MIMMA 5 GRAND FINALS - THE 5TH SEASON SAW FIGHTERS DISPLAYED FLUIDITY OF TECHNIQUES AND ADAPTABILITY OF SITUATIONS

Asia most prestigious amateur MMA championship MIMMA held its grand finals show on 31 March 2018. It was for the 5th season. 

MIMMA started in 2013 and running consecutively 4 seasons with a tournament format. For it's fifth season, it was revamped and a whole new league format was introduced with the main goal was to give fighters cage time to gain experience.


Season 5 began in April /May 2017 with try-outs in 5 locations around Malaysia. 8 fighters were selected for each weight division. They then had to fought each other to collect points to determine who the top 4 fighters were. These top four then move on to compete in the semi-finals elimination round which was held on Feb 2018. Winners of semis goes to the grand finals. 

In previous seasons, defending champions gets automatic one way path to the grand finals. But for season 5, they also need to compete in the league matches to determine who goes to the top 4. Hence in the grand finals, there was a few new faces. 

The grand finals was organised in a completely new venue, Stadium Juara in Month Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. Although the seating capacity was smaller, compare to previous venue Stadium Merdeka & Stadium Bukit Jalil, but the organiser still did a very good set up, with good lightings and excellent sound system. 4 wide screen on each corner of the hall provides live view of the fight in the cage.

And compare to previous season, MIMMA 5 grand finals this time is all about business to determine the champion. Gone were the usual feature fights & defending champions showcase. 

8 bouts were competed. Only three went to the judges decision. Okay let’s go to the fight. 

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Bout 1 . Middle weight

Bout 1 was the Middleweight bout between Muhammad Fakhrul Izzat (Mok Judo ) vs Derek Lim. Mok came in as heavy favourite as he has defeated Derek twice. Once in the league 1 and then the semis.

Mok qualified to the finals scheduled to meet season 4 champion, the highly rated Muhd Meeraj (whom also qualify for the grand finals when he defeated Nik Zainul). But 2 weeks before grand finals, he pulled out due to contract issue for his pro boxing bout in April. Derek was put back into the picture.

But it was the same story all over again, with Mok Judo’s dominance using his wrestling and take down which earned him a victory via unanimous decision.

Read about Mok Judo’s pre-grand finals fight story here .

Ayob of Potosan Corner ( VENUM ) presenting the belt to Mok Judo

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Joseph Lim , Chief Marketing Officer of Tune Talk presented the Female Flyweight belt

Bout 2 Female Flyweight

Petite size Johorian Eunice Ong which is the lightest weighing female in her category faced Gloria Hoong of Sabah. Even though there’s a significant size difference, Eunice was technically sound and managed to bring the fight to the ground and control from top. Gloria did a good job reversing position but it was always only towards the end of round.

Last two round, Gloria did a better job with her striking and cage control but was not enough to win her the fight.

Eunice was declared the new female champion via split decision. She managed to retain the female belt in Johor as her team mate Jihin Radzuan was the previous winner.

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Bout 3 Lightweight.

This is another fight that saw the finalist being change two weeks before the finals. Lightweight Nathaniel Imang Lakai was schedule to meet season 4 champ Hui Keng Fai. But Hui was schedule for a same pro boxing event in April as Meeraj, hence he pulled out because his management does not want to risk him fighting so close to his boxing bout.

Syafiq Jamal whom Keng Fai defeated in the semis was given another chance for redemption and made the odds more even, as previous match-up heavily sided towards Keng Fai.

Nathaniel was quick to make a statement as the new kid on the block. He uses his speed to close the gap and get take down and in round 2, executed a straight arm-bar at 1:33 to end the fight in his favour.

He celebrated with an pro wrestling style elbow drop in the middle of the cage, and thus brought back the Lightweight belt back to the land of hornbill, which was won by fellow Sarawakian Jace law in season 3, but lost it to keng Fai in season 4.

Lightweight belt presented by ex Tune Talk CEO and fellow Sarawakian Jason Lo

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Bout 4 Bantamweight.

