MIMMA 5 : NAIMUL AMAL'S HARD WORKS PAID OFF

Standing at the backstage, Naimul ‘the Convict’ Amal Othman can hear the intro video playing in the hall, as he waited for his name to be called for the walk-out. It's the second last bout of the night. Between Naimul and Jay Muran for the vacant flyweight title. Stadium Juara has been rocked with 6 other exciting fight that night on 30 March 2018.

Naimul’s brother Dhiaaul earlier on had emerge victorious winning the Bantamweight belt. Now it’s for him to fulfil his end of the bargain, to go home together as champion.

Tupac Shakur’s Soldier came on. He listened to Tupac’s music since he was a teenager. The song Soldier meant a lot to him. It reminds him of his struggles to reach here in MIMMA 5 grand finals. Naimul calmly uttered a prayer, then breathe in deeply and began his walk-out accompanied by his coach Joe Lorenzo Kitingan and Dhiaaul.

As he walks, he felt a mixture of excitement and nervousness. But the further he walk, he felt he is leaving all the tension and stress behind. He is leaving everything to ALLAH now.

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The flyweight championship fight was 3 rounds of thriller. Jay Muran is known for his ground game, but Naimul was the one that was well rounded. He dominated the stand-up and the grappling exchanges. His gas tank was also not depleted compare to Jay.

Both engaged with some wild exchanges in early round 1, but Jay was quick to attempt take down. He scored one ala Khabib Nurmagomedov by carrying Naimul across the cage & dumped him near his corner.

But Naimul was very hard to be kept down. He managed to reverse and continue to trade blows. But it was Naimul gaining the better of the exchanges, ending round 1 with 40 seconds unleashing ground and pound on Jay Jay.

Naimul open round 2 with a feint punches that set up for his left high kick that caught Jay Jay’s chin. At one point Jay Jay got Naimul’s back but Naimul control his hands well and managed to turn into Jay Jay’s guard and gain top position. After few seconds he stood and let Jay Jay back on his feet.

As they were pacing each other, Jay Jay pointed to something on his opponent’s face, but Naimul did not acknowledge and wants the fight to continue, until ref Dana intervene and cleared what seems to be a detached contact lens from below Naimul’s left eye.

Round 2 ended with Jay Jay caught in Naimul’s body triangle.

Round 3 Jay Jay got a take down but look exhausted to keep Naimul down, a few scramble later and a weak attempt by Jay Jay on a single leg led Naimul to get on top, with knee on belly he unleashed numerous strikes from top that the ref had to stop the fight at round 3, minute 1:39

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A win that was truly emotional for Naimul as he rushes to climb on to the cage , raised his hand to acknowledge God.

In a post fight interview, Naimul remark about the fight:
" I’m not surprised of Jay's gameplan, I knew he's going to take me down and fight me on the ground. But I was prepared for any situation. Stand up or ground just bring it on. I was prepared for war."

a visibly ecstatic Joe Lorenzo celebrating Naimul's win

Ask what was on his mind each round,
"Each round what I was thinking is that I will break his heart. I will make him doubt his own ability. All of his attempt will not work until he's tired."

Who he wants to acknowledge for his victory.
"Firstly I thank Allah, I pray to Allah to give me the victory and give me the ability to go through all the obstacles in my life and everything. I thank my parents, my in-laws for blessing me in this career. My wife, the backbone, she prepared for me almost everything, motivates me, hear me, and believe me. My coach Joe Lorenzo and my brother Dhiaaul in training. All my family members and All the true friends. I thank Allah for giving me all this companion in my life."

Emotional embrace with his parents after the victory

"And a great shout out to my sponsors Hutan Ration and HEAL Studio. Thanks to Tune Talk and MIMMA; there's always something sentimental with MIMMA as this is where my MMA path kick started, it means a lot for winning the MIMMA belt. Alhamdulillah."

strong support from family and friends

strong sponsors support

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Earlier before his fight that night, Naimul was cornering Dhiaaul in his bantamweight fight vs Sabahan Effendy Kalai. Dhiaaul endured Effendy’s heavy hands and eventually got hold of Effendy's arm and locked in a tight armbar for a finish.

