LUTA LIVRE EXPANDING TO SIBU

Most of us would have heard of Brazilian Jiu Jit Su. This martial arts has already made it's mark in Borneo, with the establishment of Persatuan Jiu Jit-Su Negeri Sabah that has organised numerous grappling competition such as Headhunters Challenge, Sabah Open and Badak Challenge.

Usually day one of the comp are BJJ (with gi), and grappling challenge (no gi) for the second day. This no gi challenge is actually a martial arts by itself and has it's own history, heritage and development and it's call Brazilian Luta Livre ( BLL). In Borneo BLL was introduce by Antonio Battistessa. Do check out my story on him to learn m ore about BLL, click here 

BLL is now spreading it's wing to Sarawak, via Borneo Top Team (BTT), lead by Lucas Lau. Borneo Top Team is home to MIMMA4 Middleweight Grand Finalist Bryant Tan 

This 9-11 December a BLL seminar will be conducted by Prof. Gustavo Muniz.

Warriors of Borneo manage to have a chat with Lucas Lau on this.

Greetings Lucas, can you introduce yourself to the readers

My name is Lucas Lau, 34 years old born and raised in Sibu. I came from a humble family background. I am into construction and renovation business for many years.

How did you started BTT?
Since Martial Art has always been my passion and interest, I’ve decided to setup a Muay Thai gym and hire a trainer from Thailand. The initial idea was to just have fun with some friends and to train among ourselves but slowly more and more people started to know the place. The gym was officially open for public in 2012. It was known as Muay Thai Fitness Gym by that time then renamed to Borneo Top Team soon after that.

Tell me about your personal martial arts journey? When you started & why?

My father was a Chinese martial art practitioner and I was influenced by him at a very young age. I started practicing Taekwondo since I was 7 years old until middle school. I was actively involved in athletic competition, basketball, rugby and soccer and that is one of the reason I stopped my Taekwondo journey.

Somewhere in 2011, I’ve decided to pursue my dream and embrace my passion. I packed my bag, bought myself a ticket to Chiang Mai, Thailand and trained in a Muay Thai camp for some times. Going to Santai Muay Thai Gym gave me an opportunity to know many friends from around the world. 

One of the guy that I’ve met, a Canadian, Jay Davies. He is a good man and a good friend. He introduced me one of his student from Canada, Andrew Babcock to come to my gym in Sibu to teach BJJ and MMA. From just doing Muay Thai, we soon explored ourselves into MMA and BJJ.

How did you get into Luta Livre?

Prof.Antonio Battistessa, BLL brown belt, owner/founder of Sabah Top Team introduced Brazilian Luta Livre to me. Knowing Brazilian Luta Livre (Free wrestling @ direct translation from Portuguese) is actually a no-gi grappling, it caught my attention in no time. Since we were doing no-gi grappling all these while, (No-Gi Grappling is known as BLL) I didn’t hesitated to open up to Brazilian Luta Livre.

How did Master Gustavo get into the picture? Is he permanently base in BTT?

After a few phone calls with Prof. Antonio Battistessa, I’ve decided to find a BLL coach to come and teach in my gym. He made some calls and finally Master Afonso Cego from Brazil (BLL Black Belt stationed in Manila, Philippine), responded with a great news, saying his friend from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil would love to come and teach in my gym! Soon, we’ve arranged Master Gustavo Muniz to come. He is now BTT Head Coach and co-owner of BTT. He is now permanently based in BTT. 

Can you tell us more about prof Gustavo?
It was a great honor to have Master Gustavo Muniz, a 3rd Dan Brazilian Luta Livre Black Belt, to come all the way from Rio de Jainero, Brazil and coach in our gym in Sibu. He has more than 20 years of experience in Capoeira and Brazilian Luta Livre. 

Master Gustavo Muniz won lots of competition and championships. Just to name a few, Greco Roman Brazilian Champion, Brazilian Luta Livre State Champion, Island Cup Champion, some Muay Thai and MMA championships as well. He is the founder of Honor Fight Club, which is now expanding to 7 countries worldwide.

