ULTIMATE BEATDOWN 23: LEGENDS NEVER DIE

Ultimate Beatdown fight is back again! 65 bouts of integrated combat sports of boxing, free fight, and MMA in one night! This event also will bring together fighters from 11 different nationalities, namely Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Russia, France, Australia, Timor, Iraq. Tickets are only RM30! VIP ticket only RM100!

Event: Ultimate Beatdown 23 

Venue: Johor Bahru, Plaza Sentosa ( Rooftop - 8th floor )

Date: 15 July 2017   

Time: 3.30pm - 5.30pm Boxing

           5.30pm - 8.30pm Kickboxing
           8.30pm - 11pm MMA

Whether you're a fan of MMA or a movie fan, this is definitely an event you don't  want to miss! Fill your  Saturday night to full-action fighting ULTIMATE BEATDOWN style .

Ticket only at RM30, VIP RM100 .  Tickets can be at Ultimate MMA Academy or online. PM them now for tickets.

click to watch the promo video

check out MMA Latest for the full fight cards

Introducing the main event of the night:

The first ever female main event in Ultimate Beatdown series.

Introducing fighter from left to right:

Jihin"Shadow-Cat" Radzuan (Malaysia)

A full time vet nurse and college student. A home grown Johor talent coached by Melvin Yeoh in Ultimate MMA Academy. Started her MMA training at age of 16 when she still a chubby school girl.

In less than 2 years training she had won FIOGA wushu championship & the MIMMA (one of world premier amateur MMA fight league) title. Just fresh out of pre - SEA Game Muaythai won gold medal last week, she is looking to take another big step into her MMA career. Jihin also represented Malaysia in the IMMAF Asia tournament in Singapore last month.

Hasrina Hamka"Iron Maiden"(Indonesia)

Train and coaching full time in the best and biggest gym in Batam, BFC. The team also provided security service for hire. A master in hand to hand combat of various discipline of martial arts such as Boxing, BJJ and Indonesian art of Pencak Silat, she will be trying to use her weight and size advantage to shut down Shadow-Cat aggression and take away all her fame.

Kickboxing Middleweight Super 4 Championship

Introducing fighters from left to right:

Bangkang "The Hellhound"
Started his fighting career in UB has & has  fought multiple time in the previous UB. This hot-headed Johor native is a raging bull. Being famous for taking every fight as an underdog, he manages to upset the crowd many time. This time he takes on a fight on short notice as a late replacement. He would like to show those 3 big boys what he is made of.


Charlie Pennington"The Sky Scraper"
From Luton, England works in sales Industry in Singapore. Although he just trained in Fight G under the watchful eyes of coach Darren for nearly 2 years, he is very active and won the Kickboxing Welterweight Championship title via a highlight reel head kick knockout in the previous Ultimate Beatdown 22. Right after that victory he immediately asked for a shot at the Middleweight 4-men tournament. He has long reach and keeping his opponent in the distance is his main key to victory.

Wali"The Beastmaster" Rahman
Wali Rahman aka the Beastmaster gets his name by the amount of nonstop work he puts in his training regime. He eats, sleeps and breathes Muay Thai. He is a hardcore practitioner of the "Dutch style" kickboxing. He has been training the fundamental and technical of boxing for 2 years and has been traveling around in search of the art of fighting and now he is with the Red Wolves family. He is well-versed in boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai. UB's : Legends Never Die Super 4 title belt is one of his bucket list that he wishes to cross out after this weekend.

Abin Ag"Carpenter"
He gets his nickname "Carpenter" as he likes to leg kicks his opponent in every fight and chop down opponent legs like chopping a tree. Every opponent had fell victim to his vicious leg kicks. His famous quote :

" The taller then opponent is, the harder they fall,... once their leg gets chop down" 

He would like to get a sweet taste of chopping 2 opponents legs down until they need to be carried out from the cage before the sweet blink of the shining championship belt wrap on his waist.

Anybody like cats fight? If you like women MMA,  here is something you might like to watch!