Naim admit he was nervous at first but he was not worried, he knew Dhiaaul could handle the initially heavy onslaught. He has been training hard with Dhiaaul under Joe Lorenzo and has the utmost confidence for Dhiaaul to be crowned the Bantamweight Champion that night.

Back in 2015, in MIMMA’s season 3 Contender Fight, Naimul had to fight Dhiaaul for a place in the grand final flyweight category. It was a difficult decision but, being in the top of the flyweight division for both, it was inevitable for them to meet each other. They were very professional and went into the cage with full commitment of a good performance.



Dhiaaul emerged winner via armlock in round 2 and went on to challenge Seah Zhang Yu.

It is certainly dream come true for the Amal brothers this year as they both emerged as champion on that night. Very emotional win for Naimul as the hardship and sacrifice he had made ( read his pre-event story here ) finally bear fruit

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In the holy month of Ramadhan Naimul took time to be closer to God. Fasting and praying and ever thankful for every blessings and challenges God has given him. He also took time to help his close friend of 12 years and fellow MMA athlete Ridzuan Dahari in business.

They operate a stall in the Ramadhan Bazaar at Kompleks PKNS and selling Ridzuan’s famous Mafioso Seafood shellout. Business is good.

Naimul (R) with Ridzuan (L) and a friend

This year Hari Raya Naimul look forward to spend quality time with family and enjoy the good food during the festive period. He will spend the first two days of Raya at Shah Alam and following 3rd day at Muar Johor, his wife’s hometown.

Food wise, during Ramadhan his favourite ‘buka puasa’ dish is Nasi Briyani Kambing! And this coming Hari Raya he is craving for ketupat palas and lemang which goes perfectly well with the delicious rendang that his mom is best known for.

With his shiny MIMMA 5 Flyweight belt on his side, this Hari Raya will definitely be a time for Naimul to cherish and remember for a long time to come.

Warriors of Borneo wishes the Amal brothers, Naimul and Dhiaaul and their family a happy and joyful Hari Raya Aidilfitri .

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Story by Tan Wallace

MIMMA 5 : AHMED ZAREH FINISHED WHAT HE STARTED IN 2014

In 2015, MIMMA 3 saw two brothers enter the cage. It was for the contender fight to see who progress to the grand finals. It was a very emotional fight as both fighters Naimul Amal & Dhiaaul Amal was two high caliber athlete. Eventually Dhiaaul won the fight to challenge for the flyweight title.

This year in 30 March, another momentous fight went into the records of MIMMA. In the welterweight division saw defending champion Theeban Gobindasamy fought his martial arts brother, a good friend and team mate Norahmed Ali Zareh for MIMMA 5 championship belt. These two had been training together for a few years in the same gym.

The fight went all 5 championship round as both fighters showed tenacity, good exchanges of techniques and warrior spirit. In the end Ahmed Zahreh hand was raised, marking the change of waist for the welterweight title but maintain at the same gym as they both represent Klinch MMA.

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Let’s get to know Ahmed Zahreh, the new MIMMA Welterweight Champion

As a Sabahan writer that started this blog to promote Borneon martial arts, but eventually expanded to whole Malaysia; it gives me a good feeling to always finds some Sabahan connection to the fighters I interview. As for Ahmed, he is half Sabahan from his mother side whom is a mix Chinese Malay. He got the middle eastern look and height from his Iranian father.

His parents met in USA, and he was born in San Francisco California. They moved back to KL when he was a toddler but soon moved back to USA and Ahmed grew up studying from primary schools till his tertiary education there. He graduated with an architectural degree from Cooper Union Uni in New York.

His first exposure to martial arts was when his mom enroll him and his sister in Karate when they were young.

“I wasn’t very good at team sports, and I tended to space out a lot, so individual sports seemed like a better option. I found the katas (patterns) boring, but I loved sparring, and I continued karate until secondary school.” 

His first intro to MMA was from his late uncle whom showed him a few old VHS tape of PRIDE & UFC. Ahmed didn’t show interest then as he finds it very barbaric. It wasn’t until he enters Uni that he fell in love with MMA.