This has the tendency to be an all out back and forth war between two seasoned MIMMA fighters. Dhiaaul Amal and Effendy Kalai. 

Dhiaaul Amal enters the finals with a perfect record of 6 wins, with one of the win being a split decision victory over Effendy himself.

Effendy was a two time finalist. The first time was in season 3, unfortunately in that fight he pass out due to alleged strike to the back of his head. It was declared a no contest results. Then in season 4, he was given the automatic path to the grand finals. But was stopped by Damon Soo via choke.

This time round Effendy earned his way to the finals fighting through the fields in the league matches.

Effendy started well, timing his counter. He managed to drop Dhiaaul. He packs so much power in his punch and kick. When they clinched, Effendy was stronger and managed to swing Dhiaaul across and land on his back.

In Dhiaaul guard, Effendy uses his left arm to press on his neck. Dhiaaul sensing this opportunity, immediately seized it by trapping Effendy’s arm and swing his leg across for an arm-bar that Effendy tapped out to at the 1:29 mark of round 1.

Indeed sweet victory for him as Dhiaaul has participated since season 1. For Effendy, it was not his day, even though he was the stronger one that night but a small mistake is only what it takes for a reverse in fortune. 

Bantamweight belt presented by  new Tune Talk CEO Ameen Abdullah

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Bout 5 Featherweight

MIMMA 4 Bantamweight champion Damon Soo moved up a division to fight in featherweight this season. Being a very accomplished grappler with almost all his MIMMA 5 wins by submission, many expect Damon to bring the fight to the ground. 

But he displayed strong striking combos. The beginning of the end was a powerful overhand right that connect on John Garcia’s temple that dropped him like a rock. Damon wasted no time and pounced on him with ground and pound. Ref stopped the fight at a record time of 0:49 of Round 1 for a TKO win.

Damon with his grappling coach Aaron Goh (L) & striking coach Wes jaya (R)

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Bout 6 Welterweight.

This was a fight that is perfectly scripted for a movie. Team mates in Klinch MMA and close friends . Ahmed Zareh fought Theebaan Govindasamy for the welterweight title.

These two have the same physical attributes being lanky and posses long reach. Both also started their martial arts career in karate.

Theeban was season 4 defending champion, he tried to keep the fight on the feet utilising his kicks. Ahmed was able to bring the fight to the ground and kept top control for most of the rounds.

Ahmed corner gave him very good technical instructions and Ahmed followed it closely. It was back and forth chess game but Ahmed clearly has the dominant control. He won via unanimous decision.

ex Tune Talk CEO & MIMMA co-founder Jason Lo congratulating Ahmed

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Bout 7 Flyweight .

Naimul Amal vs Jay Jay Muran. This fight promises lots of fireworks. It didn’t disappoint. Both engaged with some wild exchanges, 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 clear something 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 

Ameen  Abdullah Tune Talk new CEO presenting Naimul with the title belt

Read Naimul pre-grand finals story here

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Bout 8 heavyweight

Last bout goes to heavyweight fight. Johor’s Azreel Izzat vs Sarawakian Tsan Nieng Khai. Azreel was the young prospect looking to create history vs Tsan, the MIMMA veteran, since season 3.

Tsan has the faster hands combo and connect plenty of punches. But Azreel refuses to go down and in-fact counter with a few good shots back. But it was Tsan that kept the pressure throughout. Whole fight only seen one take down, as both prefer to stand and exchange fisticuffs. The fight ended when Tsan managed to mount Azreel and rained ground and pound on him which earned him a TKO win on the 3rd round, 2:39.

It was a victory Tsan has been dreaming of for a year to be crown the heavyweight champion finally, after stumbling in the semis in season 3 and lose by decision in season 4 finals .

...and new MIMMA heavyweight champ, Tsan Neing Khai flank with Jason Lo & Ameen Abdullah

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It was an early night, all fights finished before 11pm. The first 3 fights were stream live in crap.tv & malaysianinvasion.com while the rest of the bouts was telecast nationwide through RTM TV1. 

Stay tuned for more MIMMA 5 winners story.

