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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

SABAH FIGHT: RANDAL'S RETIREMENT FIGHT AND ANIL'S 3RD VICTORY

picture by Sabai Desosza
On 10-11 DEC fight fans in Kota Kinabalu was treated to plenty of Muaythai action. Day time saw amateur bouts that went on for the Sabah Muathai Inter-District Championship. Come night time, the action got more intense with pro fights under the banner of Sabah Fight. Click here to check out my previous posting on the winner

In total 10 bouts was presented by Kelab Sukan Inspirasi Kinabalu, Parliament 171 Sepanggar, Sabah Muaythai Association and Kaza Musa Fight Management. 

Day 1 started with the Teens Superfight 46kg between Areen "The Heart Break Kid" Khan (Kinabalu Kings) vs Mohd. Nashruddin "The Valiant" (Jaguar Muaythai), which is won by Nashruddin.





Bout 2 was a highly anticipated female Superfight at 51kg. Aurora Chai (D30 Miri) vs Nurul "Chiko" Khairunnisa (Karabaw). Both came into this fight eager to get a win after their lost in the last outing. Aurora lost a close decision in a amatuer MMA superfight in Oct to Barbara Gloria of Sabah Top Team. Meanwhile Chiko lost in Keningau's STAND Series 3 to another Sabah Top Team member, Gloria Isabelle Hoong in Women 48kg amatuer Kickboxing. 



Both were willing to trade strikes when they got close. Aurora initiated most of the attacks and threw higher volumes of strikes. Aurora managed to find target with her high kicks to the head and a well placed teep to the body in 2nd round. Aurora Chai wins the fight but Chiko gave her a parting gift of a huge swelling on Aurora's forehead due to her elbow.




Bout 3. is for 70kg Men Superfight. Lu Yi Ran (D30) vs Liew Teck Seng (Borneo Tiger MMA). Liew also came into this fight trying to erase the lost to Nidal Mahmoud in STAND 3 Super 8. He came well prepared and really focus. 



Lu also look better physically compare to his last outing in Fight Fest 3 in K1. His technique is sharper and faster. But Liew's was able to exert more force and impact in his strikes. In round 1 Liew landed a huge right that staggered Lu backward and got a standing count.

Liew win this 5 round fight.





Bout 4 co-main event 54kg Men Superfight of Muliadan Danny (66) vs Alexander Fong (Borneo Tribal Squad). Alex has just moved to BTS and this is his comeback fight after a long period away from competitive Muaythai. 

In first 2 rounds Alex manage to connect with a couple of overhand right. Alex was the aggressor. Controlled in the clinch and he got most of the sweeps and throw to break Mualiadan's rhythm. But in 3rd round Muliadan starts to control the ring, attacked more with harder roundhouse.  

In 3rd round Alex seems to get back his groove, but as he push forward for an attack, they clinched and in the scuffle, Muliadan connect with an elbow to back of Alex head, Alex protested as he pause and referee gave a verbal reminder to Muliadan on the illegal strike.

Last two round was rather even, but Muliadan attacked more towards the end of round 5 to clinched the victory.





Bout 5, main event 60kg Reyyan Abdul (Kinabalu Kings) vs Randal Kadayum (Kinabalu Fighters). A rematch between this two after last year's F3 Borneo Series which Reyyan won. Randal's said he was having fever at that fight and this time he is well prepared and look to avenge the lost. 

Round 1 seems both equally strong. Both throwing everything they have. Knee and elbow in the clinch. Mid way through Randal's left forehead was bleeding.

But listening to his corner's instruction from Alvin Chong, Randal connected a few high kicks and elbows. 

In 4th round, with his southpaw stance Randall attack with his left roundhouse many times. Although this was blocked but it does soften up Reyyan's arm. 

After a restart, Randal lunged in with a right hook that draws Reyyan to defend with his arms and high left knee, as he drop his knee, Randal followed up with a fast roundhouse snap that landed flush on Reyyan's liver and he immediately sat down to take a breather.
Reyyan didn't recover from referee's count giving  Randal the TKO win.



After fight Randal reveal that this is his retirement fight. At 29 he has already achieved a lot. 2013 Sarawak TYT trophy, 4 D1FC title, 2016 Sarawak TYT Trophy winner, 2016 Elopura Fights Chief of Police Trophy and Borneo Cup 2016 60kg Super Fight.

He is also an accomplished boxer. Among his achievement..2013 Best Boxer, JFL Super 8 Cage Boxing Belt. Sabah Mayor Cup Winner 2012-2016.