As the new MIMMA champion, Ahmed currently holds a record of 7-1 ( amateur MMA ). 2-0 in amateur Muay Thai and 1-0 in professional Muay Thai. He has competed in a lot of BJJ competition as a white belt and blue belt, winning several regional tournaments. 

Ahmed remembers that he lost badly in a competition when he was a child. He recall being embarrass about it very much. 

“ So as an adult, I was scared to try. I knew I was competitive in training, and I would push myself as hard as possible, but the thought of losing in front of family and friends terrified me. “

As an adult, his first competition was in Bangkok Open BJJ in 2013. Competing as a white belt in a bracket with 70 competitor. He was so nervous that his hands was shaking badly. But looking across the mat, he noticed that his opponents was shaking even worse. This realization that everyone was equally scared gave him the confidence to dive in. After 6 matches, he won a silver medal…after this he was hooked!

"Everyone handles competition differently. Personally, I keep a very cold, calculated aggression. During the match I don’t see my opponent as a person, but as a problem - a puzzle that I have to rip apart and solve. After the match it’s all respect, but during the match I’m cold and ruthless."

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Back in KL towards 2014, Ahmed and his younger brother Ehsan was looking for a gym to train. Klinch MMA became their choice. After a couple of sessions they were ask to compete in MIMMA2 and they just say yes. 

It was a good debut for the brothers. Ehsan reached the quarter-finals and Ahmed reached the semi-finals, where he lost to Agilan Thani- current ONE Championship welterweight contender. Till date, that’s the only blemish in his MMA record.

After that first stint in MIMMA, work took over his life. His work as an architect took him to Singapore. He engross himself in work and martial arts took a back seat. But the itch never did go away. Ahmed felt that he came close to win the belt in 2014 and toy with the idea of getting back in the scene. This idea became stronger as he moved back to KL and after settling down and getting back into training.

“During the day I wear many hats. I’m running my own architecture and interior design practice - CAN Design - that is rapidly growing. I also work for a developer, doing conceptual direction for development projects. It’s a lot of work to manage, and I definitely look at training as the time I can destress.”

Work stress became an excuse for him to train and he gave the same focus and attention to training as he did for his work.

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I talked to Ahmed to find out about his MIMMA 5 journey.

What was the toughest parts about MIMMA5? Which fight did you find the hardest and which win was your most satisfying?
The toughest part of the league is how bloody long it takes. After signing up I was horrified to find out that the tournament was almost a year long. That’s so much of your life, dedicated to monthly fights. It’s a lot of stress on fighters, both physically, mentally, emotionally and professionally. When you know you have 8 fights until the end, it’s exhausting.

enroute to the final, Ahmed scored a hilight reel knockout of Hasrul ( MIMMA2 lightweight champion)

The two toughest opponents for me were Teh Kah Wei and Theebaan. Throughout the tournament, I wasn’t really training hard, due to work commitments, life events and such. I had gotten married the month of my fight with Teh Kah Wei, so I hardly trained, and I was full of marriage weight. It was a brutal fight, and I was relieved I got the win. After that figh,t I pushed myself to train harder.

Ahmed and Khaleelah got married in Sept 2017

When I faced Theebaan I felt much more in shape, and he still pushed me to my limits. He was bigger, stronger and faster than me, and put me into very bad situations. I felt proud getting the win, but even more proud knowing we put on a good show for the fans and our fellow teammates. 

I am really impressed that you are able to take the time to train, with your wedding last year, and working as a archi / interior consultant.
Yeah, I don't sleep much. I work all day then I run straight into training, so I'm usually exhausted in training.

pouring out blood sweat & tears...with his brother cum coach Ehsan

What kept you going? What supplements you on man?
Haha hardly any supplements. Cod fish oil, amino acids for recovery and magnesium for sleep. And coffee, lots of coffee. The coffee is always kopi c kosong ping, or kopi kaw! Always strong!

You have good gene. Must be your Persian DNA... LoL
Very possible. My dad is a workaholic too, who runs marathons in his free time. He doesn't like violence, but he's very competitive. We get our competitive streak and work ethic from him.