We had the animal concept in season 1, 2nd season was the wired animals, 3rd season was electricity. 4th was fire. 5th just washed by with water...so what do you think season 6 theme will be?

* All pictures are by YK Tang Photography

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MIMMA 4 LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP BOUT: JACE LAW VS KENG FAI

original pix by YK TANG

Fight of the Night! If MIMMA gives out this award, I believe on 8 OCT 2016, the bout should go to Lightweight bout of Jace Law vs Hui Keng Fai (KF). It was a highly anticipated fight, as both are known to be slugger and it’s either going to be a short match with KO in the book or a breathtaking marathon of slugfest.

Well, it turned out to be the latter, (check the pre-fight analyst here).

Jace was already given the nickname of JKO from Matt Pellino (MIMMA’s host & announcer), since season 3 last year. This comes from the power he has in his hands that can put opponent to sleep, which is how he won the belt beating cop Mohd Hasrul in round 1 in 2015.

Keng Fai was given the name Hurricane which signify the way he don’t waste time and always looking for a finished. He step into the grand final bout with 4 fight win streak that all ended in round 1.

Round 1, KF open with a jab, immediately Jace counter with a jab cross, the cross tag KF. KF doing the aggression as he stalk Jace from the center, throwing lighting jabs. But each strike, Jace counter back with combos of powerful left and right. Twice Jace connect with a front teep. KF switch stance and threw a left round house, connected flush on Jace’s head as he ducked too low to his right. They both exchange left right. Jace tags KF with his right. They separate. Couple more spurt of punch exchange. Both looking for a KO strike.

pix by ADRIAN TAN

Jace low kick on KF’s front leg which had a knee guard on. KF returns with a low kick of his own, then he went high and connect, immediately follow with a right hook but Jace parry and they both exchange punches in bunches in the pocket. KF connects with another low kick and another high kick that miss.

pix by ADRIAN TAN

Round 2. Jace attack with combos. KF use low kick followed by swings. Both are not standing still, when one attack the other will counter with combos. KF low kicked, checked by Jace. Jace connects with a upper cut and straight right that penetrate KF’s guard. Jace with a 3 punch combos. KF attacked with jabs, then a beautiful front push kick that moved Jace backward. Reset. KF lunge with jab, Jace counter left right, the right found the target, KF counter left, also hit the spot. KF moved in again with a double left, Jace counter with right upper cut, glazed KF. KF feint with a right and went low for a single leg. Pushing Jace on the cage and grind there. Jace defends the single leg attempt. KF disengage and they both starts exchanging blows.

pix by YKTANG

Couple more 1-2 exchange from both. KF the one pushing on, Jace able to roll with the punches. At 10 seconds mark, KF missed with a front push. They both come at each other, Jace able to duck and roll under KF’s huge left hook, came back up, missed with his left but the followed up with his right hand connect hard, KF counter with left but Jace protected in the pocket as he duck low to bring up his left hook again but KF covered his right side with his glove.

Round 3 was a crazy one. Both went at each other, blows by blows. Jace with the better head movement roll under a couple of punches, but both landing shots. KF eating the heavier punch, but his is like a train, kept on pushing forward. Fatigue may have set in as Jace s hands speed slowed down as he lowered his hands.  KF still coming forward throwing combos and connects with a few body shots. Jace countered, swinging for the fences. With the hard punches that found the target many times for both, these two was definately in superb shape as they were still standing and able to trade punch combos. What a satisfying round to watch!

pix by YKTANG

KF looks fresher at the start of round 4, but his face was busted up more than Jace. This round both slowed down. Each exchanging punch counter. KF found home a few jabs. Jace still able to duck and roll to make KF’s miss with his bombs. Jace lunge in with a 1-2 combo, KF counter right met Jace’s face as he ducked, Jace followed up with a back fist, didn’t land flush. Right before round ends, Jace caught KF’s kicking leg and executed a sweep.

Final round. Both still exchanging 1-2. Both connecting again, Jace still rolling avoiding KF hooks. KF have better head movement this rounds. Both still swinging at each other. KF connects with his hooks. KF got a head clinch and blasted a few uppercuts. They disengage and back to trading combos from arms lenght. Jace still able to connect with his counter.

