MUAYTHAI PIALA YB DATUK ROSNAH - WAKING UP THE NEIGHBOURS IN PAPAR

Away from the bustling lights of Kota Kinabalu city  lies the grand Sabah Muaythai Camp, in the area of Papar. It's currently the only Muaythai camp in Borneo. This is the effort from Sabah Muaythai Association in the process of making Sabah a Muaythai powerhouse.

The Camp open in November last year with a Youth Muaythai Championship officiated by
Y. B. Datuk Rosnah Bte Abdul Rashid Shirlin, the member of parliament of Papar and Deputy Minister of The Works Ministry Malaysia. During that time YB Datuk Rosnah promise to continue supporting the development of Muaythai in her area specifically and Sabah in general.

That promise materialised in the organising of YB Datuk Rosnah Muaythai Trophy, which was organised on 17 March 2018. In the dark of the nights among the village houses, Sabah Muaythai Camp became alive with music and energetic music that accompany the 9 bouts contested under pro rules.

The boisterous cheering crowd and the thunderous voice of emcee extraordinaire Vallerio Gumbilai, truly makes the event happening!

YB Datuk Rosnah in her officiating speech

The attendance was unexpectedly good, curious spectators from around the villages packed the camp and enjoyed a night of combat sports action that combine new upstart young talent and also senior more experience fighters.

full attendance

It's a good development for the sports, exposing it to more new fans around Papar. Hoping that attendees see the potential of the sports to develop the mind and body of youngsters and support it by encouraging their children to take up Muaythai. Sabah Muaythai Camp is an ideal place for this as it houses good facilities and knowledgable team of trainers.

check out the training schedule for Sabah Muaythai Camp

Dolphina - SS Fighter Sarawak ( right ) getting a close decision win vs Mardeana - Revolution Gym

They may be still young, but their fighting spirit is top level!

Co-main event , Ady of Karabaw (left )  winning via split decision over Hafiz - 66 Unicorn

The hi-lights being the main card fight for YB Datuk Rosnah Cup, between Ali Hobbit ( Revolution Gym ) and Muliadan ( 66 Unicorn ). This is a come back fight for Ali as he has not been competing for close to 2 years.

Ali from Tanjung Aru, whom is 29 this year began his martial arts journey by learning Tae Kwon-Do from Muslee Tuah. 6 years ago. But as Muslee began to introduce Muaythai techniqes, he showed interest and has focus on making the art of the 8 Limbs his main style of martial arts.

He did dabbled into MMA too by competing in Jesselton Fight League and Fight Fest. But mostly seen his success in stand-up fight. Tasting success in Muayfit Warrior, STAND Kickboxing and his 1st pro Muaythai fight in a Boxxtomoi event in Penang.

Ali has a full time job in Nosoob Penampang, installing kitchen & bathroom accessories. But he supplement his income by teaching Muaythai in private training classes in The Peak condominium and also coach in Revolution Gym.

The title fight vs Muliadan on 17 March night currently is his biggest win. It was a sweet start for him after a long lay-off. It took him 4 round to secure the win via TKO. He is eager to continue being active in competition and want to aim to collect a title belt in future competition. Ali will see action again this end March in Sabah Fights Muaythai.

YB Datuk Rosnah present the prizes accompany by Sabah Muaythai president Hj Nazri (2nd from left ) and deputy president Ajman Ajmain

Revolution Gym head coach and founder Dhillon Tahing ( holding trophy ) with his team

The successful outing for SS Fighter from Kuching with 3 gold 

MIMMA 4 is turning up the furnace…it’s getting hot in the Semis

MIMMA 4 is turning up the furnace…it’s getting hot in here! The flame has been up a few notch for the semi-finals. Happening this weekend, 6-7 Aug at Paradigm Mall, Petaling Jaya. Earlier in April MIMMA holds its tryouts in a few locations in Malaysia, namely; Penang, Johor, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, and then it moved on to the ladder match and subsequently the quarter finals in end May before the fasting months starts.

For the Semi-finals, this is where the men are separated from the boys. Its where fighters with more refine skill sets are at. The fights will be tougher and the pressure to win higher. This year’s Semi-finals are a mixture of some newbies to MIMMA and also some experienced MIMMA ‘veteran’.