Randal made the decision to retire due to the many injuries he has experienced from 5 years of active fighting. He started competing in combat sports at 24 in which he considered himself a late starter. It is also a promise he made to his wife Stephanie Vung. Herself a successful boxer but it still makes her nervous each time watching Randal fight.

Randal whom use to work as a pizza delivery crew now works in Jesselton College as their IT technician but at night he coach at Kinabalu Fighters. This humble fighter said it's time for the new generations of fighters to take over and for him to start making 'young ones' of his own.




But according to Randal, if the state boxing tournament is organised in Tambunan next year, he may come out of retirement temporarily to support the event as he is a native Tambunan boy and would not want to miss the chance to fight in front of his family and hometown crowds.

Day 2 began with teen fight of 38kg: Ag. Mohd "Montoi" of Naga Kinabalu vs Faiz " Harimau Kumbang ' of 66 Unicorn Sandakan.

The crowd that gather to support both fighters was amazing! The atmosphere was as though this was the main event. It's a positive sign that teen fighters can attract such attention.

The crowd's cheer was enhance by the antics of Montoi. Trully a showman at a young age. Faiz was the calmer one and it was good to see that he was not perturb with the cheer from the opponent side.

Montoi had the fancier style, but both have their moment. In the end Faiz composed style enable him to execute harder strikes that won him the fight.





Bout 2 was a fight of an experienced senior Mohd Syahrine @ Garebo of Kinabalu Kings vs the young gun, Morris Hii of D-30 Fight Team Miri. This was Morris's debut pro fight.

Aggressive start in round one by both fighters. Midway through, Garebo looks gassed out as he gasp for air.

2nd round, Morris initiate with impactful kicks and punch. Mid round in a scuffle, Morris tagged Garebo witha hard right, then they scuffle and Morris spin connect with a right elbow on Garebo's head. Garebo pushed forward, Morris landed a knee as he got pushed back. 

As they end up at the ropes, Morris pushed back and threw a knee, didn't look like it landed flush, but Garebo seems already hurt as he bend down to rest. Ref gave a count and Morris won with TKO.




Next up was female Superfight of 48kg between Murhima Edie - Clownboxx vs Tania of Kinabalu Kings. 

Another short fight. This time in round 1. Tania was sharper with snappy roundhouse, as Murhima tries to land haymaker. As Tania did the stalking, she spunned with a reverse elbow, missed but grappled Murhima's arms as she lands a knee to her rib and hurt Murhima. It was the same spot where Garebo was stopped. Tania won by TKO.



Co main event and main event is the next two fights. These fights was put together after Ronnie of Naga Kinabalu missed weight and the Super 4 bouts was canceled.

For co-main event: Mohd Rizal 'Ladda' (Team Karabaw) vs Madjais 'Opong' (Kinabalu Kings). Both are experience Muaythai athletes and are game for an all out war.

Hardly any knees or elbows was thrown in this fight. Rizal initiated most of the attacks. He was able to set up his attacks with hard round kicks to punch combination. 

This proof to be his winning factor as in round 4, he caught Opong with a head kick, partially blocked but staggered Opong. He followed up with a low kick checked by Opong, but Rizal landed a right hand on Opong's face. As Opong retreat, Rizal threw a hard right round house, landed flush on Opong's abs. This looks like the fight ender but Rizal followed with a flurry of punches and a right hand landed and drops Opong for the count.

KO win for Rizal. 





Main event of the night: Anil Mehta of Team Relentless India vs Ronald Tee of Borneo Combat Gym Labuan.



Anil was eager to look for a win. he has been coming to Sabah for fights almost every month. He fought mostly k1 Kickboxing. Starting with a win in STAND 2 in September. He then won the Super Fight in Fight Fest 3 in October, winning the title belt. His 3rd outing was in November's STAND 3, where he lost the final of Super 8 to Nidal Mahmoud.



This is Anil's 2 pro Muaythai fight. He is eager for this fight as he prefeedr an elbow war as he was still nursing a knee injury from STAND 3.

Ronald is a young fighter full of potential. At only 20, he already have 6 pro Muaythai fights in his record. 

The fight was close. Both fighters had their moments. But Anil had the edge. Scoring a teep to the face in round 2, a push kick knock down in round 3. Round 4, with Anil initiating most attack. He annoyed Ronald with a few hammer fist that pushed Ronald back, an unorthodox strike in Muaythai. Ronald connected a hard roundhouse counter.