Tell me a bit on martial arts scene in Sibu? I know a lot of people always say Sibu have lots of gangster, did it happen before that gangster disturb you or your students?
There aren’t many martial art gym in Sibu, especially MMA or grappling gym. We are the only gym in town teaching MMA and Brazilian Luta Livre. It was a tough work promoting and introducing the sport to society in Sibu. 

The growing family of BTT

And yes, you are right, other than our delicious local food, we are popular for being a gangster town but it is not as terrible as how people projected it. It is a small town and I never have problem with gangster coming to disturb the gym or the students.

Is it easy to get Sibuian to take up MMA? What is the overall response?
It was very tough when we just started. MMA is not a stranger to them but many think that is a violent sport. Through some roadshows and demos in publics, people started to see it as a sport just like other martial art. Right now we are doing lots of public events to educate and to create awareness to the public the benefits of practicing MMA. 

martial arts demo by BTT

We have a roadshow in Wisma Sanyan on 31st December 2016, from 1:30pm to 5:30pm. We will be doing real life demo on how to protect ourselves when bad thing happens. Also, we have a BLL & MMA training camp coming on 9th to 11th December in Sibu. Some participants are from Indonesia and Singapore. We hope to have more locals involving in the training camp.

Tell me some of the achievements of BTT.
We’ve won some competition from time to time. 1 of our fighter, Bryan Tan managed to compete in MIMMA Grand final last October in Stadium Negara. Even though he didn’t win the fight, we are still proud of him. 

Lucas (L) with Bryant (center) and Brandon (R)

The last competition was in Fight Fest3 and we won 2 golds in MMA. Next competition will be Warriors FC, Penang. My student, Yannis will be going against an experienced MMA Fighter with 13 wins and 2 loses record. We are looking forward to this fight. We hope to join more competitions in the near future to gain more experiences and knowledges.

Yannis will compete against Niker Tan ( MIMMA3 Finalist)

A lot of people does not realise that most fights go to the ground and will have lots of grappling and scuffling. This is where a grappling martial arts is very effective and Luta Livre is certainly perfect for this situation as you learn to grapple without using a gi ( martial arts uniform ).

Be it you looking to learn self defense or adding to your arsenal as a martial artist, do take this chance to learn this unques and very effective martial arts, sign up and learn from the expert.

Warriors of Borneo wishes BTT a very successful seminar.

STAND 3: Kickin' it at Keningau

STAND is back with Kickboxing action to entertain us this weekend 26-27 Nov 2016, in the interior town of Keningau Sabah. This time it's for series 3 and it's held in conjunction with The Crocker Range Festival (TCRF ).

Started on 24 Nov, TCRF is a festival with plethora of events and activities such as Fitness Concert, Local Artist performance, Ms Crocker Range, Arm Wrestling, Fun Run and a whole lot more. And Kickboxing and boxing will be part of this fun and action packed festival.

STAND has established itself as a Kickboxing events that tie in with family carnival. Started with the 1st series at Nexus Karambunai Resort in April this year, erecting a boxing ring next to the beautiful beach of Karambunai, with few food & drinks stalls surrounding it really gives this fight event a different feel, a relax atmosphere that fighters can fight, and their supporters and family and chill out enjoying the cool breeze from the sea.

STAND Series 1

The series 2 continued this concept where STAND was part of the beach festival in Siok Bah Karnival in September, at Tg.Lipat Beach which gives good exposure to K1 Kickboxing to wider audience and a good platform for newcomer to gain experience.

Series 2

As part of a WSOF affiliated event , the organiser, TEAM KARABAW has announced a full calender for 2017 which will see 3 tournament held in April, June and September, which will lead to the year end closing of a Super series at November.

Keningau is around 109 Km away from Kota Kinabalu and takes 1.5 hour car ride via the Kimanis route which is steep but very scenic mountainous road that traverse through Sabah's back bone; the Crocker Range.