From INDIA
Akshata "Thug" Khadtare after having trained MMA for a year, she went on to win the first All India Mixed Martial Arts Federation Nationals. She beat 2 experienced opponents to clinch the National Championship. Akshata is the only female fighter on the roster of Team Relentless and also the biggest bully in the team earning her the Nickname "Thug". To earn a spot in Team Relentless its like a hero trying to earn a spot in Avenger, and she is the 1 of a kind.


From SINGAPORE
Tan Shi Yin aka "Little Chilli From Yishun" is a Singaporean MMA fighter fighting out of BJJSG. She has competed and won in Muay Thai, boxing, and grappling competitions and is looking to build her skills and become a well-rounded MMA fighter. Well known for her ferocious fighting style and ironically also her cuteness, she is looking to extend her winning streak in UB 23 to make a name in this sport.

at weigh in today

Ultimate Beatdown Kickboxing Super 4 Flyweight Title.

Introducing fighters from left to right.....

Awin "The Loverboy"(Malaysia)
Mohd Khuzaiwin or as he is fondly known as Buakaw Malaysia is one of the top and upcoming fighter in this fighting arena. He has won fights in Silat, Muay Thai and Kickboxing. His dream is to become the ultimate fighter started at the age of 18 where he won his first Muay Thai tournament. He has never stop training since then. Now as part of the Red Wolves family, he trains under Thai fighter Songkhalek, Ajarn Khairul Anuar and the Khrus of Red Wolves in mastering the art of Muay thai and Kickboxing. He is very hungry for the UB Legends Never Die Super 4 title belt and will not stop till he gets it.

Marco Germani (Italy)
Marco Germani an Eurasian of Italy & Malaysia parentage, fights out of Team Armada Penang will be bringing the warrior spirit of the gladiators to the Ultimate Beatdown 23 -  Flyweight Super 4 Tournament. Marco has been training hard with his coach FS Cheng on a unique fighting style that will be presented in the Ultimate Beatdown arena tonight.

Allan "Super Mario" Ng (Singapore)
Allan is a fitness trainer by profession, running a boutique gym, Grit with his partner.  Rumors has it that Allan can spar for 2 hours without any rest as a everyday training routine. He is also able to break 6 baseball stick using his shin. Allan fights out of Fight G Singapore, and wants to prove that he's on his way to competing at the highest level of combat sports by bringing home the UB belt across the border.

Amir"Akid" (Malaysia)
Amir with the ringname known as Akid KL the son of Sifu Amir KL, one of the assistant coach in Amir KL Squad. After he finished SPM he enrolled and completed the Discover Muaythai Programme at Dragon Muaythai under an ex World Muaythai champ KruSlatan. He has been busy training and get as much fight as possible whether in Muaythai, K1 or Boxing.
With his recent victory in semipro boxing, he now has his eyes on UB's : Legends Never Die Super 4 Title Belt, lets see what this kid can do.

Team Relentless India is back to Malaysia. This time bringing 4 formidable fighters 

from (R to L ) Anil Mehta, Manthan Rane, Akshata Khadtare and Rudransh Azad

Anil Mehta is not a stranger to the fight scene in Malaysia. in UB 23 he takes on Nik Danial Hazeq (Red Wolves MT) in 65kg catch weight K1 Kickboxing bout.

Previously he won the amateur 16 man Under 65kgs tournament at STAND K1 series 2 in Sabah. He then went up a weight category and was a runner up of the STAND series 3 Semi Pro 8 man Under 70kgs tournament. Anil also holds the 65kgs Sabah FIGHT FEST title and won the pro Muayhai SABAH FIGHT VIP Cup. 

                       ---------------------------------------

Manthan "Metal" Rane is the youngest member of Team Relentless but what he lacks in age he covers up in combat sports experience.

After winning the Yodhha FC India Bantamweight title in what can be called a stellar fashion, on 15th July he will test his skills against Shihab "Whirlwind" Mustafi in Bantamweight Amateur MMA bout at the Ultimate Beatdown 23.

Manthan won the Semi Pro 8 man Under 65kgs tournament at STAND K1 and is next in line for the title shot for STAND K1 Under 65kgs belt. Win, lose or draw one this is guaranteed that it Manthan is gonna make people sit up and take notice of his skills.

