PUSHING KICKBOXING TO THE MAINSTREAM WITH AMA CHAMPIONSHIP

Kickboxing is relatively new in Malaysia. The early days of Malaysia's combat sports scene is basically every style (TaeKwon-Do, Karate, Silat, Muaythai, Boxing etc ) conduct their own competition within their style. The last 4-5 years has seen MMA booming. Through MMA, the grappling art became more prominent especially BJJ. 

Although MMA is getting very popular, but frankly speaking, a lot of casual fight fans still does not understand what's going on when the fight goes to the ground. Sometimes fans started to grumble or boos when the fight stays on the ground too long. It's an unwritten rules for referee that if the fight on the ground does not progress much, both fighter will be stand back up, hoping they will initiate more strikes.

This is where Kickboxing can appeal to majority of fight fans. The rules is very simple and anyone from any striking background can compete. Kicks and punches are allowed. Not allowed : Throws, sweeps, elbow, knees to the head. These rules were created to encourage non-stop action in the ring and make the fight easy to understand for the fans. This in short means Kickboxing can be a unifying factor in martial arts. Students from various style can compete in the same ring, in one event.

Kickboxing in Malaysia is govern by International Sports Kickboxing Association (ISKA), which is lead by Master Khoo Meng Yang of TNT Kickboxing whom is the South East Asia representative and Coach Alvin Chong of Borneo Combat Gym Labuan, whom is the Borneo representative.

I recall in April 2015, the 1st Fight Fest in Kota Kinabalu was the first ever ISKA sanctioned Kickboxing competition in Malaysia, it was then followed by Borneo Amatuer Challenge in Labuan and STAND K1 in Kota Kinabalu. 

Eventually other promotions in other parts of Malaysia also started to organised Kickboxing bouts as it's easy for any aspiring fighter to test their striking skills, without the need to learn specific skills such as wresting, throws and elbow strike. Last year December saw the 1st ever Borneo Martial Arts Expo (B-MAEX) held in Labuan that witness many pro Kickboxing bouts contested. 

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This year saw a new Kickboxing promotion that is slowly but surely making an impact in Malaysia's martial arts scene. It's not just any martial arts promotion,...oh wait, but it is...haha, it's ANY MARTIAL ARTS (AMA Championship ). 

AMA, as the name imply aim to have fighters from any style competing in the same ring. It is currently the biggest kickboxing amateur tournament promotions in Malaysia. Sanctioned by International Sports Kickboxing Association (ISKA), AMA started in Jan this year in KCT Kickboxing Gym. Followed by it's 2nd event in March at TNT Kickboxing. 3rd event in June at Cheras Sentral Mall and most recently the 4th event in Quill City Mall, K.L.

In such short time it already held 4 successful events. The upcoming 5th event is planned for Nov, venue to be confirmed. According to Master Khoo Meng Yang, whom is also the CEO of AMA, each event saw a significant increase in participation. The recent 4th event saw 72 registered fighters with 36 bouts contested which started from 12.30pm and ended at 9:30pm.



Prior to event day, Master Khoo conducted referee and judges course. This is ongoing ISKA's effort to upgrade fight officials experience and to develop more officials with proper knowledge and skills.

"The AMA idea started with my student Edison Chong former Sanda national champion and me.
We got inspired by our favorite fight event,  K1 Kickboxing which is the most entertaining and biggest Kickboxing promotions on earth. In AMA, we have 3 more partners; Alex Lim who fought and won the champiosnhip belt in B-MEAX last year. Dr Yeon, an entrepreneur and Mr. John Lim.

We wish to bring the best excitement, entertainment & real spirit of fight event to all over Malaysia, then spread it to the whole world."
Master Khoo Meng Yang.

Master Khoo (right) with a VIP & Alex Lim (left)

Through Master Khoo and his other partners networking, all the four AMA Championship was well attended by dignitaries from the entertainment, business and media field.