5th round, Anil manage to use his length to his advantage. Twice he use his front kick to push back Ronald, and another twice was able to knock Ronald down.



Much respect was shown among each other as they touch gloves and hugs many times after a restart.

Anil won the match to win himself the Datuk Idris Jumat Trophy. His 3rd win in four outings to Sabah.



As a gesture of friendship, Anil hold up the Malaysian flag that Ronald brought in the ring as they both circle around the ring together.


But a commotion ensued afterwards as Ronald's corner protested the results. The organiser maintained the results and advise any party to go through the official channel for any dispute of results.



Anil travelled back to India to Mumbai where his team Relentless gym is based to share the victory with his coach Jitendre Khare and his other team mates whom has help him prepare for all his fights.



On his way back to his home state Himachal Pradesh in northern India a few days ago, Anil mentioned that it will take him 16 hours by train from Mumbai to Delhi. Then from Delhi, he will take bus to Baddi in Himachal state which takes another 7 hours.

Back in Baddi there's no martial arts gym. Usually Anil will train on his own. His home town state is a mountainous area, western side of Himalayas and this helps him in building his stamina.

He joined the Police force in 2008 but now he is on a 5 year break till 2020 from his work to focus on his fight career. He will travel to Team Relentless in Mumbai, more than 1700km away to train when he has a fight confirmed.

For the rest of 2016, he will take a break. He plans to come back stronger in 2017, looking to compete in pro Muaythai or pro Kickboxing only. And he aim for at least winning two title.

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

by TAN WALLACE





Saturday, December 17, 2016

WSOF-GC 4. Brazil's Viera miss weight, UFC's Yuta Sasaki steps in




TOKYO, JAPAN December 17, 2016 World Series of Fighting – Global Championship (WSOF-GC) and DEEP Fighting Championships are just hours away from WSOF-GC 4 DEEP VS GLOBAL. Yesterday’s weigh-in event was disrupted when Brazil’s Fernando Vieira came in seven pounds overweight (142) for his WSOF Global Bantamweight Championship match with Japan’s Takafumi Otsuka (135). Despite Otsuka’s persistence to make the fight happen, and to give Vieira an unprecedented additional ten hours to make the weight, the fight has been canceled when Vieira failed to report to his final weigh-in.




Otsuka said yesterday, 
“I don’t want any excuses. I want the best that he can bring me. If he does not make the weight, it won’t be because I didn’t give him the opportunity. I came prepared to win this title. He should have been equally prepared. I am upset that he did not, but again, I don’t want excuses. I want a tough fight and to become the first WSOF Global Bantamweight World Champion.”

Throughout the evening, the Evolução Thai MMA fighter continuously disappeared from his cornermen, the spa, and WSOF Global staff. A message from his cornerman, former K-1 and Dream Fighter Andre “Dida” Amade, stated, 
“I did not find Fernando. I was in the room and he was not there. I’m looking for him now.” Messages from Vieira stated that he left the hotel and sauna alone. 


Despite the efforts of WSOF Global Vice President of Operations, Jason Lilly, to get Vieira’s location and back to the hotel, Vieira decided to “eat and moisturize” instead of weighing in within the allotted time.

Vieira was seen happily eating...

...and sleeping, not making effort to make weight

Lilly added, “Cancelling this bout is a real disappointment to the fans and Vieira is an embarrassment. Japanese fighters know more than any other what it means to have honor and respect for their opponent. DEEP Fighting Championships, their President Shigeru Saeki, and his opponent Takafumi Otsuka, went above and beyond to try to make this match happen. Fortunately, there is a surprise silver lining to all of this. Viewers will be thrilled to know that Otsuka will fight against one of the biggest fan favorites in Japan, current UFC fighter, Yuta ‘Ulka’ Sasaki.”


The surprise announcement was confirmed at 04:30JST in Tokyo, just a mere 10 hours before the scheduled event time of 14:30. Otsuka will face off against Sasaki in a one-round, five-minute exhibition match. Lilly continued, “I know Otsuka and his fans would rather be fighting for a belt. He certainly did more than was required of him. WSOF Global intends to honor his commitment to the match and award him with an interim championship belt during tonight’s event. He will have an opportunity to defend that belt with us in the near future. I want to thank the UFC for allowing one of their rising contenders to participate in our event. It’s a class move on their part and one that the fans will appreciate.”