                       ---------------------------------------

Akshata "Thug" Khadtare is the only female fighter on the roster of Team Relentless (but the biggest bully in the team). In Women's Strawweight MMA bout, she will take on one of top ranked female fighters in the region, Tan Shi Yin of Singapore.

After winning the AIMMAF National Championship, Akshata will put her unbeaten record on the line in her international debut tonight. Having finished her training camp under the guidance of Darren Senz de Silva, Head Coach and owner of  Fight G MMA , Akshata is confident that she will be able to bring home the victory for the team. Keep a watch out for The Thug as she is just beginning her journey to the top of Women's Straw weight Division

In an all Borneo fight in the Bantamweight MMA will see Aaron Lo  vs Mohd Saufi (ADN MMA Brunei)

Aaron is riding on a 2 fight winning streak. His last victory was Mac's UB 22 in a 3 round decision win. Before that he won over Nazipan in Fight Fest Sabah in last's year October.

This Sarawakian lad is working as an accountant. Aaron use to train under Matt Pellino and his martial arts brothers in arms such Jace Law ( MIMMA 3 Lightweight Champion ) & Stephen Onn Jenggieng ( WBC pro Boxer ) and Ahmadjon Karimov ( MIMMA 3 Foreign pride Champion ) in the Gym Box Kuching.

Aaron has good boxing skills and a underated ground game. His advantage will be his never say die attitude. He keeps on coming like a locomotive.

His opponent Mohd Saufi represent ADN MMA from Brunei. Started in kickboxing, he recently in MMA debut in MMA; fought in Rampage FC winning his fight in 3 rounds decision

Aaron Law fighting in UB ( pix by MMA Latest )

Saufi winning in Rampage FC

UFC's Karate Hottie Michelle Waterson promoting Ultimate Beatdown 23  (click to watch)

* majority infor taken from Ultimate Beatdown Facebook.

NAJIHIN: THE CAT EMERGES FROM HER SHADOW

She came, she saw the belt, & she took it to Johor. Hayatun Najihin is Johor’s answer to a comeback in MIMMA’s title. Johorean Chong Yi Jing was the first MIMMA middleweight champion in 2013, defended it in 2014 but he didn’t defend the belt due to injury in 2015.

Tee Jac Yoe another Johorean made it to the 2015 grand finals of bantamweight bout but it ended in no contest decision.

This year, Jihin made sure the belt made it back to Ultimate MMA Academy (UMA), which happens to be Chong & Tee’s gym too.

Last year Jihin qualified for MIMMA 3 after the tryout in Johor but stumbled at the ladder match. But it was not a quiet year for her as she amasses two win in Ultimate Beatdown, 16 & 18, beating an amateur muaythai champion in the process. But her she got her eyes on Joanna Yap’s belt.

Jihin in her Ultimate Beatdown 16 submission win

At only 18 this year, Jihin ’s first exposure to martial arts was as early as kindergarten, where her parents send her to Silat classes. But it didn’t last long and it was just a fun activities for her. In high schools, Jihin was active in netball and hockey. She‘s was also regular in track and field event especially in 100M, shot put and high jump.

It was when she was 15, she was engrossed with Korean TV reality show ROOMMATE. In that show, one of the star was Song Ga Yeon, a Korean female MMA fighter made a great impression on Jihin.

As she learn more about Song, Jihin came to know what MMA is all about. Watching Song really inspired Jihin to learn MMA. MMA is so empowering for women, and she wants that ability to defend herself and be fit at the same time. So she started Googling for the nearest MMA gym to her place.

Song Ga Yeon - Koreean Female MMA superstar

Ultimate MMA Academy (UMA) kept popping up. But Jihin being the careful one did not sign up immediately. She followed UMA’s FB page. She keep track on their activities for 1 month before finally making the decision. Picking the right timing on her birthday, Jihin asked her sister to let her sign up as a birthday present.

Her family does not know much about what MMA was, but they did not deter her, in-fact they encourage her as it’s a good form of exercise.

Melvin Yeoh, founder of UMA describe Jihin as a kind and friendly person.