For the uninitiated, MIMMA is the premier amateur MMA tournament in Malaysia. Touted as the biggest, and the most well organized MMA tournament in Asia, if not the world. Sponsor by Tune Talk and strongly supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia, MIMMA has produce many talented MMA athlete that now compete professionally in big MMA promotions around the region. Names like Keanu Subbha, Allen Solomon Chong, Adrian Tham, Agilan Thani and Muhammad Aiman has become household name in the Malaysian MMA circle.

In its fourth series now, we can see fighters evolve and improve. They are now more balance in their skill sets. More fighters now come prepared, strikers has added grappling and wrestling into their arsenal. While ground fellas are now equipped with boxing skills and more muaythai strikes.

From the first MIMMA in 2013, the numbers of martial arts gym has also increase significantly. More people have taken up martial arts, the serious bunch one for competition, but a lot more for fitness and shedding weight.

MIMMA certainly has created a boom in the fitness industry too as more gym also introduce strength and conditioning classes to improve on fighters fitness. Fight moves are now also a norm in many aerobic classes.

Many regional competition have also emerged, such as Warriors FC in Penang, JFL (Jesselton Fighting Championship) in Sabah, Ultimate Beatdown in Johor, and BAC (Borneo Amatuer Challenge) in Labuan. Which gives fighters more opportunity to test their skills and increase their fight time to gain experience.

Few years back, hardly anyone outside of the martial arts circle knows what MMA stand for. Now at least if they don’t know, most would surely have seen or heard about a match or two in the media. In short MIMMA has created an impact to Malaysia.

Lets look at the Semi-Finalist.Out of the 40 athlete. 11 are from Borneo (4 Sarawakian, 6 Sabahan & 1 reside in Sabah).

There are some good fight to look out for. Day 1 on 6 Aug, will see the repeat of Battle of Borneo in Heavyweight as Sarawakian Tsan Nieng Kai meets Sabahan Kent Tham. Tsan last year also meet Kent in the Semis. It was an all out war between the two as both huff and puff for 3 rounds which is won by Kent by unanimous decision.

Tsan Nieng Kai vs Kent Tham

Kent moved on to contender fight but loss to Grand finalist from Penang, Niker Tan. Niker is also back again this year looking for a rematch with Sabahan defending heavyweight champion Darren Low whom he lost to in MIMMA3 Grand finals. But first Niker have to overcome Johorean Steven Yeoh.

Tsan last year represent Gymbox but has moved on to open his own martial art gym - MAD Fight Club in Kuching. Meanwhile Kent after the lost in MIMMA3 contender fights, fought on in Kota Kinabalu based JFL to emerge as its inaugural heavyweight champion.

Md Zakhir vs Md Hasbullah

Flyweight fight to watch will be Md Hasbullah (Sabah) vs Md Zakhir (Johor). Hasbullah or nick name The Garagas Man (which means rogue / rascal in Sabahan Dusun language) is a fighter much improve from last year’s MIMMA3 where he lost in ladder match due to lack of grappling skills. From there on he has polished up his game tremendously and with strong determination and pure fighting spirit has claim victory in Fight Fest, BAC and JFL.

He is the JFL bantamweight Champion, after a real hard battle of back and fourth with Din Hamsah. Before reaching final of JFL, He fought in the semi as a huge underdog to Ahmadjon Karimov ( MIMMA3 Foreign Pride Champion). In that fight after brushing off a fever he fought a constant back and fourth battle to emerge winner by unanimous decision.

His road to the MIMMA4 semis is a win by armbar in round 1 vs Fikhrul, and got a walkover win at quarterfinals as opponent pulled out.

Hasbullah’s success largely was at the guidance of Keningau MMA coach Mohd Bakri, ( read about Hasbullah in my previous post ) but this year Hasbullah decided to took on a challenge to lead a gym on his own. Karabaw Gym Keningau branch opened in June this year and Hasbullah has been busy playing the role of head coach & preparing his own fight.

His opponent Md Zakhir, is considered a veteran in MMA, although just 24 this year. He fought in the early days of Malaysian MMA at events such as Malaysian Fighting Championship, Ultimate Beatdown & F3 around 2011-2013. Back this year to continue his martial arts journey, Zakhir is an experience and explosive fighter. En-route to the semi, he submitted Lennon Ginibun of Sabah in the quarter finals. Expect a trully explosive fight between these two flyweights.

