SFC5 : Allen Solomon's Journey's Back to the Top

Sept 2016 was a memorable time for Allen Solomon Chong, fighting in his hometown in Kota Kinabalu, in Borneo’s premier MMA promotions Jesselton Fight League (JFL). Allen took the victory in the main card winning the Tourism Cup. Being the home town hero and as the pioneer of MMA & BJJ and the inaugural winner of MIMMA Lightweight belt, Allen received tremendous supports.

Riding on the high, right after the fight he signed up again with JFL for a fight in Dec. Allen flew to USA to prepare for the fight. Training, rolling and meeting with a number of MMA’s great such as Sam Alvey, Dan Henderson, Mark Munoz, Fabrico Werdum, Cat Zingano. To name a few.

But due to unavoidable circumstances, Dec’s JFL was postponed and Allen was left without a fight. Right after when he came back, management issues causes him to forego his Alpha MMA. The gym that he founded from his blood & sweat of bringing BJJ & MMA to the forefront.

He also had to deal with some issue with the state BJJ association that he founded. To further add to the pressure he already stopped working as an architect to focus on his fight career.

Amidst all these he had to be there for his family as his wife deliver their second child.

It was truly a time where fight was the last thing on his mind. But fight on he did. Allen picked up the pieces and without the burden of running a gym and with his new found motivation of a bigger family to care for, he started to focus back his mind and body on his training.

Joining the fame Borneo Tribal Squad (BTS), headed by Coach AJ Pyro. AJ welcome him to his team of pro fighters such as Hisyam, Ann Osman, Audreylaura and Kelvin Ong, and put him into fight camp immediately.

The journey back has begun for Allen as he now focus on preparing for his fight this Sat 8 April at Singapore Fighting Championship 5. 

Finding the right sponsors to support his journey

It will be a barnburner as this featherweight fight promises to deliver lots of action. Allen will go up against a young Filipino, Jhunior Acilo Diapolet.

At only 21, Jhunior trains out of Manila’s D’ Elements MMA Warriors. At such young age, Jhunior has amassed much experience from his amateur days fighting in Philippines regional MMA promotion. He turned pro in late 2016 when he fought in Blaze FC. 

A few weeks ago he fought in South East Asia Fighting Championship (SAFC), losing the challenge for the featherweight belt. This motivates him more to get a win in SFC5.



Growing up in Panabo City at the Davao Province in southern Philippines, life was hard as jobs are hard to come by and economically the region is poor with banana & fruit cultivation as the main industry. 

At age 16, Jhunior started training in Muaythai which gave him a solid striking foundations. Jessie Rafols continue to polish his Muaythai as he improve on his ground game and grappling through Fernando Piccio, Ramonito Pabroa and Francis Romero.

Fighting at SFC5 will be Jhunior’s first fight out of Philippines and he is feeling mighty proud to carry his country’s flag into the MMA cage. Allen will be his biggest name opponent to date as Allen come with the record as an ex UFC’s Ultimate Fighter, plus Allen’s two win was both against Filipinos.

Jhunior aspire to making it big in MMA as how Eduard Folayang has done. Not for the fame but his motivation is providing a better life for his family back home in Panabo.

In this SFC5 fight card, another Sabahan will be featured - Eddey Kalai. Well known for his fast hands from his years of experience in boxing, representing Malaysia in SEA Games, Commonwealth Games and Arafura Games. 

Eddey ventured into MMA and has utilizes his fist to win him many fights, he has an underrated ground game but has surprised many strikers with his take down defense and magnificent suplex. 



Eddey was successful in amateur MMA, being the 1st JFL Flyweight Champion and also MIMMA4 flyweight finalist. He recently turned pro in Primal FC Thailand. 

He lost that fight but came back blazing and was victorious in ONESilat (full contact Silat with rules somewhat similar to pro MMA), winning it in 1st round via kimura against Madit Sada of Indonesia.

Eddey will go up against Garie Tang. An up and coming fighter from IMPACT MMA Singapore. Garie started with Muaythai and has picked up grappling and transitioned into MMA. 

Under Prof Alexsandro Machado (BJJ Black Belt), Royston Wee (Singapore’s 1st fighter in UFC) and Bruce Loh (Singapore’s 1st pro MMA fighter) Garie has developed into an all-rounder. An injury prevented him from being active late last year but now he is back! 



He is also part of Singapore’s National Wrestling Squad and regularly trains with his fellow IMPACT MMA’s young fighter of high caliber such as Nazri Sutari and Niko Soenarto.