From the left
DR YEON LOH- Project Director of AMA, VVIP arrangement .
STEPHEN HO- QCM of QUILL MALL
PROF. DATO' DR. SHAWN LOH S.N-VVIP open ceremoney
JOHN LIM- Project Director, VVIP arrangement
MASTER KHOO- CEO
EDISON CHONG CHEE HAO- Founder
ALEX LIM LOONG SHUENG- Director , Cooperate Relations & Fighters Well Being

The beautiful Debra Jeanne Poh - Miss Malaysia Grand 2018 hosted AMA4

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Fights contested are fast and furious. Living up to the tag line of anyone can fight, one of the fight that became the talk of town was the fight between 62 years old Matt Zain vs 32 yrs old Kubaash Raj.

Matt Zain or well known as Sargeant SmartZain Cowboy is no stranger to fight in the ring. He serve in the elite paratrooper unit in the Malaysian army and was an active boxer. He also picked up other martial arts skill such as TaeKwon-Do and Judo. ( I will be writing a seperate story on Sgt SmartZain soon ).

Being the oldest contestant, Matt Zain's walk out receive loud cheers from the crowds as he appear with a green robes and had his long flowing grey hair with a cowboy hat. He was accompanied by his wife in a cowboy hat and by his nephew in a Spiderman costume! 

The fight turn out to be a boxing match as both hardly throw any kicks, but Matt Zain was able to use age and experience to stay calm and strike when it matters most. Kubaash, 30 years younger but spent too much energy rushing in with many of his punches misses. Smart Zain won by TKO in the 2nd round.

Master Khoo said there are plans for Pro level bouts in the near future. For the time being, he wishes to raise the awareness of Kickboxing through ISKA nurture and develop more Kickboxing talent through AMA Championship.

Note: credit to Fong Chee (Facepics) for his pictures

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BAC 3 : ELTO & LIYANA WINS THE JY CUP

Borneo's martial arts scene was closed with some kicking action in Labuan. The Borneo Amateur Challenge 3 was successfully organised by Borneo Combat Gym Labuan (BCG) on 17 DEC 2016.

16 teams from Labuan, Kota Kinabalu, Keningau, Tamparuli, Miri, Brunei and Kuala Lumpur took part in this event which offered 11 categories for K1 amateur fights, 3 categories for MMA amateur and 2 categories for K1 semi pro fights. 

And the main event was for JY Cup for the Male Super 4 and the Female Super Fight. This Cup was offered to honour the memory of BCG's co-founder Joseph Yew. Read about this in my previous post (click here)

Borneo Combat Gym Labuan grabbed overall team champion with 4 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze and the Male Super 4 Champion JY Cup 

 

Elto Jai from Borneo Combat Gym Labuan fought through 3 exciting rounds to win his debut Super 4 semi pro K1 fight against PG Mohd Dinie from 018 MMA Gym Brunei.

Earlier on, Elto beat Morris Hii from D-30, Miri while PG Mohd Dinie won his fight against Writh Kataposan from KMMA.

Super 4 participants.

Elto or known by his fight name “Baby Pacquiao” felt a sense of fulfillment in his victory here in Labuan. Never did he imagine that his passion for martial arts since his childhood days will come down to this memorable achievement for him. 

Elto receiving the JY Cup from Ms Julia, the late Joseph Yew's wife

As a migrant worker in the F&B industry in Labuan for the pass 7 years, far away from his home in Zamboanga, Philipines  he is most thankful to his coach Alvin Chong whom has given him the opportunity to train at BCG and help him in his martial art growth.

Elto improved his K1 Kickboxing record to 4 wins.

As for silver medalist Mohd Dinie, he said participating in BAC3 really gave him valuable experience. He will go back to evaluate his weakness and promise to return stronger in 2017.