Although it's a distance away but as the founder of STAND, Sensei Rayner Kinsiong has a close affinity to Keningau; as this is his home town. He always wanted to do something for his home town. So bringing a home grown and internationally affiliated martial arts event is really the best thing to do.

Aside from being the only Kickboxing promotions affiliated to WSOF, STAND is also a ISKA sanction event. ISKA representative of Borneo, Alving Chong will be present to guide the officials.

STAND 3 highlight will be the Super 8 70kg title fight. The fighter to watch out for is Anil Mehta from Team Relentless India. Sabah has been a successful place for Anil, with him winning the STAND series 2 Light Welterweigh title in September. He again was victorious in Fight Fest 3, winning the ISKA K1 Fight Fest 65kg title belt in October. Now for the 3rd month in a row, he is back in Sabah for fight. Will he win again for third time?

Anil's is expected to win his first fight against Lu Yi Ran of D-30. Lu may lack the experience compare to Anil, but what he lacks there he make it up with a never say die attitude.

Nidal Mahmood from Sampuri Gym will also be a fighter to watch in this Super 8. He won in STAND series 1 and is back with high intention to bring the belt back to Kuala Lumpur. Nidal is a muay thai specialist and will be capitalizing his long reach to score against Ronoldo Liew of Borneo Tiger MMA. Liew is no slouch, he has very heavy hands and may give Nidal trouble if he close the distance and connect in the pocket.

Another prospect is Mohd Eswandy from Gymbox, Kuching. Another muaythai specialist, Eswandy also dabbled in MMA and did well in reaching MIMMA 4 Semi-finals this year fighting at lightweight.

Eswandy will face Ronnie of Naga Kinabalu in the prelim.

For female showdown the high light will be the K1 Super Fight at 52kg between Shaznieffah of Team Karabaw vs Ainah of Team Revolution. Judging from pass female fights, usually they give their all out and sometimes are more relentless than their male counterparts. So with this fight promises plenty of fireworks!

According to Kaza Musa who arranges the fight card for STAND, 22 team has registered, with 80 fighters confirmed for showdown. 70 participating in amatuer K1 Kickboxing and another 10 for amatuer boxing.

Keningau MMA ( KMMA ) lead by Mohd Bakri,  this time will be sending 15 fighters, 13 for kickboxing and 2 for boxing. KMMA has been very active in participating in local fight events. Participating in fights in other town is always a challenge due to the long travel by car. But this time it's at their base and they have been preparing very intensely and expect a fine showing from KMMA.

Anil Mehta has spend time at KMMA to exchange some training tips and KMMA will be cornering him for the Super 8 fight

As for the new team of Kinabalu Kings lead by Bee Jay will be sending 9 fighters. As a new team that was just formed in feb this year, they have doing well in Kickboxing events. At STAND 1 winning 3 Gold and 2 silver, STAND 2, 2 Gold and 2 silver, BAC Labuan 3 Gold 2 silver and most recently in October - Fight Fest 3, 7 Gold 2 silver.

With a few muaythai champion in the team such as Faizal Boy Kicap, Reyan Abdul and Ben Banetto, which trains the newcomer, Kinabalu Kings has won the Inter-Club Muaythai in Sept at Sandakan. According to Bee Jay, his team comprises 2 newcomer and the other 7 fighters have no more than 4 fights in their record. He is looking to develop them further, but also confident that they will achieve the 4 gold he has set.

Fighters weigh in has been done at Friday and fight day in on 26-27 Nov. Let's show support for the fighters and cheer them on and support local fight events that bring fight action to us!

All the best to the fighters and organiser for a great STAND 3!

REIGN IN POWER MMA CHINA : THE MALAYSIAN MIMMA CONNECTION

There's no doubt that martial arts is synonym to China. Being the birthplace of Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Wushu Sanda and counteless other martial arts, it has become part of Chinese culture. With the growing popularity of MMA due to the influence of UFC, China is a market definately any MMA promotions would like to penetrate.

