JITENDRE KHARE : ENTER FIGHT FEST

Malaysia has only a population of more than 31 million. But we are very fortunate that there are many local MMA promotions that are active in organising MMA fights. Names like the pioneering Ultimate Beatdown of Johor, Warriors FC ( now with new management is known as Golden Warriors FC ) up north in Penang and in East Malaysia, we have Jesselton Fight League, Fight Fest and B.A.C and most recently Rampage FC; and of course we cannot talk about MMA without mentioning about MIMMA, considered the best and biggest amateur tournament in Asia, which is currently in it's 5th season

In these local promotions, there is a team that has made their presence felt. This team is TEAM RELENTLESS from India. Why would an Indian team come all the way from Mumbai to Malaysia to compete? For a country as huge as India with population that is over 1.3 billion people, MMA promotions there are still developing. 

Cricket is the number one sports watched in India. Traditional martial arts such as Karate, wrestling and boxing are widely followed too. MMA is relatively new. It only recently caught on from the popularity of UFC. Several Indian promotions has emerged there such as Super Fight League, Full Contact Championship and most recently Yoddha Fighting Championship.

TEAM RELENTLESS is lead by Jitendre Khare or more fondly known as Vicky. Jitendre has trained his fighters well and they have grown and develop through the fight scene in Malaysia.

Chaitanya winning the UB 17 featherweight title

Chaitanya Gavali training with Team Relentless, fought before in Borneo Fighting Championship in 2014. a year later he fought in Ultimate Beatdown 17 to win the featherweight title belt and then one month later achieved another victory in winning the Warriors FC featherweight title.

Anil Mehta defeated a couple of local emerging talent in STAND Kickboxing in Kota Kinabalu and last year in a Super-Fight 65kg Kickboxing match became the title champion.

with Anil Mehta with his Fight Fest K1 Title Belt

Yadwinder Singh whom recently fought at WSOF Global Championship last year , tasted multiple victory in Borneo FC, Ultimate Beatdown and Warriors FC.

Ex ONE Championship fighter, Susovan Ghosh, the co-founder of Team Relentless was also an alumni of Ultimate Beatdown. 

Young fighter Rudransh Azad, spend his formative amateur career in Malaysia, collecting wins in Jesselton Fight League 2, Ultimate Beatdown 23. He then went on to win Yodhha FC Lightweight belt in April this year. Then in Sept he was back in Malaysia, collecting another win in Golden Warriors FC. 

In that same event his team mate Navdeep Aggarwal the Yodhha FC flyweight champion defeated Seah Zhang Yu, cosidered the best flyweight in Malaysia.

with Navdeep (L) & Rudransh (R) with their victory souvenir from Golden Warriors FC

In this weekend FIGHT FEST IV: ART OF COMBAT (7-8 Oct 2017), Jitendre will be here in Kota Kinabalu with Susovan Ghosh to compete in grappling. Jitendre himself is aiming for the Fight Fest Mata Leao title belt, which will be given to the winner of the absolute blue / purple belt category.

Jitendre aiming to win the 1st Fight Fest Mata Leao belt

On his grappling experience,

"I have competed and won at 3 Bangkok Opens, won a Gold at WPJJC Trials in HK in 2012, represented India at Asian Beach Games where I couldn't fight my Bronze medal match after injuring my shoulders in the semis.

Jitendre started in martial arts journey since he was a boy in school. Karate was very popular in school and he took it up and reached the level of Brown Belt. He also took lesson in boxing and kickboxing as it was part of the school's curriculum. 

After graduating from high school, he dabbled into mud wrestling. At one point of time he switched his interest to power-lifting but unfortunately an injury made him stop and he began to train in martial arts again as rehab to develop better flexibility.

Watching PRIDE was the spark for Jitendre to go into MMA. Doing his research, he eventually took up Judo and under the guidance of India's top Judoka Ashok Chaudary Jitendre began to develop a keen interest in the grappling arts.

"I was fortunate enough that he agreed to accept me as his student and under his tutelage I got to represent my State at the Senior National Judo Championships in 2010."

Through his martial arts journey, Jitendre discover that Mumbai lacks a legit MMA gym, so in 2010 Jitendre started his own MMA gym.