“She has a pure heart and very discipline for a teenager. She has natural talent, very rare to see such talent here locally.”

Melvin is no stranger to MMA. If he noticed the talent in someone, it means that someone has the potential to go far. This comes from the fact that Melvin is highly regarded as the pioneer of MMA in Malaysia.

He is also one of the earliest batches of Pro MMA fighter to fight at ONE Championship. UMA was the first of such gym back then when most people are still not aware of what MMA is.

Melvin is also the founder of the longest running MMA promotions, Ultimate Beatdown, which is based in Johor.

Melvin recalled meeting Jihin when she first joins UMA in Sept 2014.

“First I langsung tak layan her because all newbies is layan by my assistant coach Isaac Yap. “ (At first I didn’t pay attention to her at all, as all newcomers are taught by my assistant)

“I thought she is just another plump girl coming here to lose weight, and I didn’t really have the confidence to see her stay long. I teach classes for advance students, some of the newbies will get a chance to attend my class when they do well in the beginner’s class. 

Jihin earn her spot. When she got to my class, I ask her to do drill of 50 reps… she didn’t give up. I was quite amazed that for a teenager in form 4, she was very determine and hardworking. She come to class every day even though she stay 40 minutes away. ”

Jihin progress really well after more than 1 month of training, and Melvin began to pay attention to her. It was Jihin who approach Melvin herself to ask for a muaythai fight. Melvin agree as he believes this will give her motivation to train harder and it’s a good way to gain valuable experience.

Jihin lost that muaythai fight. But it didn’t disheartened her. It pushes her to join more competition, in BJJ and muaythai. Melvin moved Jihin permanently to his fight class. He was really impress with Jihin ’s progression. He describe her as having natural strength and talent; she just need guidance to enhance that area and grow her skills.

Training among the best in UMA

“My gym’s BJJ coach Roger Chan seek my approval to upgrade Jihin to blue belt after less than 1 year training. I told Roger, yes no doubt about it.

As a new blue belt, she was able to win 2 silver medals in BJJ comp. She didn’t get the gold not because she got submitted, but got DQ lost due to opponent make her stall the fights”

The ladies of UMA

Asked on who is the most influential in her development in martial arts? Jihin explained,

“Coach Melvin Yeoh, the pioneer of Malaysia MMA. He is the most influential even though at first he just look at me like a random girl came to the gym only for a few months.”

For MIMMA 4, Jihin took 3 wins to enter the grand finals. Her first win was over Nur Sabrina with a submission in round 1. Meeting Koh Ling Bee in the semi-finals she overcame her with another submission win by arm-lock.

In the contender fight, Jihin again was match with Nur Sabrina. This time, the improved Sabrina gave her a tougher fight. But still Jihin was able to repeat her victory with a unanimous decision win.

Jihin was a bit perturbed when she won in the Contender Fight, as the crowd was behind the more popular Nur Sabrina. As she goes back to her Coach after the win, she asked Melvin whether she deserve to win, Melvin gave her a pep talk,

“The crowd are like grass in the wind, they swing to whomever is popular. You did the job and got the win. You deserve to be in the grand finals.”

In the grand finals, going against Joanna Yap, a high level BJJ exponent known for her grit and toughness present the strongest challenge for Jihin.

Joanna Yap

In round 1, Joanna rush forward looking to clinch. Jihin back step and deliver knees. Jihin got Joanna down and began to deliver blows from top. Throughout the round, Jihin switch from side control to half guard and full mount. Joanna was able to control Jihin’s posture from landing too many hard blows, but it was clear Jihin was dominating. Joanna survived the round with an escape from Jihin’s arm-bar.

2nd round, the early minutes was also a grappling match, where both fighters switch position against the cage and exchange knees. Jihin was able to hip throw Joanna but Joanna was able to defend and quickly got to full mount. But Jihin control her tight and Joanna was not able to posture to execute significant strikes.

3rd round was the same story as both clinch early. It was a game of control but Jihin had the edge in strength. A knee from her got Joanna to the canvas and Jihin maintained top position till round ends.