What about your mom? Tell me her attributes.
I think I got my mental game from my mom. She's very analytical, and very calm approaching problems. I try to bring that mentality into my fights and my fight prep.
She always says - I don't want you to fight. But if you do, you better win

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When you started in season 5, did the thought of fighting Theeban for the title cross your mind?
Of course. We both felt that we could beat everyone else in the league. We had a talk at the beginning of the tournament, and we decided we would help each other clear the division and then fight each other for real.

You didn't fight each other during league matches, was it deliberate?
Yes. We didn’t want to fight each other if it wasn’t for a belt. When the championship was on the line we could both fight each other with everything we had. Otherwise it didn’t seem worth it.

Take us through the fight in finals... you seem to have the upper hand in grappling and have more in the gas tank. Was it according to game plan or you need to adjust somewhat.
That was very much the game plan. My brother - Ehsan Zareh - put together a game plan for us, built around grappling and taking the fight to the mat. We knew that in a striking match Theebaan would give us trouble, but we would have the advantage in an MMA match. 

Ehsan’s strategy was to use angles to enter into exchange range, and either shoot or use the threat of takedowns to land strikes, back into takedowns. Once on the ground, just deal damage and control. I expected to fight five rounds, so we tried to develop the cardio to be able to wrestle and box for five rounds straight. Theebaan is strong, and wrestling with him was draining, so I had a harder time implementing the footwork, but overall the strategy worked.

I was at your corner and I can hear your corner shouting you instructions. They gave good and specific instructions which is very technical. Who’s at your corner?
The bald American is my friend Luke Leasure. He’s a pro MMA fighter, BJJ brown belt and American wrestler. He and I used to train together in Singapore, and he came up to support and corner me for this fight. He’s EXTREMELY loud, so he’s a great corner.

The other guy is Ehsan is my younger brother. He’s my junior of ten years. I actually got him into martial arts as a child, and later got him into BJJ and Muay Thai. He's a BJJ blue belt (I'm a purple), but he's a really good wrestler and a much more talented BJJ exponent. When we participated in MIMMA 2014 together he was only 17!

with Ehsan (R) & Luke (L)

Who coached Theeban for the finals? Did you get to choose who your coach is between the two of you when you know you going to fight each other? 

Theebaan and I had to find our own coaches for the final, but we agreed that we would split the gym and its resources. Both of us could use the same training partners in the gym, and both of us could use the facilities (at different times). For me it was fairly straightforward, as my brother has been coaching me for the last couple fights, so he continued coaching me for this fight. 

We worked on strategies, conditioning and code-names for this fight. Theebaan worked with another one of his friends and long time training partners. Both of us worked closely with our training partners in the gym - Syamir, Vlad and Chris. Everyone remained impartial and supportive of both of us. 

Tell us your relationship with Theeban before and after your fight?
Going into fight camp against Theebaan it was all business. I have to shut my mind off from my opponent. I was polite and friendly, but the closer it got to the fight, the colder I got. It’s all business, and I had to treat it like business. After the fight we went back to being homies. We hugged it out and went back to joking and chatting like normal.

How did you celebrate the win? How much does this title means to you?
We went straight to a fried chicken place and binged on ayam goreng (fried chicken). Theebaan still owes me a session of fried chicken and karaoke (my treat).

It’s been a long journey to the title - 4 years of training, building experience and skills, and one intense year of training and fighting. It’s a milestone for me as a martial artist. I’ve been practicing martial arts so long, and this is my first championship belt.

Will we see more of you in MMA? Since season 6 may not be until 2019. 

This season has taken a lot of me. I’m not thinking about competition right now, and I’m trying to focus on my work and my family.

Tell us about your walk out song. What makes you choose it?
I walked out to ‘Ultimate’ by Denzel Curry . I wanted a crazy, hype song to get the crowd going and to pump me up. I wanted something wild to get the energy up!