"The knowledge and access to quality trainers was very limited at that point but I guess the eagerness to learn and grow was what got us to this point. We were also lucky to be joined by Coach Nick Kilstein, NCAA Division 1 wrestler alongside whom I had the privilege of training Team Relentless and also learning wrestling from. His contribution to not just the team but to growth of MMA in India is simply irreplaceable. My Head Coach Darren DaSilva has been a huge influence in my martial arts journey and has been my mentor and like an elder brother to me. 

I received my Blue Belt from him in 2013 and then had the privilege of training with some brilliant BJJ coaches such as Prof Shane Suzuki, Thomas Fan, Carlos Almeida and Marcio Cesar.

with Mario Cesar

Darren sir has been helping and guiding me since 2012. He has been my Head Coach. Till date he hasn't charged us a single penny to train us. I guess it's an affiliation of trust and respect."

at Fight G Singapore

The fight team of Team Relentless is base in Evolution Gym, which Jitendre is part owner. It is highly regarded as the home of MMA in India and the pioneer in the sports in India.

with his Team Relentless at Evolution Gym

From time to time Jitendre would travel to Singapore to train at Fight G MMA Academy to train under Coach Darren DaSilva. He also made regular trips to train at AKA Thailand under Marcio Cesar.

Realising that there's a huge talent pool in India for MMA, but what lacking is a grassroot program that can unearth these talents, then progress to develop and grow them, Jitendre together with Vicky Tulsani, Susovan Ghosh and Khriemelie Metha founded Yoddha FC in 2014.

fights at Yoddha FC

They wanted to use Yoddha as a platform to produce more MMA fighters from India. Yodhha is still developing as an amateur league promotions, hence Jitendre consider himself still have a lot to learn and has been sending Team Relentless fighters to Malaysia, Thailand, Philipines and recently to the middle east to not only gain valuable fight experience but also to learn the fine aspect of organizing fight events. 

Yoddha FC entering it's second season in Cctober

The passion for MMA and the grappling arts is what drive him and his team. Their dream is to grow the sports of MMA in India, to put an Indian MMA athlete in UFC and to have the very first home grown BJJ blackbelt in India.

Come and watch Jitendre and his team mate Susovan compete in Fight Fest IV tomorrow at Centre Point Sabah, 4th Floor Palm Square.

with Susovan

SABAH FIGHT: RANDAL'S RETIREMENT FIGHT AND ANIL'S 3RD VICTORY

picture by Sabai Desosza

On 10-11 DEC fight fans in Kota Kinabalu was treated to plenty of Muaythai action. Day time saw amateur bouts that went on for the Sabah Muathai Inter-District Championship. Come night time, the action got more intense with pro fights under the banner of Sabah Fight. Click here to check out my previous posting on the winner

In total 10 bouts was presented by Kelab Sukan Inspirasi Kinabalu, Parliament 171 Sepanggar, Sabah Muaythai Association and Kaza Musa Fight Management. 

Day 1 started with the Teens Superfight 46kg between Areen "The Heart Break Kid" Khan (Kinabalu Kings) vs Mohd. Nashruddin "The Valiant" (Jaguar Muaythai), which is won by Nashruddin.

Bout 2 was a highly anticipated female Superfight at 51kg. Aurora Chai (D30 Miri) vs Nurul "Chiko" Khairunnisa (Karabaw). Both came into this fight eager to get a win after their lost in the last outing. Aurora lost a close decision in a amatuer MMA superfight in Oct to Barbara Gloria of Sabah Top Team. Meanwhile Chiko lost in Keningau's STAND Series 3 to another Sabah Top Team member, Gloria Isabelle Hoong in Women 48kg amatuer Kickboxing. 

Both were willing to trade strikes when they got close. Aurora initiated most of the attacks and threw higher volumes of strikes. Aurora managed to find target with her high kicks to the head and a well placed teep to the body in 2nd round. Aurora Chai wins the fight but Chiko gave her a parting gift of a huge swelling on Aurora's forehead due to her elbow.

Bout 3. is for 70kg Men Superfight. Lu Yi Ran (D30) vs Liew Teck Seng (Borneo Tiger MMA). Liew also came into this fight trying to erase the lost to Nidal Mahmoud in STAND 3 Super 8. He came well prepared and really focus. 