Dinie works at Royal Brunei airlines. According to Brunei's 018 Martial Arts Academy owner, Adey initially Dinie enrolled with the objective of improving his fitness only. But eventually his interest was roused when the academy regularly send their fighters to compete. He competed in his 1st Kickboxing match in BAC2.

Adey believe this lost in the Super 4 final will motivate Dinie stronger because he finds Dinie a well focused person, very humble and respectful to everyone. 

"As a coach I personally look at the personality first, rather than the talent. Dinie is a fighter who listens to me very well and accept the advice from me in order to make him improve more. He is an eager person who wants to train and seek improvements. His honest and humble personality has led me to put my trust in him, where currently he is one of my assistants in helping me to take the Kickboxing classes in the gym. Therefore, as a coach, I think the personality is the most important key in building their future whether as a fighter or not, and I do think talents comes second"

Adey, 018 Martial Arts Academy owner

In much anticipated Super Fight Female K1, Liyana from TNT Hartamas KL defeated Cindy Martin from Borneo Combat Gym Labuan.

Liyana or Li as she is fondly called by her friends is from KL and of Indian and Chinese heritage. Ask on how she felt after winning the JY Cup,

"I am really happy that I won. I was not thinking so much about winning or losing but more on performance. Cindy is tough, hard to break and came out strong in the first round so I wanted to make it as difficult as I could for her to beat me in the next round. Kien, Alyson and Tasha my cornermen really pushed me and showed so much belief in me, I have to thank them for bringing out the fighter in me!"

Sports has been a large part of her life as since 5 years old she already started playing tennis. She love competing and this is her motivation to train harder each day.

Martial arts is relatively new to her. She joined TNT Kickboxing after a friend encourage her to come along and her initial reason was just to lose weight, but her competitive nature hooked her deeper into the fighting arts and it has become her focus now.

Only at 23 this year, Liyana felt she still have a lot to learn and she is still developing her own fighting style through the guidance of her coach Alex Lim

"Winning the super fight has given me a little more confidence in myself and convinced me to continue fighting. And I hope to for as long as I can. For now my focus would be on kickboxing but I am open to try other styles eventually.

Asked on what she think of BAC
"I believe that this is the first time that BCG organized a Super fight/ Super 4 tournament and it was particularly meaningful as it was held in honor of the late Joseph Yew. I am happy to have been able to participate and honor the man that has contributed a lot to the Labuan fight scene and community as a whole.

The event went smoothly and was well organized. I hope to be back again next year!

Do u get to go around Labuan? What do you think of the place?

"It is nice to be able to wake up early run around the harbour as the sunrises. Together with my friends and fellow fighters we also visited some of the islands nearby and ate fish head soup for breakfast everyday!

This is my first time in Labuan actually. If it was not for the fight event and Alvin from BCG it might have never crossed my mind to come!

The event organised by BCG Labuan is proudly sponsored by Amnig, Dutch Lady, BoxxTomoi, Regus, Welson Aerialvideography, Perdana Cineplex, AS, Power Root, Fight Fest, One Stop Duty Free, Loong Fish Head and Mr Dicky Ng.

BAC is a platform for amateur athletes to demonstrate their talent and skills in martial arts and, as well to showcase their good sportsmanship. 2017 will be a hectic year as founder Alvin Chong has 3 events planned. BAC 4 in March 2017, BAC 5 in August 2017 and ISKA K1 National Championship in December 2017. 

Much planning has been put in place to ensure the national championship will be a success as BCG look to work closely with Labuan tourism authority to ensure participants that travel to Labuan will get the best experience and memory on what Labuan have to offer.

This will be the 1st time in history for a national level K1 Kickboxing to be organised in Malaysia. Alvin wants Borneo to lead in terms of talent pool through BAC and the other ISKA sanctions event in Sabah such as STAND & FIGHT FEST.

BAC3 also saw the continuation of the mission to produce more qualified Kickboxing and MMA referee. This time three attended the ISKA K1 & MMA Referees Course on Dec 16. It was conducted by Master Khoo Meng Yang, who is the South East Asia ISKA representative.

