND hopes to make Borneo a powerhouse in Kickboxing, not just in producing more talents but also to become the premier Kickboxing event in Borneo.

Mohd Rayyan : Rise of the Black Mamba at X-Fight

Tonight ( 21 Apr 2017 ) will be an important night for a young Muaythai athlete from the Land Below the Wind - SABAH. His name is Mohd Rayyan aka The Black Mamba.

Rayyan will be representing Malaysia in Hong Kong's X-Fight, a new combat sports promotions. Rayyan will fight in the main card to battle for the Intercontinental Champion Belt. Fighting at 51kg Rayyan will face Hong Kong multiple Muaythai Champion Kenneth Yueng.

Face off & weighing in for X-Fight Hong Kong ( 20 April 2017), fight night on 21 April 2017

Turning 19 this year, Rayyan has already accomplished a lot for his age.
Some of his accolades includes: 

Borneo Phoenix MuayThai Amatuer Challenge 2014
- Champion 42-45kg 

Dihnar D-1 Mount Kinabalu MuayThai Challenge 2014"The Game is On"
-Silver 48kg

Kejohanan Sabah MuayThai Challenge"The best Of Sabah"
-Silver 45-48kg

D1 Fighting Championship Rhino Warriors: The rise of Rhino Warriors
- 45-48kg Champion

Kejohanan MuayThai Piala Borneo
-45-48kg borneo champion

The Golden Rumble .MuayThai Championship
-48-51kg champion

Kejohanan MuayThai PMM Antara Kelab kebangsaan(National level)
-Silver 45-48kg

Tawau MuayThai Championship Pro
-Silver 52kg

F3 "borneo series" semi pro
-Champion 51kg

Borneo Kickboxing & MMA Amatuer Challenge 2
-Champion 52kg

Elopura Fights Pro 2016
-52kg Champion

Tawau MuayThai Championship Pro 2016
-52kg Champion

Kejohanan MuayThai Amatur Piala Borneo 2016
- 51-54kg champion

He started off at the age of 12 in Wushu and Taekwondo. But always had the desire to take up Muaythai. Then he walked into Kinabalu Fighters gym. He took up boxing class at first and later on their Muaythai class.

He and his close friend Aziz went together to Kinabalu Fighters. They are both pro Muaythai fighters now and always help each other in training. But Rayyan remembered in one of the early lesson with coach Randal Kadayum, in a sparring session, even though it felt like torture but this further fuel his interest in Muaythai.

pic by Anwar Iddris

At a young age his parents was divorce and having a tough time to deal with this he turned his energy into martial arts. Rayyan dad's is Brunei Malay and his mother is of Bajau heritage but he speaks fluent mandarin from his days in chinese primary school SRJK Chung Hwa Likas.  

He lost his father a few years back and his mother remarried. Knowing his passion for martial arts they gave him full support in his pursue of greatness in martial arts. Rayyan now fights motivated by the support from them and the memory of his late father.

pic by Anwar Iddris

He now is the owner of Team Black Mamba gym. At 19 he is the yougest owner of a gym in Sabah. This opportunity was given to him by his mentor Johan Julian, founder of Kinabalu Fighters.

Last year, Dihnar gym was vacant and Julian decides to setting it up running again...but with the plan of training and grooming Rayyan. As Rayyan shows signs of leadership and commitment he decided to let him took over as his own gym.

With the money his late father left him, Rayyan took on the challenge and bought the gym over from Dihnar and henceforth the birth of Black Mamba Gym which is located at Kepayan, Kota Kinabalu.

Julian recalled seeing him the first time in Kinabalu Fighters gym. A skinny young lad but with big hearts full of determination.

" He showed early signs of maturity and good discipline since young and is hardworking. I always wanted him to be more than just fighters. He already have a trainer certificate and thus being a gym owner will be the biggest learning of his life.

Mohd Rayyan (center) will be cornered by coach Julian (R) in X-Fight Hong Kong.

I made sure his gym has a good support system. We placed coach Rudy in his gym ( an accomplished Muaythai trainer and respected national referee ) whom I knew for awhile and seeing that Rayyan's family supports him fully made me believe he has a good foundation.

Even now as he trains for his fights, despite the busy preparation, his gym is looked after by his staff & senior students."

with coach Randall (L) and coach Julian (R)

training with coach Rudy (pic by Anwar Iddris )

training at BCG Labuan with coach Alvin (R) and Bow Suweilek (L)

Hj Nazri Razak, (in checkered shirt ) President of Sabah Muaythai giving Rayyan the support.

Rayyan paying a courtesy call to Datuk Haji Tawfiq-Sabah Youth & Sports Minister (on Rayyan's right )

To be stepping up to the ring to challenge for the Intercontinental Belt is certainly an honour for Rayyan and for this, he would like to say...