China has seen it's first MMA promotions in 2005 through Art of War Fighting Championship, Then came Legend FC, with it's first event  in 2010 at Hong Kong, which saw  Adrain Pang ( current ONE Championchip Lightweight stalwart ) draw against Yul Chul Nam of Korea. In 2011 Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF) enter the picture with it's first event in Shanghai.

Then in 2013, the big boy...UFC enter the game by producing The Ultimate Fighter China, which saw MIMMA Season 1 lightweight champion Allen Solomon Chong being the 1st South East Asian qualify for the selection. TUF China climax at the finale in Macau in 2014 with the main fight card of Dong Hyung Kim vs John Hathaway.

Allen during TUF China photoshoot

In Dec 2014, Asia MMA powerhouse, ONE Championship held Dynasty of Champions in Beijing, which saw a featherweight & flyweight tournament being organised and the emergence of China MMA star Li Kai Wen.

Kunlun Fight, primarily a Kickboxing promotions but they introduce MMA in April 2015. Rebel FC: The Promised One was organised in Qingdao in June 2015.  In Nov 2015, another global organisations, WSOF ( World Series of Fighting ) entered China by launching it's first WSOF Global Championship in Haikou.

But all the above are professional MMA promotions. There is still no local Chinese MMA promotions at amateur level,...till now, enter Reign in Power Fighting Championship ( RIP-FC ).

Reign in Power Fighting Championship ( RIP-FC ) has been formed to unearth local China MMA athletes. Aiming to give a platform to Chinese fighters  to perform and gain experience before moving to the pro field.

The RIP-FC press con in Sept annoucing the event

Their first event is on this Sunday 20 NOV at Kunming, the largest city in the province of Yunnan in southern China. This first event, named Decisive Battle will feature 12 bouts, 2 being pro fight cards.

The Malaysian MIMMA connection here is that the core operation & production team are from MIMMA Malaysia. Yes the people behind MIMMA are collaborating with Wu Jie Sports Development Company to organise, run and produce the show.

The success of Tune Talk's MIMMA since 2013 being the biggest and best run amateur MMA tournament has attract the interest of Chinese sports authorities. They are looking to replicate the same format in China. China with it's martial arts roots and countless martial artists present a huge pool of potential MMA talent. All they need is a tournament to perform and gain the much needed experience.

The MIMMA team is bringing 3 MIMMA fighters for RIP-FC's inaugural event. Reigning and 3 times Flyweight Champion Seah Zhang Yu of 3S MMA will be facing his toughest challenge to date in facing an experience Thai muaythai specialist.

Penangite Seah is on top form as he look to continue his 3 fight winning streak to 4. Seah also recently emerged champion in Optimum Nutrition: Show of True Strength, an exercise contest of fitness and strength.

Also fighting at Flyweight will see MIMMA season 3 Contender Fight Challenger Naimul Othman facing a Filipino muaythai stylist. Naimul has been active in 2016 participating in ONE Silat and most recently he lost a close match in a catchweight MMA fight in Jesselton Fight League. Naimul is fighting out of CTR313 & Monarchy MMA .

At Featherweight, Ridzuan Dahari, is fighting out of Kalai Bother Boxing will face American Cash Barnes of Team Quest Thailand. Ridzuan is MIMMA Season 4 semi-finalist with a 4-4-0 records.

Groomed by Eddey Kalai with great boxing, Ridzuan is a pro boxer. His most recent boxing match was at Singapore Fighting Championship 2 in the final of WBF Asia Pacific Light heavyweight title fight, which he lost to Sabahan Hisyam Sam.

Ridzuan is from Labuan. He left his home island to Kuala Lumpur when his mother pass away and has gone through lots of challenges in life. He use to hang out with Naimul when he was in his early 20s and they used to got into many street fights.

Martials arts in a way saved him and Naimul, as it instill discipline, respect and honour into their life. Furthermore Ridzuan felt it's better to fight in the cage as it's safer and get rewarded.