Let’s gear up for SFC5: Combat Redefined this Saturday in Singapore’s Foo Chow Building. SFC5 will bring plenty of action on the feet as well with 7 Pro Boxing matches on the card. The hi-light is for the WBA Asia Super Featherweight Championship, which home town hero Muhamad ‘ The Chosen Wan ‘ Ridwan will fight Waldo Sabu of Indonesia for the title belt.

Mixing into the Pro MMA and Boxing fights will also see some amateur Kickboxing actions.

Hisyam Sam: Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

Early this year in February Hisyam Sams of Borneo Tribal Squad (BTS) took on his first pro boxing match in Singapore Fighting Championship 2. Fighting in a 4 man tournament for the World Boxing Federation (WBF) - Asia Pacific Light heavyweight title. It was on short notice as a boxer was injured and AJ Pyro , Hisyam's coach decide to put him in.

In bout 1 he fought Richard Corminal of Singapore.

Below is the excerpt from ASIA MMA reported by David Ash of Singapore Maven

check out ASIA MMA for the latest in combat sports news in Asia

"Hisyam clearly displayed a lot more control throughout the 3 rounds of this bout. He took his time, and waited for Richard to land his jabs before working his jab, right hooks and left uppercut combination. Hisyam demonstrated agility stepping in and out quickly, all that time looking for opportunities when Richard remained exposed to his hooks. Richard’s critical mistakes were having his hands down often, giving Hisyam a chance to connect his jabs and hooks. Winner : Hisyam Sams via UD."

In the final...
Mohd Ridzuan Dahari (Malaysia) vs Hisyam Sams (Malaysia)

The main event was an exciting bout between the two Malaysian boxers who were very quick on their feet and deft with their combination. However Ridzuan was the more aggressive fighter in this bout, landing clean punches while Hisyam seemed to have gassed out midway through the first round to turn the fight into a brawl. However in the second round, Hisyam took advantage of a very exhausted Ridzuan by clinching and landing a series of body shots till the sound of the bell. The referee declared Hisyam Sams the winner when Ridzuan could not get off his chair to continue the fight.

Winner: Hisyam Sams via referee stoppage after round 2."

Hisyam is the first Malaysian to win a WBO belt

Emerging as Champion even though he was the lightest boxer among the four.

Hisyam was schedule to fight in ONE Silat in May 2016 and he was training hard in BTS for this, but unfortunately the fight was postpone indefinitely. Coach AJ was actively looking for a match up for Hisyam.

A boxing match in China came up. It was for a middleweight World Boxing Organization (WBO) fight on 24 June 2016. Again accepting this fight in a short notice. By this time Hisyam as a muslim already started fasting as June is the Holy month of Ramadan.

In the month of Ramadan, Hisyam trains cut down his training to night time only. In BTS for normal months they have the crazy energy sapping Spartan Training in the morning. 

keeping busy with his coach AJ Pyro

During Ramadan Hisyam also take the opportunity to go back to his home town in Tawau to visit his family, while there, he trains at his old gym, Alamgir.

Hisyam is popular among his nephew in Tawau due to his friendly nature
and also how they look up to him as a mentor

Hisyam lost the fight by TKO. His opponent Wang Fei Hu of China, was taller and a much heavier opponent. Fighting at 76kg, Hisyam had to load up as he walks around at only 72kg. Wang walks around in 79kg. Loading up when you are fasting is certainly a challenge...but for Hisyam, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

It was a good learning experience for him and as he's only 25, he needs more fights under his record. Furthermore, he is schedule to defend his WBF Belt in Singapore around September 2016.

Much respect to all muslim fighters that had to keep themselves active during this fasting month, I ask Hisyam to share some tips to #WRB readers on this.

"Well for Ramadan, the fasting month its a good time for those who want to lose weight not to gain weight like me, haha. 

Couple of tips from me to lose weight on the fasting month. 

1. Know how much to eat at Sahur (pre dawn meal) and berbuka (breaking fast) . Eat more on Sahur since you'll need the energy to fast the whole day until the sun down till berbuka/ eat less when berbuka. Why less? Trust me when I say its all your 'nafsu' (desire) that is big. You don't need a lot. Just a small portion is enough and you will feel full. 

Remember the fasting month of Ramadan is the time for Muslim to do good deed not to eat a lot. 

2. Do light exercise daily. Just do light exercise is enough to keep your body in good and healthy condition. Doesn't mean its the fasting month then all you do is sleep the whole day waiting till berbuka. 