Hong Weng Hooi vs Eddy Kalai

On the other side of the semi finals for Flyweight, another Sabahan Eddey Kalai is fighting Penangite Hong Weng Hooi. Eddey is an ex national boxer and well experience in the fight game. Started his MMA journey with the 1st MMA event in Borneo, Borneo Fighting Championship in 2013. He joined MIMMA2 and reached the semis, lost to eventual winner Seah Zhang Yu.

In MIMMA3 Aug 2015, again stumbled at semis, this time lost to Dhiaal Amal, who went on to challenge Seah for the belt but lost in a thrilling battle. Eddey continued fighting in Sabah in Oct 2015 and won the JFL Flyweight belt.

He is also looking to complete the unfinished business of his younger brother, Effendey Kalai, whom was a grand finalist for MIMMA3 Bantamweight. Effendey suffered a controversial behind the head strike that resulted in him fainting. The match was announced a no-contest, hence making MIMMA4 Bantamweight belt vacant for this year’s fighter to take.

Eddey’s opponent Hong is the team mate of Seah Zhang Yu from 3S MMA Penang. Hong actually loss the ladder match fight to Trevor Salang from Miri Sarawak. But due to Trevor pulling out of quarter, Hong was offered to fight Ferdaus Gaban of KL & won the bout.

Hafizul vs Joseph Yap

I’m excited to watch featherweight fight of Sabahan Hafizul Hakeem vs Joseph Yap of KL. Hafizul from Team Karabaw Sipitang, Sabah is a spirited fighter. He tasted his first MMA fight in Ultimate Beatdown 14 in 2014. Wanting more, in 2015 before MIMMA3 tryout, he went to fight in Full Metal Dojo. All alone and on his own expenses in Bangkok, he lost the fight to a Thai native by guillotine choke. Armed with better experience he fought all the way to the Grand Finals of MIMMA3 to meet eventual champion Mohammad Aiman. Aiman has now moved on to fight at pro level.

As for Joseph, this young fighter is a prodigy trained by martial arts star Andy Teh Kim Huat of Elitze MMA. At 25 this year, he only started seriously training in Jan 2015. Under the careful guidance of Andy Teh teaching Joseph MMA and coach Effendey Kalai in boxing and Ngeoh Jian Cong in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Joseph soaks it all in like a sponge.

In March 2015 he debut in his first MMA match. Going in like a dynamite in Ultimate Beatdown 15 winning by TKO with punches. He was a feature fighter in 2015 MIMMA3: Contender Fight, winning that fight vs Uriel Yu.

Just last month in Penang’s Warrior Fight Night appearing in the main card, he defeated Joshua Khiew ( MIMMA2 grand finalist) by TKO in a series of strikes in round 2. He is now on a 7 fight winning streak and all these fights are by TKO / submission. Joseph is looking to continue his winning streak and aimed to use his aggressiveness to win this match.

Bryant Tan vs Samsuri

Another Sarawakian to watch out will be Bryant Tan from Daro. Distraught by heart ache of a break up four years ago, he picked himself up and started training muay thai and became a muaythai specialist.

Watch out for his devastating muaythai low kick as he takes on Mohd Samsuri. His original opponent supposed to be Jasmond Sangeh but due to Jasmond’s injuries Samsuri is offered the fight. Samsuri lost to Mohd Ezzat in the quarter finals. Ezzat is also in the other welterweight fight as he Faiz Faisal of Penang.

On to the Grand Finals for John Liew

Bantamweight BJJ prodigy from Alpha MMA Sabah , John Quincy Liew Ming Lun was looking forward to face Jessen Ong of 3S MMA Penang. But a horrible injury during training dislocated Ong's elbow and he does not have time to recover for this semi finals fight. This moved John directly into the grand finals, as there’s no title holder from previous year due to the no-contest match Effendy Kalai vs Tee Jac Yeo.

John has background in boxing and trained by MIMMA1 Lightweight Champion, Allen Solomon Chong in BJJ and MMA will certainly bring his A game to the finals.

