BRYANT TAN : COMING BACK FOR A FIGHT

October last year was a bitter sweet time for Bryant Tan. Sweet because in his first foray into MMA. he managed to go all the way in MIMMA season 4 to the grand finals for the Middleweight category.

Bitter because, in the Grand Finals, going against the towering Muhd Meeraj ( defending Middleweight Champion ), Bryant lost by TKO in round 1. Meeraj clearly have the upperhand in the striking game from his years in Wushu and also a pro boxer.

Challenging Mirage Khan for MIMMA4 Middleweight title last year

(Click here to read about how Bryant started his martial arts journey) 

After all the hard training and preparation, no doubt Bryant felt dissapointed with the lost. Nevertheless he thank his grappling coach Albert Lim, his boss at that time Olivia Ling and his Muaythai coach Lucas Lau for being there supporting him through his MMA journey.
"As the Chinese saying goes..., for the 3 minutes show people see on the stage, there are 3 years of  hard work behind it. People usually only see the end result but not the process" 
uttered Bryant.

After MIMMA, returning back to Kuching, Bryant went back to training and coaching but he felt that something was not right. he was not in the right frame of mind,...somehow he felt he lacks motivation to go forward. Deep down inside he felt the the need for change too. A change not to something new but a change back to familiar ground. Bryant felt that he needs to go back to his home town Sibu and back to his home gym Borneo Top Team

The gym he was coaching at - URBAN APE went through partner changes, which gave birth to Rebel Fitness Studio in May this year. Bryant continue to work at Rebel Studio till July. After the break up with his girlfriend, he made the final decision to move back to Sibu.

"I want to thank Rebel Fitness Studio, for giving me chance to learn and work with them. They all are good! Special thanks to my boss Olivia Ling, my teammates; Andrew, Aaron Yung, Gerald Tan, Stephen Onn, Chloe Tay, Malcom Wu & Rafael."

with his ex colleagues at REBEL during its official opening

"I'm coming home to Sibu, as a fighter I felt Borneo Top Team (BTT) is best for me. It's a real fight gym. Since July I became the head instructor of BTT, teaching all the fitness class such as, Core Extreme, Boot Camp Circuit, Spartan 100, Abs Class and Combat Sport, Boxing and Muaythai. As for Brazilian Luta Livre (BLL) its handle by Brandon Song, a BLL Blue Belt, I myself am learning lots of great ground techniques from him."

Back home in Sibu, Bryant felt rejuvenated and the motivation to train now comes back to him.

In  August, Borneo Top Team invited top ONE Championship lightweight contender Ev Ting to their gym. Ev was on a holiday after his dominant victory from ONE Championship: Quest for Greatness in Kuala Lumpur.

with Ev Ting

Sibu is the hometown of Ev's parents and he was on a break visiting his grandmother and other relatives. After some great time savoring great food in Sibu, Ev wanted to put in some training too.  He was glad to see a growing martial arts gym such as BTT in Sibu and shared his knowledge and techniques with the members.

"We were all very grateful for Ev to drop by. There was a lot of sharing, joy and happiness during the class. Ev is a very humble guy! Learning lot of great thing from him! "
comment Bryant.

Bryant is always hungry for knowledge and he is the type of person that would not hesitate to go the extra mile to learn from the best. Back in his early days when he started Muaythai, he spend a month in Chiang Mai Thailand for a Muaythai Camp. 

In Sept while scrolling through Instagram, he saw that Ido Portal was organising a Movement Internship in Phuket Thailand cost at USD6250! Bryant immediately sign up and at the end of the course from Oct 9 - 16, Bryant felt it's all worth the money he spent.

with movement guru Ido Portal

For those who don't know who Ido Portal is, I believe you would have seen the funny looking movement or exercise Conor McGregor was doing while preparing for his fights. Lots of viral video and memes was spread around mocking him. But infact those funny looking movement was thought by Ido Portal and was one of the key factors that contribute to Conor's success in the fight game.

Check out Ido Portal's website www.idoportal.com/culture  to learn more.

"Ido is a best best best teacher met! His teaching skill, languages etc, all are good ! What I can said is, USD 6250 USD is worth every dollar! During the movement internship, I learn lot of different body movement, on his theory and how to control body well. Human are born to move. His movement teaching are very helpful for fighter!"

Bryant has been applying what he learn from Ido Portal's internship to his martial arts training. He is still in the process of improving and learning, but he definitely feels that it gave him better judgement of distance and fluidity of techniques.   

"I keep practice with the movement and footwork drill. Try to improve and move my body more efficiently and utilizing brain control and reaction."

Since returning back to Sibu, Bryant also has been training with former two times SUKMA Gold medalist,  Zurkanain Majidi Wong in boxing. Boxing is not new to Bryant as he has started it few years back under Fred Mandagi - former Sarawak state coach.

Bryant felt he made the right decision to go back Sibu. He has a new sense of motivation. He enjoys teaching in BTT and at the same time supplement his income with part time modelling and photo shooting.

Food is something Bryant is passionate about. He has great knowledge of meal prep using healthy ingredients and helps his clients and gym member on diet and meal advice. But Sibu being a haven for food, Bryant does occasionally break his diet plans to enjoy the numerous Sibu's delicacies such as Sarawak laksa, Kompia and Mi Sua.

He buys his own ingredients and prepares his own meal for the weekday. He would start off with two hard boil eggs before workout. Post workout is 2 scoop of whey protein shake. Come lunch he prefers to balance his meal at 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% fats/fibers. End with dinner with protein (egg, fish, and meat) and fats (walnuts, bean, coconut oil, avocados).

He supplement his meal with fish oil, calsium and glucosamine, preferring the brand of supplements from AMWAY.