Lu also look better physically compare to his last outing in Fight Fest 3 in K1. His technique is sharper and faster. But Liew's was able to exert more force and impact in his strikes. In round 1 Liew landed a huge right that staggered Lu backward and got a standing count.

Liew win this 5 round fight.

Bout 4 co-main event 54kg Men Superfight of Muliadan Danny (66) vs Alexander Fong (Borneo Tribal Squad). Alex has just moved to BTS and this is his comeback fight after a long period away from competitive Muaythai. 

In first 2 rounds Alex manage to connect with a couple of overhand right. Alex was the aggressor. Controlled in the clinch and he got most of the sweeps and throw to break Mualiadan's rhythm. But in 3rd round Muliadan starts to control the ring, attacked more with harder roundhouse.  

In 3rd round Alex seems to get back his groove, but as he push forward for an attack, they clinched and in the scuffle, Muliadan connect with an elbow to back of Alex head, Alex protested as he pause and referee gave a verbal reminder to Muliadan on the illegal strike.

Last two round was rather even, but Muliadan attacked more towards the end of round 5 to clinched the victory.

Bout 5, main event 60kg Reyyan Abdul (Kinabalu Kings) vs Randal Kadayum (Kinabalu Fighters). A rematch between this two after last year's F3 Borneo Series which Reyyan won. Randal's said he was having fever at that fight and this time he is well prepared and look to avenge the lost. 

Round 1 seems both equally strong. Both throwing everything they have. Knee and elbow in the clinch. Mid way through Randal's left forehead was bleeding.

But listening to his corner's instruction from Alvin Chong, Randal connected a few high kicks and elbows. 

In 4th round, with his southpaw stance Randall attack with his left roundhouse many times. Although this was blocked but it does soften up Reyyan's arm. 

After a restart, Randal lunged in with a right hook that draws Reyyan to defend with his arms and high left knee, as he drop his knee, Randal followed up with a fast roundhouse snap that landed flush on Reyyan's liver and he immediately sat down to take a breather.
Reyyan didn't recover from referee's count giving  Randal the TKO win.

After fight Randal reveal that this is his retirement fight. At 29 he has already achieved a lot. 2013 Sarawak TYT trophy, 4 D1FC title, 2016 Sarawak TYT Trophy winner, 2016 Elopura Fights Chief of Police Trophy and Borneo Cup 2016 60kg Super Fight.

He is also an accomplished boxer. Among his achievement..2013 Best Boxer, JFL Super 8 Cage Boxing Belt. Sabah Mayor Cup Winner 2012-2016.




Randal made the decision to retire due to the many injuries he has experienced from 5 years of active fighting. He started competing in combat sports at 24 in which he considered himself a late starter. It is also a promise he made to his wife Stephanie Vung. Herself a successful boxer but it still makes her nervous each time watching Randal fight.

Randal whom use to work as a pizza delivery crew now works in Jesselton College as their IT technician but at night he coach at Kinabalu Fighters. This humble fighter said it's time for the new generations of fighters to take over and for him to start making 'young ones' of his own.




But according to Randal, if the state boxing tournament is organised in Tambunan next year, he may come out of retirement temporarily to support the event as he is a native Tambunan boy and would not want to miss the chance to fight in front of his family and hometown crowds.

Day 2 began with teen fight of 38kg: Ag. Mohd "Montoi" of Naga Kinabalu vs Faiz " Harimau Kumbang ' of 66 Unicorn Sandakan.

The crowd that gather to support both fighters was amazing! The atmosphere was as though this was the main event. It's a positive sign that teen fighters can attract such attention.

The crowd's cheer was enhance by the antics of Montoi. Trully a showman at a young age. Faiz was the calmer one and it was good to see that he was not perturb with the cheer from the opponent side.

Montoi had the fancier style, but both have their moment. In the end Faiz composed style enable him to execute harder strikes that won him the fight.

Bout 2 was a fight of an experienced senior Mohd Syahrine @ Garebo of Kinabalu Kings vs the young gun, Morris Hii of D-30 Fight Team Miri. This was Morris's debut pro fight.

Aggressive start in round one by both fighters. Midway through, Garebo looks gassed out as he gasp for air.