4th round, again Joanna rushes in. But this time Jihin was able to control her advances with couple of strikes to her head. Joanna was tough as nail and absorbed those punches and clinch. Both again exchange knees. Jihin undoubtedly has the stronger upper body strength and with double over brought Joanna down. Jihin got the mount and delivered ground and pound, connecting many hard shots. Last ten seconds Joanna with the sweep but did nothing to turn the tide.

Again the start of round 5, both women clinch and went against the cage. Joanna with double under could not bring Jihin down as Jihin creates too much space, as she throw knees. They fell and a scramble followed with Jihin on top. Joanna then got a reversal and into Jihin’s full guard. Few body shots from her but Jihin was actively controlling Joanna’s wrist and head to prevent any significant strikes.

It was evident that Jihin dominated all the rounds and was declared the new MIMMA Women Pride Champion 2016, by unanimous decision.

Being the youngest in the family of 5 siblings, Jihin was rather protected. In the beginning only her brother watch MMA and understand about the match, but as Jihin progresses in the prelim of MIMMA 4, all her family members will gather to watch her fight in front of the TV.

For her grand finals match, even her aunts, uncles and cousins gathered to watch her fight. Jihin’s mother was extremely nervous; and looked away lots of time but she was ecstatic to see Jihin won the championship without any bad injury.

Asked on her game plan for that night, Jihin explained,

”There was no game plan and I'm always ready for every fight, what I’ve learned from my coach, the drills with my teammates, I use it inside the cage. Once I step into the cage, I know what I'm going to do, even if it's not a good performance but at least you can see I put an effort on it.”

Jihin’s opinion on the quality of Women fighters in MIMMA 4, is that she believe everyone stood a 50-50 chance. It depends on who had the bigger drive and who was hungrier at that moment.

I wanted to know what went through her mind at the beginning of the fight.

“When the first bell ring, I straight away took the center of the cage, at the same time Joanna charged in. So I started to panic, but I tried to control it and I did. 

When break time, I told coach I cannot do it anymore, he then slapped me, but not so hard LOL. Immediately I asked myself, what the heck am I thinking saying things like that? I went back in and got the job done….annnnnd I made it!”

with her coach Melvin Yeoh

On what was her motivation to win the belt?

“Coach is my motivation. Every day I get scolded by him, he keep saying every one underestimate me and look at me as a random Malay girl bla,bla,bla…. 

He kept repeating it to me every day. Until I can predict what he's going to say. This pushes me to proof to that every one, that they are wrong! I’m not some random girl who trains in the gym…I will be the champion!” 

Indeed she has become one.

with COach Melvin Yeoh (L) and her UMA team mates Steven Yeoh (R) and Johnny Lim (back)

Melvin does not sugar coat his advice to Jihin. Jihin does have a rebellious character in her, where she will question back constantly. Which many times led to many small arguments between the two. But it’s all with good intention, as Melvin understands her character and he knows he needs to push Jihin hard to let her excel.

I asked Jihin how she feels being a champion. And how did she celebrate the victory?

“It feels strange... I mean, it’s a good strange. Suddenly everyone come and talk to me, congrats me; and some of them who never talked to me throughout the year LOL. 



I’m a rather shy person, I won’t talk to a person I’m not close to. After the fight I did not celebrate. We went to eat, then go back hotel room and had a good rest, finally! All the pressure and anxiety...disappeared!”

So how does her nick name Shadow Cat came about?

Jihin works as a vet nurse. She love animal. At the same time she came to UMA, the kitten was at the gym. Jihin has grown close to the cat and took care of her and play with her a lot. With Jihin’s fondness of wearing black, Melvin picked the name Shadow Cat for her.

with her favourite friend in the gym...Overmeow

Melvin knows Jihin has a great future ahead of her in martial arts. At such young age, she already achieved the pinnacle of Malaysian amateur MMA. The next step is harder, defending a belt against other hungry fighters out there certainly needs harder effort.

But Jihin is in for the ride. She is adamant to keep progressing and make sure the belt remains in Johor. The Shadow Cat will move stealthily among the shadows and strike hard when every one’s guard is down.