As for his work out regime:

"Week day normally I wake up at 6.30am and after a light breakfast start training at 7am. Mostly cardio at morning: skipping and jogging. 

After that I will do my another session of training at 2pm, start with mobility workout, then get into movement and slowly to technique, shadow boxing, padding, sparring. End my afternoon workout at 4pm.

My last workout will be at 5pm, sometimes 7pm. Normally I will go to stadium jogging if I go at 5pm, and if I go at 7pm, I will go for a swim. That’s weekday.

Saturday I will just work on one session that’s 4pm, jogging 30min at stadium and doing some light bodyweight workout: burpee, push up, sit up and others.

Cheat day is on Sunday, if no fight, I will just eat whatever I want. If fight coming up, I will just skip my cheat day, still prefer eating clean.
I believe proper nutrition is the key to get strong and live long!"

As a fighter, all those months of training will need an avenue to test the outcome and results. In end of November, Bryant has set to make a comeback to competitive combat sports and Golden Gloves will be his target.

Golden Gloves is a National amateur boxing tournament organised by Persatuan Tinju Malaysia. For the last two years it was held in Kuching. This year will be held in Dataran Sibu - phase 2 from 27 Nov - 3 Dec. This year will see the participation of more than 80 boxers from all over Malaysia.

Bryant will be competing in the 81kg-91kg category. This will be his journey back to the top and he wants to end 2017 with more competition under his belt. He will continue to compete in other combat sports. In plans are MMA and Kickboxing fights in December and also targeting MIMMA season 6 next year.

We wish to see more actions in the ring/cage by Bryant and wish him all the best in his journey back to combat sports glory.

Stephen: Their Action is Destroying My Boxing Career!

pix by shensnaps.com

In MIMMA season 2, saw a young lad from Sarawak making an impact and reached all the way to the grand finals to challenge the then middleweight defending champion Chong Jing Yi. Stephen Onn Jenggieng grew up in Mukah and was battling with weight issues when he was a teen. Enough of facing taunts and tease he decided to shed all the pounds to improve his health and self-confidence, by taking up martial arts. 

Bringing glory to Sarawak through MMA. Pix credit: YK Tang

Grand Finalist of MIMMA Season 2. Pix credit Mahesan Selladurai

“It started out because i thought it looked cool but then slowly, i appreciate the art, it teaches me the way of life, it teaches me lessons that i can never learn anywhere else, and now my objective is to showcase the beauty of my art, sharing what have learnt" Try to make the world see from my perspective through the art”

with his GYMBOX family. Stephen 5th from right

He took up Muaythai and became very proficient at it. Represented Sarawak in the national Fit Warriors Muaythai competition and won bronze. After 2014’s MIMMA, Stephen focus on his boxing training under Sarawak state coach Fred Mandangi whom he trained with at Gymbox. Boxing became his obsession and after winning the Golden Gloves in 2015 Stephen set his mind to become a national boxer, aiming to box for Malaysia in the 2017 SEA Games in KL. Inspired by his fellow Sarawakian, Sapok Biki whom represented Malaysia to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and brought fame to Malaysia in the 1998 KL Commonwealth Games.

Bringing glory to Sarawak through Muaythai

The 2015 Golden Gloves, Stephen fought as a Sarawak athlete even though he trained on his own in Gymbox, as boxers need to be assigned to a state. After this victory he was promised a spot to the Malaysia Cup that same year. But unfortunately he was later informed that there’s not enough budget to include him as they only have funds to send the SUKMA team. Instead he was promise to be send to a competition in Pesta Pulau Pinang.

He was advised to register under the association but as he waited for the form that never came, he canceled his Christmas holiday with his family to prepare for the tournament. Only to be told by text message two days before the tournament that the association was not able to send him due to lack of budget for his accommodation.

Stephen further disclosed, 

“Somewhere in between, I receive a phone call, an invitation to train in Bangkok, Thailand by this association, but I have to use my own money to fly there because the fund is only for the SUKMA athlete. I said I can’t make it coz I don’t have the money.

As I wait for them to send me for another competition, I asked if they are going to send any boxers to Malaysia Cup 2016, they said they have no plans for it.”

He then received an offer from a boxing club in Sabah to fight in the Mayor Cup in KK. If he wins it, then he has the chance to fight in Malaysia Cup. Stephen decided to jump on this opportunity as he knows that the only way he can proof his worth is by winning. Since he was not attached to any association back then, he took up the offer from Sabah.

He fought and won the Mayor Cup in dominating ways. But the victory was marred by a protest from the association from Sarawak, giving the reason that Stephen fought at Mayor Cup without their permission. Stephen disagrees, as he explained, 

Champion - Mayor Cup KK

Winning the Malaysia Cup selection in Keningau

“Firstly why do I need permission when I am not associated with them? There’s no contract signed. Secondly, I receive no allowance from them, there's always no funds allocated for me to send me for competition. How come I suddenly become their boxer?”

He was told to compete in the Malaysia Cup selection in Keningau in Sept this year. He went on and won the tournament and earned himself a spot to compete in the Malaysia Cup in Gerik Perak. But things started to get worst from there. Representing Sabah, Stephen’s team received a protest from the association in Sarawak that stated he had a disciplinary issue with them. The Sabah team relented and just wanted Stephen to fight and showcase his ability even though if he wins, the title will be under the association in Sarawak. But he was not even able to put on his boxing glove as Malaysia Boxing Association took the initial protest letter seriously and suspended Stephen.

Stephen is very disappointed with how he is treated and how this irresponsible association has crushed his dream to be in the national boxing squad. Stephen has proof his ability to box, and he only wanted to fight and win the Gold at SEA Games 2017 for Malaysia. 

Stephen is contemplating legal action on this and he is now in the process of hearing out legal advices from different party. He is out to seek justice for himself. We wish him well