Back in 2015, Johan Julian had a vision to make combat accessible to general public. He believe that the combat sports scene in Sabah is still fragmented and he envision an event that can bring together different types of martial arts in a single event. He call it FIGHT FEST
Johan Julian Abdullah
He put that vision into reality when he kick-started the first event, FIGHT FEST: KINGS OF KINGS at Dewan Masyarakat Kota Kinabalu in April 2015. In that historic event saw the first K1 Kickboxing competition ever being held in Borneo under the sanction of ISKA.
That event saw the epic battle between Dean Hamsah and Azrin Kadri, in the Super 4 MMA. Both warrior gave their all and went down as one of the best MMA fight in Borneo. That inaugural event also saw MIMMA 1 heavyweight Champion, Adrian Tham won his first K1 Kickboxing Super Fight.
Dean Hamsah (R) vs Azrin Kadri in FF1
Following the success of the first event, sponsors came in and Julian held his second event; FIGHT FEST: ACT OF WAR in Citymall, in Sept 2015 with POWER ROOT as the main sponsor. A successful K1 Kickboxing tournament and MMA super fight saw the mall packed with crowds. Mohd Hasbullah established himself as the top flyweight in Sabah by winning The Super 4 MMA.
To further expand the activities of FIGHT FEST, Julian organised MATA LEAO in March 2016 in Likas Sports Complex. This was one of the first submission only grappling tournament ever held in Borneo using ADCC rules set. Click to read the event coverage here.
Fight Fest again broke new ground when it organised the 1st martial arts business summit, I believe the first in Malaysia to do so. That inaugural event in August 2016 saw 8 speakers from different industry came together to present their topic and exchange ideas between the industry players and martial arts enthusiast. Warriors of Borneo was honored to be invited as one of the speakers.
October 2016 finally saw Julian's vision fully came together in FIGHT FEST 3: KINGDOM COMES. Sponsored by FITLINE, a plethora of combat sports activities converge in Suria Sabah Mall which saw; Luta Livre Workshop, K1 Kickboxing Tournament, MMA Super-Fight, Shogun BJJ Tournament, Mata Leao Submission Grappling, Cosplay, Trade booth, Video Games competition and Functional Fitness.
One of the most memorable activities was the flash mob dance lead by Thomas Tay of FitLine and Michelle Koh of Fuze Fitness which saw a record breaking convergence of close to 250 dancers in a mall.
Flash mob dance in support of Pink Ribbon Sabah
Michelle Koh leading the energetic dance session
This was also the first time Fight Fest offer a title belt fight, which saw Anil Mehta of Team Relentless India bringing home the 65kg K1 Title Belt.
In Feb 2017, Fight Fest went to the grassroots. They collaborated with SIDMA College to held a K1 Kickboxing tournament for newbies call FIGHT FEST: YOUNG GUNS.
This 7-8 October, the 4th edition is back with FIGHT FEST: ART OF COMBAT (FF4) brought to us by DEKOJUTAas the main sponsor. The iconic shopping mall of Centre Point Sabah will be the new venue sponsor and Extra POWER ROOT the official drinks.
Mr Sherzali Asli , Director of DEKOJUTAwith Julian
Mr. Sherzali Asli when presenting the sponsor K1 Title Belt to Julian mentioned, " DEKOJUTA strongly supports FIGHT FEST, as an event that promote healthy lifestyle for everyone. In particular practicing martial arts as a lifestyle that builds mental toughness, mould good character, instill discipline and promotes physical well being. These are all attributes that can build a progressive generations to bring our state Sabah and Malaysia to new height."
Julian with Mr Edward Chang, General Manager of Pan-Pacific Construction, the management company for Centre Point Sabah
Julian with Antonio Battistessa. Antonio is founder of Sabah Top Team and president of Luta Livre Asia Pacific Union. The MATA LEAO grappling tournament will be refereed by Antonio
Continuing the concept of a martial arts festival, FF4 will see these activities ;
Muaythai Novice Tournament
K1 Kickboxing Super Fight
Kids Muaythai
K1 65kg Title Fight
Shogun BJJ Tournamanet
Mata Leao Submission Grappling
Virtual reality games
Martial arts demo
Trade booths
The Muaythai Novice Tournament is supported by Muaythai Association of Sabah and Muaythai Association of Kota Kinabalu District. Julian expect to see 50 Muay thai exponents take part. This tournament is held to unearth more new talents for Sabah Muaythai. Giving this young guns a level playing field where the criteria of the participants is that they must be amateur with maximum 3 fights experience.