Joel Nickolson vs Damon Soo

The other two semi finalist, Joel Nickolson of Sabah Top Team and Damon Soo will need to battle it out to see who face John. Joel is a Taekwondo stylist but have been training MMA & Luta Livre under Italian coach Antonio Battistesa for a year.

Damon Soo is no stranger to the fight game. He has been around since MIMMA2 reaching quarter finals. MIMMA3 in the semi-finals losing a close decision to Hafizul Hakeem. Trully a specimen with his hulking physique to be able to fight at bantamweight. He has top notch submission skills and a heavy hand. He’s back with a vengeance this year, securing two choke submission in round 1 in the ladder match and quarter-finals.

Fahim Noh vs Mohd Eswandy

18 year old Eswandy from Kuching has revenge in his mind. He is out to avenge his muaythai coach A.Karadech Seesombat or affectionately call Eddy. Eddy was the grand finalist for last year’s Foreign Pride category. He fought Ahmadjon Karimov from Tajikistan, but lost emphatically in 39 seconds to Ahamdjon’s strikes.

Eswandy has been training muaythai since 16 and was Malaysian national champion in 71kg two years in a row, 2014 & 2015. In fact he will fight at the national again a week after MIMMA semi-finals.

Eswandy train at SS Fighters and believe that his coach is still one of the best strikers in the game and he diligently learn from him to show that Eddy’s pass on knowledge will lead him to the grand finals and win the belt.

But he is not forgetting about his ground game. His team mate in SS Fighter and Studio 23- 1st MIMMA Female champion and Sarawakian compatriot Joanna Yap is passing her BJJ knowledge to him. This grappling skills will come in handy as he face Fahim Noh. Fahim has good BJJ skills and is an experienced fighters from the early days of F3 Championship.

One of the best action photos by YK Tang of MIMMA3 Grand Finals last year: Nazri Sutari vs Hui Keng Fai

3 more stand out to pay attention to in this Semi-finals rounds are Hui Keng Fai of Muayfit KL, Singaporean Nazri Sutari and Theeban Govindasamy. Keng Fai ‘s current record is 12 fights, (9-3-0). A very explosive and well balance fighter to watch. He is MIMMA3 semi-finalist. Knowing he has huge potential, MIMMA offered him a feature fight vs Nazri Sutari in last year’s Grand Final. And what a great idea that was, as both of them pull no punches swing for the fences. Keng Fai won by standing guillotine in round 1.

Pix by MMA Latest: You can bet Nazri will bring his top game in every fight.

Its really great that MIMMA introduce the Foreign Pride category last year, so that we can enjoy watching some talented non-Malaysian slog it out in the cage. Nazri Sutari is one of my favourite. This Singaporean nick name Pork chop usually walks around close to 77kg, but when it comes to fight week, he will cut to 70kg and looked ripped! A former national fencer he started his MMA career in Singapore promotion Rebel FC and Singapore Fighting Championship. Nazri is a risk taker and will not hesitate to throw caution to the wind to outstrike his opponent. I believe It’s going to be a explosive match between him and Alfred Leko from Indonesia.

Theeban Govindasamy

Karate stylist Theeban will also vie for a spot in the Grand Finals. Theeban reached the semi-finals last year only to fall to Meeraj the eventual welterweight champion.

But again knowing the huge potential in him MIMMA offered him a fight vs Sabahan and MIMMA1 heavyweight champion Adrian Tham. Theeban uses his long reach and Karate move to control Adrian. But Adrian manage to dominate using superior BJJ skills to win the fight.

Fight fans, get your fan ready, or turn up the A/C. Don't forget to pour yourself an ice cold drinks....coz it's gonna be a hot hot semi finals. Make sure you tune in to RTM TV1 for some pass fights to warm up yourself. Check out MIMMA's website for live streaming.

Joanna Yap - MIMMA 1st female MMA Champion

Joanna Yap from Kuching created history on 10 OCT 2015, when she became the 1st Female MMA Champion of MIMMA. MIMMA decided to introduce two new category in season 3, the Foreign Pride & Female category. This was a very smart decision as many Malaysian women are taking up martial arts and has cross train in various discipline, enabling them to compete in MMA. Style wise in Season 2, we saw the dominance of BJJ ( Brazilian JiuJitsu ) as both Grand Finalist , Joanna and Felicia Yunus ( from Sabah ) are BJJ specialist.