Tell us what you do for leisure? How you unwind after a hard day training?
Believe it or not, I work so much that fighting is my leisure! When I have time I’m training, but if I’m not training I’m drawing. I love to draw and write - I’ve been drawing my whole life. ( check out some of Ahmed’s work in his website KufikDesign.com) 

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Let’s talk a bit about MIMMA5. How do you feel about the league format, which was design to give more cage time for fighters to build experience. I don't think fighters needed more fights, I think fighters need better preparation. I think the way forward is two fold:

1st - divide the MIMMA pool between feeder league and high level league.

At this point we have enough fighters that have experience. We can put together the high level fighter into a league of their own. With proper ranking. Fighters who are just trying out can go through a single elimination tournament, because they still need to filter the mediocre from the talented.

This ensures higher quality fights, better entertainment value and less mismatches. Also, fighters within this 'big league' can be reimbursed and promoted.

If you have 32 figures in each weight class, and 60 percent aren't very good, how do you promote any? How do you create star value? It's not good for the business.

2nd - LESS FIGHTS.
By separating the levels you can create less events, but promote these events better. Make 4 big shows a year, stack them with well matched fights and promote each fighter. This will mean more eyes on MIMMA, more career opportunity for fighters and - most importantly- more fighter safety.

Fighters should not fight 10 times in a year. It's not healthy, and it's unsafe. CTE ( chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is a real problem, and providing unprepared amateurs financial incentive to put their health at risk is not responsible

That's a good perspective and a good proposal for MIMMA to think about.

Ahmed, Ehsan (R) and their father (center) - wishing all Muslim a Happy Ramadan

Lastly who do you wanna thank for this victory.

I'd like to thank my wife and family, Klinch MMA for the support, TAGS Spine and joint for making sure I could make it to the fights, and my partners and colleagues at CAN Design, my new design company. 

strong family & friends support

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me with the champ

DAMON SOO BECOMES THE FIRST MALAYSIAN TO WIN MIMMA TITLE IN TWO WEIGHT DIVISION

There’s no denying that the fight game world can be very superficial sometimes. Combat sports is a visual feast where we like to see two fighters go at each other.

As fight fans, a lot of the times we make judgement by the outer appearance. We see some fighters that have a buffed body and wins easily and our mind began making an opinion that he had it easy because he is blessed with good gene and gifted talent. Not knowing the amount of sheer hard work and sacrifices they have to make to achieve success.

One such fighter fights in MIMMA. One look at Damon Soo and he looks like a fitness model who won’t look out of place on a fitness cover mag cover. 


Damon was MIMMA 4 Bantamweight champion. On 30 March 2018, he was crowned MIMMA 5 Featherweight Champion. Thus, becoming the first Malaysian to become MIMMA’s 1st two weight division champion.

As a kid growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Damon had an interest in martial arts & he took up Karate. But after he got into a fight with his brother, his mother stopped his Karate lessons.

As a young adult he attended HELP University College taking a Diploma in Business. His interest in martial arts again surfaced and he tried Wing Chun but then quickly switched to Muaythai. 

It was in 2013 that he watched MIMMA 1. It left a huge impression on him that he made a firm decision to be part of it in season 2. 

He quit his job as a real estate agent and started training full time, enrolling in Leverage BJJ, MEBJJ and Wesgatos Fight School to prepare for MIMMA.

Two years in a row Damon’s MIMMA 2 & 3 journey ended at the quarterfinals. But this loss does not dampened his spirit. With renewed vigour, he made sure he is well prepared for 2016.

Damon takes his preparation very seriously. After stumbling twice in MIMMA, he is more determined to improve on his skills. Towards the end of 2015, he took some personal savings and borrowed some money and flew all the way to Brazil to train in his BJJ coach’s Prof Marcos Escobar team - Nova Uniao (this is also the former UFC featherweight champion Jose Also’s team). Damon trained there for 5 months. 

“Training there was insanely tough as the Brazilians train hard and spar hard as if it's a real fight (I got knocked out once, also fractured my nose and got other injuries during MMA sparring over there). 

The experience of training there definitely improved my MMA game”

Coming back to Malaysia, he put in hours of training to sharpen his skills. MIMMA 4 was his time. In the tournament, he won 4 fights in a row and met Effendy Kalai in the grand finals. It took Damon less than two round to win the bouts via choke to be the new Bantamweight Champion.