Borneo Amateur Challenge 2 - The Review

For the tiny island of Labuan, the oil and gas (O&G) industries and offshore banking is the catalyst for vibrant business for hotels, entertainment, retail & food business. But in recent months, Labuan is going through doldrums as oil price has been down for months and these affected the industries which reduce the amount of workers and affect the spending power of existing workers.

Fortunately there is sports tourism to contribute to the economy of Labuan. It was good to see over 70 fighters converged here on 4-5 June 2016. Fighters and their team came from all over Sabah and Brunei. This was for Borneo Amateur Challenge 2 (BAC2). Organized by Borneo Combat Gym (BCG) at their state of the art gym. (read about my previous post about BCG here).

BAC2 is not only a fight tournament featuring International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) sanctioned MMA & K1 Kickboxing, but also a referee course. The first one was in Jan 2016. For this 2nd installment, 74 fighters from 15 martial arts clubs and gym participated for the tournament and 8 sign up for the referee course. Compare to the 1st one - 54 fighters & 5 for referee course.

Team Karabaw emerged as the top winner going back with 4 gold and 1 silver. Followed by the newly formed Kinabalu Kings with a hauled of 3 gold and 3 silver. Brunei’s sole representative-ADN secured 3rd placing with 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze. Host BCG took fourth placing with 2 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze; which also makes them the team that won the most medals, 11 altogether.

Medals tally

Team Karabaw United

Kinabalu Kings

Borneo Combat Gym

Kinabalu Fighters

Tomoi Labuan

Keningau MMA

Borneon Tigers

Revolution Gym

D-30 Muaythai

The tournament was well organized and it went smooth. The facility at BCG Labuan is also top notch with a separate cage and boxing ring for both MMA & Kickboxing matches. The gym was wide enough to accommodate the crowds. It is also comfortable as natural sea breeze blew in as its located on the 5th floor of Labuan Time Square building. The height also provides an amazing view of Labuan harbor.

Alvin Chong, founder of BCG and also representative of ISKA for Borneo said that one of the objective of this tournament is to introduce more people to the ISKA referee course. He is happy that there is an increased in participants for the referee course.

As more and more tournaments are organized in this region, there’s an urgent need of more qualified referees and judges. Organizers can save cost by hiring local officials compare to bringing them in from West Malaysia.

The course offered is for level C, which covers the basic theory and learning of the rules and regulations. Participants go through a lot of practical session with lots of role play. On fight day itself, participants are put into a real fight; this is to ensure that they can perform well under pressure. All this under the watchful eye of Master Khoo Meng Yang of TNT Kickboxing ; whom is the ISKA representative for South East Asia. The experienced Master Khoo sets a very high standard for his students. During fight day he will monitor the performance of his students and will give instructions as when needed from cage / ring side. Safety of fighters is always the top priority as Master Khoo emphasize this point earnestly to his students all the time.

Qualified officials that pass the course will receive their Level C certificate and are able to be judge/referee for amateur fights. The cost of the course is RM1200. For next level which is Level B, which will enable them to be judge/referee in amateur / pro fights at national level. For international events, officials will need Level A certificate.

They are still no Level B qualified officials in this region. To qualify for Level B course, Level C officials need to clock in at least 16 hours of fights and appointed as chief judge 3 times.

Alvin aspires to see that all the gym in this region send at least one representative to go for the referee course. This will indirectly improve the standard of fight as more gym will have their own in-house qualified referee to advice their members on how to score and win.