Backstage, before both  fighters enter the cage

Joanna qualified for the Grand Finals after collecting 3 wins. In the Grand Finals fight, both finalist went all out. Joanna was more dominance in her cage control. Joanna's owe her ground game skills to Coach Albert Lim of Studio 23, Kuching. Going the full 5 rounds certainly show how great the endurance of both fighters was. Joanna emerge champion by getting the unanimous decision.

CEO of Tune Talk , Jason Lo, sharing his joy of Joanna's victory as he is also from Kuching

The interview below was done after Joanna's win last year. It was always a great pleasure to interview Joanna as her career as a journalist with The Borneo Post really shines in the choice of words she uses and the amount of information she gives; which helps in my blog's objective of promoting local MMA talent, so the more infor from the interviewee, the better readers can know about them.

I hope with the interview below, reader's ( especially those trying out for MIMMA 4 today at Kuching ) can be motivated and learn from Joanna's experience and preservere and hope to see more champion emerge from Sarawak.You can also learn more about Joanna in my pre - MIMMA3 Grand Final story on her, click here

Tell me about the fight vs Felicia. You control her at the cage, striking time the flurry seems to caught you a few times, but you remain strong, tell me how does it feel at that moment?
Felicia landed a number of good strikes, but in the heat of the fight and with adrenaline running, I didn't feel much of the impact (I had a black eye the day after though!). 
Throughout the fight, my mind was just focused on implementing our strategy. She had great grappling defense and she didn't always let me do what I wanted to do. There were times Felicia had the upper hand, and at other times, I had the upper hand. However, in the last couple of rounds, I felt I had more success in imposing our game plan.

Is there a point in the fight that you think you need to change game plan or stick to it?
The fight was more or less going the way my team anticipated it might, so there wasn't any real need to change. As the fight progressed, there were certain things I needed to pay more attention to like keeping my defense up, and my team made sure to highlight them in between rounds. I tried to do my best to follow their advice.

Were you confident of having your hand raise when waiting for the annoucement by Jon Nutt?
At the end of the fight, I felt Felicia and I both had a 50-50 chance of winning. It was a pleasant surprise when it was announced the judges had awarded us the unanimous decision, as I thought it could have a been a split decision that could have gone either way.

After the fight, how did you celebrate your win?
By eating! It's the Malaysian way. I had a crazy bunch of ex-classmates who flew over from Kuching and Singapore to KL for the fight, while others who were working in KL and other parts of West Malaysia also came to watch. My mom came over to watch too. So after the fight was over, we met up at the Subway outlet just outside the stadium to eat, catch up and take photos as that was my only opportunity to see some of them before they returned back to where they came from.

You have build a rather close relationship with Felicia and also fellow fighters Gladys Molling, tell me more .
We definitely share a unique friendship because of the experiences we have gone through – not just as the first batch of female fighters in MIMMA 3, but also individually as female competitors in combat sports where women are often the minority. I think that's what helps us to click quite fast with each other because we have gone through similar experiences.

I was very happy when they both decided to visit the studio ( Studio 23 ) when they were in Kuching recently. It was great to be able to spend time with both of them. They are women I look up to because of their skills, positive outlook on life, strong fighting spirit, and passion for their martial arts. I hope to be able to return the favour and visit them in their home gyms to train with them one day.

How does your colleagues and bosses treats u after becoming MIMMA's 1st Female Champion?
Not much difference, to be honest. They congratulated me and then it was back to work for all of us, haha. Journalists and editors have seen and gone through many things in their line of work so it takes a lot to get a reaction out of them. I brought the belt to the office to show a couple of my colleagues and they had some fun taking photos with it. Other than that, it's business as usual.

Do you think MIMMA4 should stick to just one female category?
It would be nice if at least one more weight class could be opened to cater to the lighter weights. Another option is to split the current catchweight into additional weight classes. The MIMMA 3 female competitors had to compete in 48kg to 56.7kg catchweight, which actually encompassed three different weight classes. I think adding another weight class would encourage more women, especially the lighter weights, to try out. Ultimately, it will be up to MIMMA to decide.
Regardless of whether a new weight class is added, women have to do their part to take advantage of the opportunity and turn up for the MIMMA 4 tryouts to show the numbers are there to justify adding additional weight classes. I think there is definitely more interest and participation from female competitors in MMA, BJJ, muay thai, boxing and kickboxing competitions in Malaysia over the last couple of years, and the trend appears to be growing as more competitions are being held. MIMMA 3 has already unearthed some very good, promising female MMA fighters and I hope more women will come forward for MIMMA 4.