Season 4 achievement was certainly hard earned as he went through some tough journey. The biggest challenge was to maintain weight. Walking around at 73kg, Damon had to cut to 61kg for all his fight in featherweight. 

cutting weight is pain in the butt but necessary evil

Then it was dealing with multiple injuries, not just from the fight itself but also from training as Damon always go hard during sparring. One of the injuries was a cut below his eyes. It got worst when it was infected. Damon had to bear with it as he took.

MIMMA 4 Championship belt firmly on his waist

"In season 4, I almost gave up a number of times because of the big weight cuts and injuries I sustained before the Contenders and Grand Finals fight. 

Because of all that, the sweet victory will definitely be remembered by me for life;

it proved to me that success will follow with hard work, perseverance and sacrifices."

In 2017, Damon actually planned to take a break and focus on his BJJ by training more and also compete more in grappling, but there was too little local BJJ comp. Most comp are out of Malaysia and it was costly for him to travel often.

The idea of winning another weight division in MIMMA appeal to Damon, because if he succeeds, he will go down in history as the 1st fighter to do so. Furthermore season 4 new league format intrigue him as it present an opportunity to keep active.

“The desire to compete more frequently was the drive and the motivation was the prize of being able to be the first Malaysian to become MIMMA champion in two different weight categories.”


But Damon’s season 5 plan did not start well. He was experiencing headaches and feeling tired most of the time. Worried, he went to had it check. When league 1 started, the medical results was not back yet and Damon had to miss it.

It was a huge relief for Damon when the results came back and proof that he is in perfect health. So he confirmed his participation for MIMMA 5, this time in featherweight to avoid the stress of cutting weight as the new league format requires fighter to fight 9 months in a row from league 1 to grand finals).

At start of the league, looking at the featherweight pool, Damon was confident that he can win it, the real challenge was keeping himself healthy and injury free throughout season 5. But that was tall order, he was injured but he fought through it.

By league 2 he was ready, but his opponent pulled out. He won league 3 & 4 by submission. Dropped league 5 as he sustained a knee injury. League 6 again his opponent pulled out. League 7 & the semis, he came out victorious both times via arm-lock. 

winning in league 3

winning in league 4

Damon win all his league fights and the semis by submission. This was part of the plan even though he trains equally hard in striking. The plan was to bring the fight to the ground to avoid injuries. Standing and striking puts himself at a higher risk of injuries as anyone can get a lucky shot when trading blows but, on the ground it’s all about skills.

“For the finals I felt comfortable with striking more because even if I get any injuries its already the last fight anyway so I can take time off to recover."

"I wanted to showcase my striking and prove to everyone that I am not just a one-dimensional MMA fighter who is only deadly on the ground but also dangerous standing up.”






Though Damon won MIMMA 5 featherweight title in record time, but season 5 was a tougher journey compare to season 4. On paper his medical results showed that he was fine. But he does not feel so right inside. The headaches were gone but he couldn’t shake off the fatigue. He sometimes gets rashes on his chest.

“I had to drink lots coffee to push myself through training and on sparring days I would get punished and eat a lot of strikes or get taken down hard as I was not 100%. 

I guess because of this, I suffered a lot of injuries too.”

Physical challenges he can overcome, what really affected him was the mental challenges.

Started when his grandmother in Ipoh fell sick. She called him during his training. Damon promise to return call but forgot all about it. Little did he know that it was the last he got to talk to her as she pass away shortly after; making Damon felt very guilty. He was focusing on his training so much that he didn’t have the time to travel back to Ipoh to visit her when she was sick, and he didn’t expect her condition to worsen so fast.

The guilt seriously affected him mentally and causes him to be bulimic. He ate a lot to comfort himself but afterward vomit it all out again. This problem persist during his league matches and he was considering pulling out a number of time.

remembering his beloved grandmother

“The one time that I seriously made up my mind to give up was 2 weeks before the grand finals but Aaron Goh managed to talk me out of it.”

Aaron Goh his BJJ coach in MEBJJ Academy is truly a pillar of strength for Damon.