As for K1 Kickboxing tournament, this is supported by ISKA. Super Fights are special bouts where match between two highly skilled and accomplished combatants are pitted against each other. FF4 will see 11 Super Fights with the highlight of the event is the 65kg Title Fight between Kinabalu Kings Reyan Abdul 'Pemburu Bayang' and Kinabalu Fighters Aziz Hoo GwoJye 'The Shantung Zai'
Title fight Reyan vs Aziz
Some of the other exciting Super Fights,...
Rosdee ( Black Mamba ) vs Yi Ran (D-30)
Neara vs Baeby (BRL)
Shazmiel (Kinabalu Kings) vs Danial ( Clownbox)
Zul 'Corner Shot' vs Morris (D-30)
Edilah (BTS) vs Nurul (Karabaw)
Azril (BRL) vs Wawan (66 Unicorn)
Awie (Tim Muaythai ) vs Andrew (BRL)
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will also be competed under the banner of SHOGUN. For the uninitiated, this is a grappling contest utilising wrestling moves, locks, take down and positioning to gain points and control over opponents. This is contested with competitors wearing 'gi'. A martial arts uniform made of thick and durable fabric.
For MATA LEAO Submission grappling tourney, the high-light will be the fight for the Blue/Purple Belt category which for the first time a title belt will be given to the winner. This category is for Absolute ( no weight limit ). MATA LEAO competed using the Luta Livre rules set ( which is a hybrid of ADCC & IBJJF rules ), and is sanctioned by Luta Livre Asia Pacific Union. It is competed wearing rash guard ( without the traditional 'gi' )
Jitendre Khare of Team Relentless India has confirmed his participation to fight for the belt. Jitendre is a ex state Judoka of India and is widely considered as the pioneer of MMA in India with direct involvement in Yoddha Fighting Championship, an India base amateur MMA league that has become the platform for new MMA talents to emerge from India.
Jitendre himself is founder of Team Relentless, which has produce a number of India's champion.
Jitendre Khare of Team Relentless
To keep us all entertain, these are the activities:
Evolution Fight Team will demonstrtae on TaeKwon-Do
Persatuan Silat Gayong will demonstrate the traditional Malay martial arts of Silat
Michelle Koh with Fuze Fitness
Virtual Reality games by Virtual Dimension
on ground activities by Power Root
test the power of your strike with Combat Science conducted by Hilmi Reitz
Fight Fest event poster designer Iylia Azri, whom will also launch his Fight Comics combat sports inspire tees, check out the limited edition design which will be on sale there
fight gear from RAMPAGE will be on sales, check out this local brand that provides high quality fight gear to suits your training, sparring and competition needs
Johan Julian of Fight Fest explained that this project main objective is to grow the combat sports scene in this region. Fight Fest already have a running cooperation with PMDKK on Muaythai tournament, so this project is to further enhance the cooperation by organizing a Super 8 Muaythai competition.
from (L to R) Johan Julian, Muslee Tuah PMDKK President and Edmund Lai of Axtrada
Axtrada came in as the sponsor for venue. The venue which is name A Square Mart is a new unique concept of night market - food court in Borneo; where food kiosk are place inside special designed container. These food kiosk are specially selected for their food uniqueness and specialty.
The food kiosk is located in an open air car park while the fight event is located inside a hall just next to it. This venue was previously the popular Ocean Seafood Restaurant, which is situated next to Promenade Hotel.
Visitors that came to watch the fight were able to get delicious refreshment from the food kiosk and as for those who came for the food only was in for a nice surprise to experience watching combat sports.
Food kiosk offering delicious and yummy street food
Inside the hall, a MMA cage and a Boxing ring was set up. The octagon shape MMA cage is where cage boxing is held and the Muaythai Super 8 under amateur rules was conducted inside the square boxing ring.