Another Borneon, Mohd Hasbullah Sanmin from Team Karabaw Keningau will also be feature, facing another Filipino in Flyweight. Hasbullah was MIMMA 4 Semi-Finalist. But in Sabah he has achieved much, being the Jesselton Fight League 2015 Bantamweight champion and Fight Fest 2 Super-4 Champion. He most recently won Fight Fest 3 Flyweight Superfight vs Joel Nickolson of Sabah Top Team with a ground and pound finish.

In the main event pro cards, Welterweight action will feature Glenn Sparv of Finland fighting out of AKA Thailand with a 12-4-0 vs American James Chaney. James fought in The Utimate Fighter 16 (2012) and was known for controversially biting his opponent in order to escape a choke.

In the 2nd pro card will see American Edmund Bordes vs Artur Taruharov. Edmund is muaythai specialist and a familiar face to Malaysian fight fans. He fought pro muaythai in D1 Fighting Championship and was in Sabah few months ago, training Brazilian Luta Livre under Antonio Battistessa at Sabah Top Team before he moved to KL to teach in  Gymba Muaythai.



Warriors of Borneo wishes all the Malaysian fighters all the best. Fight hard, fight smart, fight with all your heart.

All the best to the Malaysian fighters

Seah, Naimul & Ridzuan with the Malaysian team

Ridzuan & Naimul proudly showing their support to their sponsor RANGER

MIMMA fight photo team of YK Tang & Mahesan with Seah, his coach  Kenny Ng and MMA referee Isaac Yap

FIGHT FEST 3. MMA FULL RESULTS

Bout 1 MMA 60kg
Ritchie Junior ( Innovation Gym - Lahad Datu )  winner by Rd 1 minute - 4:49   Opponent gave up
Mohd Faizal ( Fit Pro Muaythai - Chennei )

Bout 2 MMA 65kg
Vincent Voon ( Gymbox - Kuching ) winner by referee stoppage due to strikes. Rd 1 minute 2:31 
Johari Allakbar ( Keningau MMA )

Bout 3 MMA 70kg
Nathaniel Lakai ( Warmonger - Miri ) winner by RNC Rd 1. Minute -  2:34
Vallent Pierre Peter ( Sabah Top Team - KK )

Bout 4 MMA 65kg
Royston Honarius ( Keningau MMA ) winner by guillotine choke. Rd 1 Minute: 1:14
Ad Riell Bryen ( Innovation Gym - Lahad Datu )

Bout 5 MMA 80kg
Zulazman  ( Innovation Gym - Lahad Datu ) Winner by RNC Rd 2 minute 4:20
Shahrizal B Rasit ( Tomoi Labuan )

Bout 6 MMA 90kg
Brandon Sung ( Borneo Top Team - Sibu ) winner by TKO Rd 2
Nigel Lakai ( Warmonger - Miri )

Bout 7 MMA 95kg
Yannis Kokkosis ( Borneo Top Team - Sibu ) winner by KO Rd 1 minute 1:17
Yusop Massiiun ( Keningau MMA )

Bout 8 MMA 70kg
Shadman ( Gymbox - Kuching )
Erriccory ( Keningau MMA ) winner by arm-bar Rd 1 minute 2:22

Bout 9 MMA 65kg
N. Naziman ( Keningau MMA )
Aaron Lo ( Gymbox - Kuching ) winner by KO. Rd 3 minute 2:27

Bout 10 MMA 75kg
Rosli Pagawat  ( Innovation Gym - Lahad Datu )
Lu Yi Ren  ( D-30 Muaythai - Miri ) winner by referee stoppage due to G&P. Rd 2 minute 2:38

Bout 11 MMA 52kg Female
Aurora  ( D-30 Muaythai - Miri ) 
Barbara ( Sabah Top Team - KK ) winner by 3 round unanimous decision.

Bout 12 MMA 65kg
Fadzli ( Warmonger - Miri ) winner by referee stoppage due to G&P. Rd 2 minute 1:57
Soklek ( Eagle )

Bout 13 MMA 65kg
Joel Nickolson ( Sabah Top Team - KK )
Md. Hasbullah Sanmin ( Karabaw Keningau  ) winner by referee stoppage due to G&P . Rd 2 minute 2:30