Defending it in 2016, what in your game that u feel need to improve on?
Plenty of things, especially the basics! Everything starts with a good foundation, so I will be spending a lot of time working on building good technique and unlearning bad habits. There is a very long way to go between where I am now and where I want to be.

Who contribute most in your preparations during MIMMA3 ?
It was really a team effort. I couldn't have done it without all my coaches and teammates from Studio 23 and SS Fighters. They gave a lot and sacrificed a lot to help me prepare. I am very blessed indeed to have them in my corner.

Backstage after her win with her coach Albert Lim ( right ) and friends 

Now that you are not in competition mode, how is training like?
After the competition, I had to scale back my training so that I could concentrate on my job. Am gradually picking up the pace again. My main goal at the moment is to fully recover from an injury I got during training a couple of weeks back and also on getting enough rest and staying healthy. It's the flu and cough season in Kuching so there's a need to be extra careful as I'm planning to compete in a BJJ competition in KL in early January.
By becoming Female Champ, what is the thing you hope others will learn from this?
Firstly, I hope it will encourage the women who are already in martial arts and combat sports to continue to pursue their paths, and for those who are thinking of starting, to be bold to try something new. Women and girls have the right to be the mats and in the ring just as much as men and boys. Being a good fighter has very little to do with what gender you are.

Overall, I hope it will inspire more women to be more confident in expressing themselves and to do the things which give them joy no matter how old they are or what other people think – whether it's fulfilling a childhood dream like learning how to dance or trying something new which puts them out of their comfort zone. I think women tend to second-guess themselves a lot with reasons like “I'm too old”, “It's not practical”, “I'm not good enough”, “What will other people think”, etc. But if you don't try, you'll never find out if things will work out. You don't have to be exceptional to have permission to do what you enjoy and enjoy what you do. I am not a natural athlete, but competing in and getting better at martial arts is something which makes me happy and I think it would be a path I would be content to travel for the rest of my life. If I happen to get very good at it, it's just icing on the cake.

Will you be joining more MMA fights to keep active before MIMMA4 Grand Finals come? Do you see yourself turning Pro?
I don't have any plans yet to compete in MMA before the grand finals but I hope to be taking part in other martial arts competition to keep myself in the game mentally and physically.
As for whether I see myself turning pro, I'm open to the idea, but I think it's too early to say for sure. People forget I am still a relative newcomer to MMA in terms of training and fight experience. I would like to spend more time strengthening these two aspects first.

Does people recognise u in the street or during your work as reporter ?
So far, I don't think anyone has recognised me when I'm at my job (if they did, they didn't say anything to me, haha), but there have been a few people coming up to me during muay thai class at SS Fighters to offer their congratulations and to say how excited they are that the first MIMMA women's champion is from Sarawak. It's a lot of fun to hear them share how much their interest in Malaysian MMA have grown because of what they saw on TV1 and on the www.malaysianinvasion.com website. The MIMMA film and production crew led by Yi Kin Hong have really done a top-notch job of telling the human stories behind the fights and fighters, which has helped to raise public interest in MMA.

BORNEO INVASION @ MIMMA3 - A KARADECH

A Karadech is a Thai and he does MuayThai...well that's not surprising right?
But this guy have over 100 over MuayThai fights in his record. He now coach MuayThai in the fame MuayThai Gym - SS Fighter of Kuching, Sarawak.

Sarawak has a very active MuayThai scene, every 2-3 months there's a fight being organised by the local association. The mission to improve the skill levels of locals sees the need of coaches with the skills set of Karadech. Kardech was also hired as Malaysian national MuayThai coach before he moved to Kuching.

Karadech is well aware of his opponent Ahamadjon's advantage on the ground. But he will try to keep the fight standing, with lots of low kicks and knees.

This fight with Ahmadjon will be an explosive affair.