2nd round, Morris initiate with impactful kicks and punch. Mid round in a scuffle, Morris tagged Garebo witha hard right, then they scuffle and Morris spin connect with a right elbow on Garebo's head. Garebo pushed forward, Morris landed a knee as he got pushed back. 

As they end up at the ropes, Morris pushed back and threw a knee, didn't look like it landed flush, but Garebo seems already hurt as he bend down to rest. Ref gave a count and Morris won with TKO.

Next up was female Superfight of 48kg between Murhima Edie - Clownboxx vs Tania of Kinabalu Kings. 

Another short fight. This time in round 1. Tania was sharper with snappy roundhouse, as Murhima tries to land haymaker. As Tania did the stalking, she spunned with a reverse elbow, missed but grappled Murhima's arms as she lands a knee to her rib and hurt Murhima. It was the same spot where Garebo was stopped. Tania won by TKO.

Co main event and main event is the next two fights. These fights was put together after Ronnie of Naga Kinabalu missed weight and the Super 4 bouts was canceled.

For co-main event: Mohd Rizal 'Ladda' (Team Karabaw) vs Madjais 'Opong' (Kinabalu Kings). Both are experience Muaythai athletes and are game for an all out war.

Hardly any knees or elbows was thrown in this fight. Rizal initiated most of the attacks. He was able to set up his attacks with hard round kicks to punch combination. 

This proof to be his winning factor as in round 4, he caught Opong with a head kick, partially blocked but staggered Opong. He followed up with a low kick checked by Opong, but Rizal landed a right hand on Opong's face. As Opong retreat, Rizal threw a hard right round house, landed flush on Opong's abs. This looks like the fight ender but Rizal followed with a flurry of punches and a right hand landed and drops Opong for the count.

KO win for Rizal. 

Main event of the night: Anil Mehta of Team Relentless India vs Ronald Tee of Borneo Combat Gym Labuan.

Anil was eager to look for a win. he has been coming to Sabah for fights almost every month. He fought mostly k1 Kickboxing. Starting with a win in STAND 2 in September. He then won the Super Fight in Fight Fest 3 in October, winning the title belt. His 3rd outing was in November's STAND 3, where he lost the final of Super 8 to Nidal Mahmoud.

This is Anil's 2 pro Muaythai fight. He is eager for this fight as he prefeedr an elbow war as he was still nursing a knee injury from STAND 3.

Ronald is a young fighter full of potential. At only 20, he already have 6 pro Muaythai fights in his record. 

The fight was close. Both fighters had their moments. But Anil had the edge. Scoring a teep to the face in round 2, a push kick knock down in round 3. Round 4, with Anil initiating most attack. He annoyed Ronald with a few hammer fist that pushed Ronald back, an unorthodox strike in Muaythai. Ronald connected a hard roundhouse counter.

5th round, Anil manage to use his length to his advantage. Twice he use his front kick to push back Ronald, and another twice was able to knock Ronald down.

Much respect was shown among each other as they touch gloves and hugs many times after a restart.

Anil won the match to win himself the Datuk Idris Jumat Trophy. His 3rd win in four outings to Sabah.

As a gesture of friendship, Anil hold up the Malaysian flag that Ronald brought in the ring as they both circle around the ring together.


But a commotion ensued afterwards as Ronald's corner protested the results. The organiser maintained the results and advise any party to go through the official channel for any dispute of results.

Anil travelled back to India to Mumbai where his team Relentless gym is based to share the victory with his coach Jitendre Khare and his other team mates whom has help him prepare for all his fights.

On his way back to his home state Himachal Pradesh in northern India a few days ago, Anil mentioned that it will take him 16 hours by train from Mumbai to Delhi. Then from Delhi, he will take bus to Baddi in Himachal state which takes another 7 hours.

Back in Baddi there's no martial arts gym. Usually Anil will train on his own. His home town state is a mountainous area, western side of Himalayas and this helps him in building his stamina.

He joined the Police force in 2008 but now he is on a 5 year break till 2020 from his work to focus on his fight career. He will travel to Team Relentless in Mumbai, more than 1700km away to train when he has a fight confirmed.

For the rest of 2016, he will take a break. He plans to come back stronger in 2017, looking to compete in pro Muaythai or pro Kickboxing only. And he aim for at least winning two title.

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by TAN WALLACE