You might think sleep doing nothing and not eating will help you lose weight. Well its not. Sleeping meaning you keeping your extra fat when you suppose to burn it and guess what, you not losing weight and worse, your body gets weaker. So make sure do your exercise and sweat it out and burn the fat"

Hisyam will defend his WBF belt this coming Sept

Borneo Tribal Squad @ SFC2

By end of tonight 20 FEB 2016, history will be created in Singapore where for the 1st time WBF

( World Boxing Federation ) Light Heavyweight Boxing will be crown in a Super-4 tournament.

This will go down in La Danz Ballroom at Singapore Fighting Championship 2.

Representing Malaysia will see veteran MMA specialist, Jian Kai Chee feature in the main card of 75kg Pro K1 Kickboxing. Jian will face another veteran MMA fighter, ex UFC fighter Will 'The Kill'  Chope, whom many considered to be the most active fighter in Asia.

Jian Kai Chee vs Will Chope - K1 Kickboxing

Tira vs Tiffany

WBF Light heavyweigh Super - 4. SFC founder Arvind Lawani presenting the belt

Pro Fight card

Carrying the Malaysian flag will also see two fighters from Sabah, both representing Borneo Tribal Squad ( BTS ). The reknown gym from where AJ Pyro and Ann 'Athena' Osman is from. Hisyam ‘ Zephyrus’ Sam took up a last minute call up replacing an injured fighter to fight for the WBF title. In the 4 man tournament, Hisyam 1st match will be against Richard Cominal of Philipines in Bout 4.

Hisyam team mate, Nur Athirah ( Tira ) will be debuting as a Pro MMA fighter, going against another debutant …Tiffany Teo of Singapore representing Juggernaut Fight Club.

BTS is one of the most active gym in Borneo and has produce many pro fighter. The founder himself, AJ Pyro is no stranger to the MMA scene in this region. Coming from a silat background, he was the 1st Malaysian National Champion of ONE Fighting Championship. In BTS list of Pro fighters are AJ himself ( MMA, Silat, Muaythai ), Ann Osman ( MMA ), Natalie ( MMA ), Samuel Lai ( Muaythai ), Audrey Laura ( Silat ), Tira ( MMA ), Hisyam ( MMA, Silat, Boxing )

Warriors of Borneo blog is thrill that Samuel Lai ( Jesselton Fight League 2015 Grand Finalist, MIMMA Lightweight SemiFinalist ) took his time to contribute a story featuring his BTS team mate Hisyam and Tira for SFC2. Below is the story.

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Although Borneo Tribal Squad was formally established in 2008, but it already began as nothing more than a dream, a lil dedication and a lot of hard grinding. Its founder and chief instructor, 

semi-retired pro fighter, AJ 'Pyro' Mansur (ONE Championship Malaysian National Featherweight Champion and former national Silat Champion) started teaching Muaythai in 2009 starting at CORE Fitness. And it was here that a young kid walked in hoping to lose some weight but more than that, he has since turned pro in MMA and Muaythai and on 20th February, he will debut in his pro boxing career. ( catch previous posting on Hisyam preparing for FMD7 here )

Fast forward several years from 2009 and in walked a young lady also hoping to lose some weight. About a year plus later, she too will be making her pro fight debut in the same fight card as that young boy, but in MMA.

Ladies and gentlemen, Borneo Tribal Squad presents to you Muhammad NoorHisyam Samsudin aka ZEPHRYUS and Nur Athirah Tantiana Jumahat aka TIRAMISU. This is their side of the tale.

Interview with Hisyam.

Briefly intro yourself and how/when did you get involve in martial arts.
I’m Muhammad Noor Hisyam Samsudin also know as Hisyam. At first I went to the gym only to lose weight and yes to have a 6 pack. I saw coach AJ first when he teach Muaythai at CORE Fitness gym and it looks interesting so I joined. At first only thinking I can lose more weight. Instead I fell in love with Muaythai and started training hard. This was in 2009, so I’m involved in martial arts for almost 7 years now.

How did you join AJ/ BTS?
One day coachAJ approach me and ask if I want to fight and the rest is history.

How was the beginning experience like?
Not going to lie. In the beginning, it is extremely hard because it was my first time and I never train like that before.

What is it like to train under Sabah's first Pro MMA fighter- AJ?
It is an honor to train with coach AJ. But honestly at first it was hard to adjust with his hard training. He can be very strict sometime but he only do that to push me to be at my best condition. So I thank him a lot for being a great teacher to me.

Sabah's first Pro Female MMA fighter - Ann Osman is also your team mate, what is it like to train alongside her (do you feel in awe/nervous/excited, etc)?
We join BTS almost at the same time, so we've been training with each other for a long time. She's a big inspiration for me and my teammates because of the hard work she showed us in training and when she's fighting. Feel so lucky to have her in our team. 