" I really wanna thank everyone that is involved especially to my coaches - coach Julian for setting up this fight for me and helping me in tons of things , Coach Rudy for doing a good work of taking care of me and Coach Randall for all those years of teaching me Muaythai ...Secondly I would like to thank my parents for their blessings and support .

To my girlfriend thanks for being here for me ...my teammates and friends for the endless support...my sponsors Boon Sin Furniture , Martial Bay , The Big Support from The Ministry of Youth and Sports (Sabah) , Persatuan Muaythai Sabah , a good friend of mine Sherzali.

full support from his Black Mamba team

thanking all his sponsors

Warriors of Borneo wishes Rayyan a great fight tonight, fight hard, fight smart, fight with all your heart!

STAND 3: Kickin' it at Keningau

STAND is back with Kickboxing action to entertain us this weekend 26-27 Nov 2016, in the interior town of Keningau Sabah. This time it's for series 3 and it's held in conjunction with The Crocker Range Festival (TCRF ).

Started on 24 Nov, TCRF is a festival with plethora of events and activities such as Fitness Concert, Local Artist performance, Ms Crocker Range, Arm Wrestling, Fun Run and a whole lot more. And Kickboxing and boxing will be part of this fun and action packed festival.

STAND has established itself as a Kickboxing events that tie in with family carnival. Started with the 1st series at Nexus Karambunai Resort in April this year, erecting a boxing ring next to the beautiful beach of Karambunai, with few food & drinks stalls surrounding it really gives this fight event a different feel, a relax atmosphere that fighters can fight, and their supporters and family and chill out enjoying the cool breeze from the sea.

STAND Series 1

The series 2 continued this concept where STAND was part of the beach festival in Siok Bah Karnival in September, at Tg.Lipat Beach which gives good exposure to K1 Kickboxing to wider audience and a good platform for newcomer to gain experience.

Series 2

As part of a WSOF affiliated event , the organiser, TEAM KARABAW has announced a full calender for 2017 which will see 3 tournament held in April, June and September, which will lead to the year end closing of a Super series at November.

Keningau is around 109 Km away from Kota Kinabalu and takes 1.5 hour car ride via the Kimanis route which is steep but very scenic mountainous road that traverse through Sabah's back bone; the Crocker Range.

Although it's a distance away but as the founder of STAND, Sensei Rayner Kinsiong has a close affinity to Keningau; as this is his home town. He always wanted to do something for his home town. So bringing a home grown and internationally affiliated martial arts event is really the best thing to do.

Aside from being the only Kickboxing promotions affiliated to WSOF, STAND is also a ISKA sanction event. ISKA representative of Borneo, Alving Chong will be present to guide the officials.

STAND 3 highlight will be the Super 8 70kg title fight. The fighter to watch out for is Anil Mehta from Team Relentless India. Sabah has been a successful place for Anil, with him winning the STAND series 2 Light Welterweigh title in September. He again was victorious in Fight Fest 3, winning the ISKA K1 Fight Fest 65kg title belt in October. Now for the 3rd month in a row, he is back in Sabah for fight. Will he win again for third time?

Anil's is expected to win his first fight against Lu Yi Ran of D-30. Lu may lack the experience compare to Anil, but what he lacks there he make it up with a never say die attitude.

Nidal Mahmood from Sampuri Gym will also be a fighter to watch in this Super 8. He won in STAND series 1 and is back with high intention to bring the belt back to Kuala Lumpur. Nidal is a muay thai specialist and will be capitalizing his long reach to score against Ronoldo Liew of Borneo Tiger MMA. Liew is no slouch, he has very heavy hands and may give Nidal trouble if he close the distance and connect in the pocket.

Another prospect is Mohd Eswandy from Gymbox, Kuching. Another muaythai specialist, Eswandy also dabbled in MMA and did well in reaching MIMMA 4 Semi-finals this year fighting at lightweight.

Eswandy will face Ronnie of Naga Kinabalu in the prelim.

For female showdown the high light will be the K1 Super Fight at 52kg between Shaznieffah of Team Karabaw vs Ainah of Team Revolution. Judging from pass female fights, usually they give their all out and sometimes are more relentless than their male counterparts. So with this fight promises plenty of fireworks!

According to Kaza Musa who arranges the fight card for STAND, 22 team has registered, with 80 fighters confirmed for showdown. 70 participating in amatuer K1 Kickboxing and another 10 for amatuer boxing.

Keningau MMA ( KMMA ) lead by Mohd Bakri,  this time will be sending 15 fighters, 13 for kickboxing and 2 for boxing. KMMA has been very active in participating in local fight events. Participating in fights in other town is always a challenge due to the long travel by car. But this time it's at their base and they have been preparing very intensely and expect a fine showing from KMMA.