To Alvin, this referee course offers MMA as it’s the fastest growing sports in the world today; but sometimes crowd/spectator does not understand the ground game aspect of MMA and felt it’s boring to watch fighters grapple. Stand up fight provide much actions and in Malaysia Muaythai is the more established one; however not every fighters especially those from other martial arts discipline are able to fight following full Muaythai rules. Hence K1 Kickboxing can be a great platform for all different type of traditional stand-up martial arts such as TaeKwon-Do, Karate, Kung Fu, Silat, Muaythai to fight with a common rules set that is easy to follow and which allows fast pace action.
(Read more on the difference of Kickboxing and Muaythai here)

According to him, in-fact Sabah has become a pioneer for K1 as last year Fight Fest held 2 successful K1 Kickboxing events. In April this year, STAND with 146 fighters for Kickboxing, becoming the biggest tournament yet for kickboxing event in Malaysia.

More K1 Kickboxing action coming as STAND will continue in September and November and Fight Fest 3 in October, which means a really busy time for qualified referees. D-30 Muaythai from Miri has pass the course in BAC2 and this will be good for development of Kickboxing in Sarawak.

I also managed to catch up with Mohd Bakri of Keningau MMA (KMMA) on his team's participation in BAC2

Hi Matt, can you name me KMMA's full team for BAC2
Coach : Mohamad Bin Bakri, CornerMan : Mohd. Sharil
Fighters :
1. Writh Kataposan (Gold 60kg MMA.
2. Johari Aliakbar, (Bronze 70kg MMA)
3. Ericcory Lovejoy Akisin (Silver 70kg MMA)
4. Cheung Tien Loong (Bronze 52kg K1)

This is KMMA 2nd participation in BAC, how was the outcome compare to the 1st one? 

For BAC1 we only send 1 fighter only, and for this BAC2, we send 4 fighters, 3 for MMA & 1 for K1. So far I'm very proud with their achievement and they really did their best during their fight.

Please share about what you find is positive about BAC2.
BAC2 gives an opportunity for fighters to show their skills from what they have learned during training. It also gives opportunity for the fighters to learn something new and also for them to improve and add on their fight record.

Anything you felt need to improve? 

So far so good. I'm actually very impressed with their teamwork that make the event successful.

Usually does KMMA sponsor fighters to join competition, or basically fighters pay the travelling & accommodation on their own?

It depends. Sometimes we work hard to find our own sponsors, but if there is no sponsors, we will used our own money to cover the cost of food expenses and accommodation.

Usually the trainee that goes thru the ref course on Friday will be given a practical session in the competition day, what is your opinion on this?

I do not quite agree with this, if they only become as an observers it is still acceptable, but if they become ref during competition, the quality of the ref will be disputed.

What do you think of the ref standard in BAC 1 & 2? 

I am not involved with BAC1 so I don't really have any comments, but for BAC2, I think that the ref should be given more exposure before becoming ref during real competition to avoid any problems. But overall, they have done a very good job during the BAC2.

How do you find the facilities in BCG? 

Very good, complete and I think it is the largest gym compared with the gym in Kota Kinabalu.

For BAC2, what do you think of the quality of fights?

The quality of the fight was very good, every fighters trained hard for this and did their best during the fight.

What do you think of Labuan?
Labuan is a fascinating place, although we only had time to visit in the urban areas, ( since there is not enough time). In terms of tourist attractions, I personally think that Labuan should have more relaxed oriented waterfront seaside outlets.

How do you think Coach Alvin of BCG has done right for BCG and BAC?
A very successful effort shown by Coach Alvin in promoting the art of Muaythai, Kickboxing and MMA. We can see that he is very successful when he established BCG Labuan with advanced facilities and I'm sure that it is the largest gym compared to the gym located in Kota Kinabalu. He's success can really inspired others.

KMMA is located in Keningau and always have to travel out from there for competition, how do you feel about this?
We do see this as a challenge, but if you want to be successful, you need to sacrifice time and effort and travelling cost. We try to join any event that we can.

KMMA lately is also very active in running events...is this part of the training for your fighers?

Yes, you can say that. Besides exposing things to them, this can also instill their courage, determination and spirit. Plus, it can also improve their breathing for their fights.