Always on the move...BTS regularly conduct training outdoor to give fighter a breath of fresh air and constantly motivate them

How was the preparation like or what is a typical 'BTS Day/Evening' of training like
I've been training everyday even if I dont have a fight, so that I'll be ready all the time. So when SFC2 wants me to replace a fighter at the last minute, I just said yes becausez i know I’m ready. Some of the training camp was at Stadium Likas a.k.a BTS Spartan Training! Only 'orang gila' like us would be crazy enough to train under the hot sun at 10am in the morning. Doing sprinting and stairs run and if the coach bring the elevation mask… well good luck to you lah!

BTS has hosted several professional fighters and high level skilled grapplers (some, leading up to their next fight), how has such experience benefitted you and your teammates?
It benefits us a lot. It helps us to improve our techniques and that’s important. To me having good techniques is better than just having power.

What is it like to have BTS going under the guidance of Prof. Adam Kayoom especially since he also co-cornered you in your last two pro MMA fights?
Prof. Adam Kayoom just like coach AJ is a really great teacher. He always gives motivation and always inspire us with his humble character.

Any final words for your opponents??
I would like to say sorry in advance because I’m going to take the belt back home.

Anybody you liked to thank?
I would like to thank to my family in Tawau for being so supportive with what I do. Thank you also to coach AJ, my teammates and all my BTS family for always helping and pushing me to train my best. Without them I don’t think Ican do all this alone. Not forgetting all the people who always give support from day one till now. You guys are really AWESOME!!

Ok, quick shot questions:

Milkshakes or Floats?    

Milkshakes
Coffee or tea?    

Coffee
Jordan or Maradona?   

Maradona ( I dont play basketball. Sorry Jordan)

Ferrari or Porsche?   

Ferrari
Pink or Yellow?   

Yellow ( Colour of Bugis warriors! )

Hisyam and Tira proudly wearing their new walk out T-Shirt

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Interview with Tira

Briefly intro yourself and how/when did u get involve in Martial arts.
My full name is Nur Athirah Tantiana Jumahat but called me Tira. At first it was only for fitness to look good and having a great body but when I try martial arts classes, I became addicted to it.

How did you join AJ/ BTS?
A friend suggested me to go to BTS, that’s how it all started.

How was the beginning experience like?
Sore ! It was tiring and exhausting 

What is it like to train under Sabah's first Pro MMA fighter AJ?
I feel really honored, amazed and still feel WOW until now to train under him. He's a great mentor, he knows what his doing and while doing that he really takes care all of his fighters and other BTS members.

Sabah's first Pro Female MMA fighter- Ann Osman, what is it like to train alongside her (do you feel in awe/nervous/excited etc)?
Having Ann Osman as my teammate has helped me throughout my camp. Having her share her experience and training with her definitely makes me more confident in winning this fight.

BTS also have several local pro fighters (MMA and Muaythai) as well as other up and coming amatuer fighters. What is it like to have them as training partners?
It's good to have them as training partners because it's open my mind that everyone has their own style and by that it improve mine.

Having chosen to go pro in MMA, what inspired you to do so?
It has always been my dream to fight pro MMA especially with support and encouragement by my coach and my teammates at Borneo Tribal Squad and support from my husband and family.

You are BTS 4th female pro fighter but Sabah's 2nd Pro Female MMA fighter. How do you feel about that?
I feel overwhelmed and nervous, it's hard to say what I feel about it but mostly it made me feel eager to learn more and really need to improve more.

Does having Ann Osman as your teammate played a factor in your decision to go pro?
Maybe.

Any other individuals who inspired you leading up this fight?
I'm not saying this just because they are my teammates but honestly, yes…every team mates inspired me for this fight.

Ok. So, how has training camp been for you in preparation for your pro debut?
Training camp is tougher than I imagined, its pushing my own limit and going beyond my expectation.

How do you feel about tearing up another individual's face...legally??
Can't wait for it !

Any last words for your opponent?
I'm going to take that win!

Any people/group you would like thank?
I would like to thank my Coach AJ for the training, support and guidance. Thank you so much to my BTS training partners and members, my husband for letting me joining this, Jumahat family and friends for their unstoppable support. Also special thanks to my sponsors SJY Sports, Team HHCS and Odd One Graphic Printing.

Quick shot questions

Viking or barbarian? 

Viking

Coke or Pepsi? 

Coconut Water

Linkin Park or One Direction? 

Linkin Park

Tokyo or NYC? 

NYC

Tiramisu or ABC with Haagen Daaz
Both! Its food, its hard to choose.

Interview by Samuel Lai.
Warriors of Borneo Blog again would like to thank Samuel Lai for contributing this story above.