Anil Mehta has spend time at KMMA to exchange some training tips and KMMA will be cornering him for the Super 8 fight

As for the new team of Kinabalu Kings lead by Bee Jay will be sending 9 fighters. As a new team that was just formed in feb this year, they have doing well in Kickboxing events. At STAND 1 winning 3 Gold and 2 silver, STAND 2, 2 Gold and 2 silver, BAC Labuan 3 Gold 2 silver and most recently in October - Fight Fest 3, 7 Gold 2 silver.

With a few muaythai champion in the team such as Faizal Boy Kicap, Reyan Abdul and Ben Banetto, which trains the newcomer, Kinabalu Kings has won the Inter-Club Muaythai in Sept at Sandakan. According to Bee Jay, his team comprises 2 newcomer and the other 7 fighters have no more than 4 fights in their record. He is looking to develop them further, but also confident that they will achieve the 4 gold he has set.

Fighters weigh in has been done at Friday and fight day in on 26-27 Nov. Let's show support for the fighters and cheer them on and support local fight events that bring fight action to us!

All the best to the fighters and organiser for a great STAND 3!

ANIL MEHTA WINS AT SABAH'S FIGHT FEST 3

Fight Fest 3 lives up to its name as a festival of fights with different types of martial arts competition going on in two days over the Deepavali weekend of 29-30 Oct 2016.

Day 1 saw Shogun Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the prelimanry rounds of K1 Kikcboxing beiong competed.
Day 2, Mata Leao - Submission Grappling was competed in the morning and in the afternoon Kickboxing finals was competed and MMA superfights was on.

As the closing and main event of the day, saw the Superfight for 65kg, between Malaysian Muhd Afandi and Anil Mehta from India. It was a scheduled 5 rounds championship bouts at semi-pro rules for the K1 ISKA FITLINE Championship Belt.

( read about the pre-fight story here )

Overall, Anil was the faster and stronger of the two. Using his longer reach to his advantage he was able to connect with his boxing and kicks. Afandi was put on the defensive as Anil charge forward with decisive attacks.

Afandi did landed a few clean shots with his hands but could not fend off most of Anil's charge.

At the 36 seconds mark, Afandi fell on floor in pain as he claim Anil delivered an illegal knee to the groin. Fight was stopped to give Afandi time to recover.

In the 2nd round at the 1:06 mark, a high knee by Anil, again Afandi fell on floor cringing in pain as he claim Anil knee his groin, which Anil denied. Referee gave Afandi time to recover. FIght continue with Afandi on the defensive as Anil put on a barrage of attacks. Afandi fell on floor as referee gave him a 10 seconds count.

3rd round saw the fight ended when Afandi fell on the floor again in pain as he claim another illegal blow at 1:50 mark. Medical attention was given, but he could not continue the fight and the judges declared Anil the winner.

Anil put off celebrating Deepavali which falls on Saturday 29 Oct 2016 as he was preparing for this fight. he was ecstatic for this win as this is his 2nd victory in Sabah. He won his debut in K1 Kickboxing last Sept in STAND Series 2 in Tanjung Lipat, Kota Kinabalu.

Anil is looking to collect a third win when he comes back to Sabah in November for STAND series 3 in Keningau Sabah.

In his after fight interview, Anil said this victory was dedicated to his coach Jitendre Khare of Team Relentless. From his home state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, Anil needs to travel closed to 1800 km to Mumbai to train under Jitendre as back in his home state there's no martial arts gym. Mumbai's Team Relentless is India's finest with numerous champions.

Anil admits that he has always been a hardworking athlete when he started boxing in his home state, but without much success. Jitendre is the one that trains him to be a winner by putting him in a right direction for training and right frame of mind.

Anil also dedicate this win to his beloved mother, whom he said was the one that gave him full support in continuing his martial arts journey. When he was not achieving much success in boxing and everyone ask him to stop, his mother was the one behind him and supported him all the way in continuing his passion for martial arts.

In India, Muaythai and Kickboxing is not a popular sports as compared to cricket or other martial arts such as boxing, judo or wrestling. These are the sports that receive better coverage in the media and hence are more well known and popular.

Anil's aspire to be go pro one day and wants to be the first Indian athlete that brings honour to India through Muaythai & Kickboxing. He hopes to raise the popularity of Muaythai & Kickboxing in India by winning more championship.

Anil with ISKA East Malaysia rep Alvin Chong (L) & Johan Julian, FIght Fest founder (R)

Anil felt that Sabah is going on the right direction having many sanctioned ISKA Kickboxing tournaments and competition. He said local Sabahan are courageous and believe they can  improve very well in Kickboxing.

Even though his Deepavali celebration was delayed but Anil was happy as he felt the hospitality from the Sabahan people makes him feel comfortable. He also extend his appreciation and thanks to Fight Fest organiser Johan Julian for the hospitality and the opportunity to fight for the championship belt.

Anil will be back to Sabah for STAND K1 Kickboxing in Keningau, Sabah 26-27 November.

I'm with the champ