Ulka (19-3-2) is currently 2-2 in the UFC, with both of his wins coming via submission. His last bout was a win via rear-naked choke over Willie Gates. He is scheduled to fight Wilson Reis (21-6) on February 11 at UFC 208: Holm vs de Randamie.

Fight fans from around the world can watch this bouts and the entire 18-fight card, starting LIVE at 9:30pm PST on December 16 for just $9.99 at wsofgc.com. WSOF Global will host WSOF-GC 4 DEEP vs GLOBAL at Differ Ariake Arena on December 17, 2016 at 14:30JST (UTC +9). Tickets start at ¥6500 with VIP seating available for ¥16,000. Tickets are now on sale at http://deep2001.tstar.jp/

Flyweight title belt up for grabs

This year WSOF Global has brought together more than 15 MMA promotions on 6 continents for fans under one common banner, including DEEP, which has hosted over 300 events since their inception in 2001. These fights will be making their way into the WSOF Global Fight Library at wsofgc.com, as will future fights available live. There are currently five events online at wsofgc.com, including DEEP 76, DEEP 77, DEEP CAGE IMPACT 2016, DEEP JEWELS 12, and DEEP JEWELS 13. MMA fans can watch all of these fights, as well as those from all other affiliates at WSOFGC.com.



World Series of Fighting Global’s ultimate mission is to bring together the best athletes from countries and organizations across the world to compete for a true, globally-recognized world champion. Media inquiries should be sent to Jason Lilly, Vice President of Operations of World Series of Fighting Global, at jlilly@wsof.asia. Follow them on Twitter @WSOFGlobal


About DEEP Fighting Championships:

Founded in 2001 by the promoter Shigeru Saeki, DEEP Fighting Championships (DEEP FC) is a championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) series dedicated to not just showcasing the top MMA athletes in Asia but also promote the sport with many interesting and experimental approaches - promote both ring and cage events, resurrect the careers of big-name stars, provide athletes from other sports such as kick boxers, sumo wrestlers, pro-wrestlers, and ex-pro baseball players, the opportunity to test their skills in MMA. Also, DEEP implement various rules from North American unified rules, PRIDE rules to Kick Boxing and Shoot Boxing rules.

The operation is based in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan, DEEP FC is one of the longest running premier MMA promotions in the world.

In addition to MMA series, DEEP FC also promotes grappling series named DEEP X, kick boxing series named DEEP KICK, and senior fighters' series named DEEP HERO and "Oyaji" DEEP.

DEEP FC is currently broadcasted by Sky Perfect TV / Fighting Network Samurai in Japan, Fight Network in Canada and UK, and recently, inked the deal with Abema TV, an internet TV station created by TV Asahi and Cyber Agent.

Friday, December 16, 2016

BAC 3 : In memory of Joseph Yew


In a short period of 1 year, Borneo Combat Gym's (BCG) new premises in Time Square Labuan was already a venue for 2 successful Borneo Amateur Challenge (BAC), in January & June this year. 

BAC will return this weekend for it's 3rd edition. BAC has established itself as an amateur tournament for K1 Kickboxing and MMA that combines with referee course.



As an International Sports Karate Association (ISKA) representative for Borneo, BCG's founder coach Alvin Chong has envisioned a plan to produce many more capable referee for Kickboxing and MMA in Borneo. 

Together with his mentor master Khoo Meng Yang of TNT Kickboxing ( ISKA Rep for South East Asia ), Alvin wanted BAC to be a platform for referee to continue to learn and improve themselves.


Alvin with Master Khoo

He believes that Borneon can lead in Kickboxing and MMA, be it as an athlete or official and BAC is his way of providing Borneon an avenue to learn, apply, improve and excel.

Through BAC, Alvin also use it as a platform to train his staff and team on organising and management skills. Every BAC will have a different committee to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn, contribute and execute their plan.


According to BAC3's spokeperson Maureen Choo ;
"In our management perspective, we aim and encourage our BCG members to be involved and be part of the committee to run BAC events. This will definitely give the member some good exposure and opportunity to manage an event. Subsequently, it helps BCG management and its member to foster a closer ties and mutual partnership in long run."


Maureen further adds; 
" We have seen increases in number of participation from Labuan, Sabah, Sarawak and as well from Brunei in BAC 2. The response is encouraging and, we hope to see and draw more martial arts artists to showcase their talent and skills in the fight competition/challenge.