“He isn't just a BJJ coach to me but he is like an older brother I never had before. 

I don't talk to people about my problems but I do talk to him and ask for advice. I believe to him I am also the younger brother he never had, he is always there for me, ready to guide, advice or help." 

clelebrating a win with Aaron Goh

"Character wise, Aaron is the same as I. He doesn't like to share with others his problems but he shares his problems with me. 

I guess it’s only natural that we are very close as we see each other 6 days a week.”

Ask on who impressed him most in this season's featherweight.

“Johan performed beyond my expectation. I didn't expect him to win all his fights and also winning it all by finishes and not decision. 

I thought I would be facing Joseph in the finals not Johan.”

Damon took us through his MIMMA 5 grand finals bout with Johan.

“My game-plan of standing up was to set up with my hands and throw a lot of leg kicks to cause damage and mess up his footwork." 

"Also I have watched/studied his last fight and knew that his guard on top was quite open so I knew I could land on top too if I could close the distance. 

During the fight I was focusing on closing the distance. I did some real damage when I countered his jab cross with a right body hook, left hook and right hook to the top but he managed to moved out around the cage and recover though I was on him. 

When we got back to the center of the cage, this was when I felt that I could go in and throw the overhand right which landed and dropped him to the ground.”

As Johan fell on the canvas, like a panther on a hunt, Damon pounced on him and unleased ground and pound. Seeing enough ref Olivier Coste stop the fight at round 1 0:49 sec. 

featherweight belt presented by Ayob of Potosan Corner (VENUM)

“ I have a lot of people to thank for my achievements. My coaches Aaron Goh, Wes Jaya, Alex Gym, Pourya Moradi, Joseph Lee."

flank by Aaron Goh (L) & Wes Jaya (R)

"My whole team from Leverage BJJ, Malaya Boxing, Alex Gym, Team X Fight Academy. 
Cheah Wen Khyn and Shammah my main and most consistent MMA sparring partners. Horng Yaw from Team X for always helping me with weight cuts."

On Damon's right, Cheah Wen Khyn & Shammah

"My sponsors Rendezbrew, Acai Lab, Finix Muay Thai, Aesthetic, Soluxe Protein." 

Fuel for the champion

"Also my head coach Marcos Escobar for always believing in me and giving me the opportunity to train in Nova Uniao, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The experience was really unforgettable and made me improved a lot as a fighter both mentally and physically." 

Prof Marcos Escobar celebrating Damon's MIMMA4 championship victory

"And sifu Kenneth Lam for letting us use his gym to do MMA sparring as his gym has padded walls and is perfect for MMA sparring.”

On what he thinks about MIMMA 5 league format
“I think the league format is good for fighters to gain more fights and experience as win or lose they still will get to fight a number of times. 

However, I think the amount of rest time in between fights need to be increase as fighting once per month for 9 fights takes too much out of a fighter's body. More time is needed to recover and avoid injuries." 

Stretching is an important routine for Damon for recovery of sore muscles

"Also, I feel that for the champions it is a bit unfair that they don't get to defend their belt anymore and they have to start from the bottom again if they want to be champions again.”

Currently turning pro is not on his mind as he noticed that pro MMA fighters in Malaysia does not get paid that much, unless they get a huge sponsor. What is on his mind is to able to cope financially for his own training, supplements, food and injuries treatment. 

To celebrate his victory of MIMMA 5, Damon and team mates went for a simple meal in a café. To them the job is still not done yet as they still have another hill to climb in Copa da Malasia Grappling comp in April.

Damon in 2017's Copa Da Malasia

Getting to know what Damon went through gave me a newfound respect for him and our other local fighters. The amount of hard work they go through, the sacrifices they have to make, even at amateur competition level are something we all should keep in mind when watching them fight. What we see for 3 or 5 rounds is the culmination of weeks & months of preparing the body and mind for battle.

Athletes like Damon Soo are the ones going through hardship to step in the cage, perform to their best abilities to give us all an entertaining fight to watch. They are truly warriors.

Warriors of Borneo salute Damon and all the MIMMA fighters!