Muaythai Super-8
The Super 8 Muaythai, which is contested under amateur rules, saw a very stacked card. A mixture of newcomer and experience exponents. In fact 60kg is considered the most stack and challenging category in Muaythai.
Every fighters gave a good show and it's a matter of who had their best day on 16.9.2017. In the final saw the meeting of a veteran Mohd Shah of 66 Unicorn Sandakan vs young talent Morris Hii of Miri's D-30 Muaythai team.
Shah rested for 5 months to recover from an injury after winning the D1FC Main Title in May against a formidable Robin Catalan of the Philipine. For Borneo Battle Arena, Shah came in underweight, but his fighting spirit was over the chart.
Shah fought twice to reach the finals. Win over Jijie in the early round and then in semis fought & overcame Dean Hamsah. Morris path was defeating the experience Madjais in the early round and then in semis secure the win over Sean Alexander.
In the final, Shah executed clean techniques to bring home the Championship trophy. The trophy was sponsored by Fight Fest.
Shah is a multiple Muaythai Champion and a veteran in the sports. This was his warm up fight before he goes to Johor in October. He will represent Sabah in Johor Open Muaythai in 28 October.
As for Morris, this young up-coming fighter is an ex Sarawak state swimmer turned fighter. He is a regular with his team D-30 from Miri in the combat sports scene in Sabah. A multi discipline martial artist, he competed in Muaythai, MMA, JiuJitSu & Kickboxing. We hope to see more of him and his team in action in the future as they continue to improve.
Muaythai Super-8 full results
Shah with 66 UNicorn Team manager Maman (L) and Johan Julian (R)
Savouring the moment with his hard earned trophy
As for Cage Boxing, this is the 2nd time we see it happening in Borneo. The first time was in Jesselton Fight League 2 years ago in their Grand Final event. For Borneo Battle Arena, there was 11 total bouts for Cage Boxing; 3 female and 8 male. It's 3 rounds with 3 minutes per round.
In the female bouts, an exciting bout between boxer Stephanie Vung of Kinabalu Fighters and Muaythai specialist Baebyof Borneo Red Lion. Stephenie executed more volume and techniques, but Baeby brawling style had cleaner and accurate shots which earned her the win.
One of the highlight for Cage Boxing was the bout between veteran boxer and Muaythai champion Randall Kadayumand Lesley Albert of Team Karabawwhomdebuted as a pro boxer in WBC Boxing Fest in July.
Lesley with some heavy shots was able to drop Randall twice in round 1 which he was given an 8 count. In round 2 & 3, Randall rebound and using slicker techniques and better game plan to score more points to take home the win.
Lesley (L) with Randall
One of the bout that received attention was between Zamalani Masulin or better known as Kaza vs Glenn Elvin.
Kaza is well known in the combat sports scene. You might have heard his voice and funny commentary in local Muaythai event, STAND and Fight Fest. Last year Kaza and his team organised a successful Sabah Fight Muaythai.
After a year of involving as a secretary for Sabah Muaythai Association, he concentrated on his diving instructor career. He last fought representing the Sabah team in 2015 Borneo Cup which he got a bronze medal. This was his come back fight after a long hiatus.
Glenn himself also works in the tourism industry as a Zipline operator and he also freelance as z boxing and fitness instructor.
The winner of the bout was Kaza. This fight for Glenn was a step for him to test himself and measure his own capabilities. To him this is a learning ground. Glen mentioned that it was an honour to be able to step into the ring to fight Kaza. They have mutually agree to both give their best in the fight to push and test each other.
We hope this fight will be a spark to light the fire inside both of them to be back competing actively in Borneo's fight scene.
Glenn Elvin vs Kaza Musa
Cage Boxing full results
Axtrada, PMDKK and Fight Fest are all happy with their first event and will be planning for future event at the same venue. They hope the venue can be a center for combat sports. The hall will be call The ARENA and the aspiration is that it can become the Sabah version of Lumpinee Stadium .
Axtrada is also continuously getting more interesting food vendor to open up offering unique food and we hope they will further improve on the hall facilities to make the place more condusive for visitors.
Me with Johan Julian (L) and Edmund Lai of Axtrada (R)