KF level change and went for a double leg, succeeded and he got side control. Taking his time, he then moved to full mount. Jace seems too tired to defend. KF starts landing multiple right bombs from top position. Jace wants to avoid further damage as he sat up, but KF was quick to take his back, and got a rear naked choke. The choke was on Jace’s jaw, but KF squeezed hard and Jace tap out at the 2:30 mark.

pix by YKTANG

An absolute war by this two warriors! Kudos to both fighters for showing great fighting spirit. These two showed to us how far our MMA athlete has come in terms of technique and durability.

We have a new champion in Hui Keng Fai, like a relentless train with blazing machine gun hands that keeps pushing forward. As for former champion Jace, fatigue may have cost him the fight but he surely display high level crisp boxing and a big heart.

pix by ADRIAN TAN

pix by YKTANG

WRB caught up with the two for a post-fight interview.

Keng Fai went back to class the next day at HELP Uni, even with a swollen knuckles and fingers.

Did your game plan went according to plan?
Game plan was not to get hit and finish him quick. Clearly didn't go as planned hahaha. 
I underestimated the speed of his hands, I expected them to be slow and heavy, but no, they were fast, heavy, and came from odd angles, Jace was pretty unorthodox. His rhythm was different.

Matt seems to have courted some heat with some one sided commentary, what do you think of it
Matt might have helped me, I recall him implying that if the fight went to the judges decision I would lose, that urged me even more to finish the fight.

You said in pre-event interview that you don’t really train kicks…but in that fight you threw quite a number of kicks. You had a knee guard on, but still you threw more significant kicks...was it planned?
The knee guard was just to cover a scrape from a fall while running on the road. I dislocated my finger and my pinky was as big as my thumb, I could not put power into my right hands, that's why I had to throw kicks.

How was the victory celebration?
No fancy celebration, just good food with good friends and family. Back to training. Not happy with my performance.

Do you find Lightweight to be your permanent choice?

I'm fighting again at 67kg just 3 weeks after MIMMA 4. On 29th Oct. At a boxing match. Eventually I'll make a permanent move to featherweight, which was where I started anyway. I fought at lightweight for MIMMA because I didn't want to be cutting weight all year round for the preliminary matches.

What do you think is the key to your victory?
I think I'll improve so much more after this fight. I'm happy and relieved I won. But I am very unsatisfied with the way I won. Back to the drawing board. I took a lot of damage I could have avoided. I did not fight smart.

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WRB also talk to Jace Law.

Can you take us thru the fight...what was your game plan?
Striking and countering...looking for openings to land my strikes.. head movements and cutting angles. There were no specific game plans as you know Matt wasn't with me for this fight camp. I just sharpened my skills to prepare for this fight. 

Were you satisfied with your performance?...was preparation/ fight camp good? 

You can never be satisfied with your performance, being away from the cage for a year and going straight for a 5 round fight is pretty demanding. My lack of endurance made me slow in the 4th and 5th rounds, but overall I'm thankful I didn't totally gas out coz that would be embarrassing. 

I believe you wanted to keep the fight standing...and your boxing was spot on. But were you surprise he kept on coming?
I wasn't surprised I knew he was tough, Keng Fai had the eye of the tiger, he was exactly as hungry as I was when I was hunting for the title in MIMMA 3.. and that hunger gave him the edge to win the title. 

After this, would you be focusing on improving your ground game/take down defense...or training more to improve even more on striking to make sure you put people to sleep?
Yes, definitely.

Most title fight this time last longer than expected...quality seems to went up a notch vs 2015..what do u think? 6. How has the support been?...any message for supporter? 

The quality has definitely improved since the previous season. Just goes to show how competitive the sport of MMA is, either you evolve or you perish in the past.

How has the support been?...any message for supporter?
Support for me has been tremendous, I sometimes pinch myself coz its hard to believe I have so many people that support me... I just want them all to know I appreciate it very much.

Future plans?
We'll see...  : )

Jace feeling proud his face is still intact