Our objective is to groom local talents and to ensure the fighters readiness for ISKA standard. At the sametime, to promote Labuan as one of the potential hub to host combat sports and martial arts event."


This 3rd edition will be special. As it will have a Super 4 K1 Kickboxing tournament, winner will win the inaugural Joseph Yew Cup (JY Cup).

This Cup is created in memory of  Alvin's personal friend and co founder of BCG, Joseph Yew whom died of cancer two weeks ago.

Joseph and Alvin in 2015 Oct at BCG 's grand opening

Alvin got acquainted to Joseph through some renovation work he did for BCG. As the two became friends, Alvin shared his vision and ideas of BCG with Joseph, his vision of making BCG as the center of healthy activities for Labuan's youth and the young ones. 

He wanted Labuan to not only be well known for it's tax free liquor and night life but also be known as a place where martial arts skills and value can be learned to improve oneself, and these ideas are well accepted by Joseph. 

Joseph as a successful businessman in Labuan was also a person whom believe in giving back to society and he knows through BCG, this can be done. He fully supports Alvin's ideas and vision.


Together with Alvin they made it happen by moving BCG to 5th floor of Labuan Time Square last October; making BCG the 1st gym in Malaysia to have a great harbour view. They put in good quality gym equipment and facilities and built the 1st MMA cage in Labuan.

Alvin ensure that manpower wise they get very capable local Labuanites to be the coaches and the management team. 


JY Cup is to honour Joseph Yew, in which Alvin said without him BCG would not become what it is today. Alvin said this Cup will ensure his friend's legacy lives on as BCG continue to strive to improve the lives of Labuanites.

The JY Cup Super 4 will see a fast pace and explosive flyweight Kickboxing fight among Borneo talents. Mohd Dinie of Brunei, Writh Kataposan of Keningau, Morris Hii of Miri and home grown BCG talent Elto Jai Alisad.


Elto Jai Alisad, age 29 known by his nickname as “Baby Pacquiao” through his biggest admiration towards one of the best boxing champion Manny Pacquaio. Hailed from Zamboanga, this Filipino has been working in Labuan for the past 7 years at a local restaurant. With his has deep passion and love towards martial arts since young, he decided to enroll to BCG 2 years ago and ever since then, he never looked back. 

He is now one of the trainer at BCG. Although he has been juggling between working in the restaurant and BCG, this never stop Elto from training and focusing in the gym to realize his dream of competing in martial arts competition.

Elto’s fight record to-date is 3, with 1 MMA (BAC 1), 2 K1 (Stand 1 & BAC 2) and BAC 3 will be his 4th fight and he will continue to participate in fights to gain more experience and enhance his skills.

Writh Kataposan of Keningau MMA was supposed to fight in the main card of MMA amateur bouts in Jesselton Fight League this 16th DEC, but as JFL was postponed he decided to not let his training go to waste by participating in BAC3.

Writh most recently won the boxing tournament in STAND 3 in Keningau. He is also an MMA athlete, reaching the semi-finals of JFL in 2015, losing to eventual JFL flyweight champion Eddey Kalai. In BAC 2 he won the final amateur MMA, beating the experience Johan Julian.

Writh is a fighter that does not fear any style the opponent throw at him, he is very willing to trade blows and will keep on moving forward. Working as a bartender till 2am daily, he does finds it a challenge to put in time for training, but he is glad that his boss has acknowledge his interest in martial arts and encourage him to train well.

Writh is a Sabahan of Filipino Bisaya heritage. At the young age of 5 he lost his parents and as an orphan was taken care by a Dusun family in Keningau. He started to work to earn a living at 13 when he finished his primary school education.

He started training in Muaythai at Jacky Fitness Keningau 6 years ago but move on to Keningau MMA in 2013 under the coaching of Mohd Bin Bakri whom has help him a lot in improving his skills.

Morris Hii of D-30 Miri is a fighter that don't talk much. Just finished his SPM recently in Riam Road Secondary School. He lets his hands and feet do most of the talking. He already has a K1 amateur record of 3-2 and semi pro 0-1. Amateur MMA record of 1-0 and Muaythai amateur 3-2-0. Just last Sunday Morris debut his pro Muaythai. In Sabah Fight superfight and won against a very experience opponent with a TKO strikes with knee.

Morris fighting style is aggressive. He always look for the finish early. But an interesting fact is that he is also a competitive swimmer. Winning the gold in Brunei Open Swimming Championship in 4x200M freestyle and silver in 4x100M. This year, he took the bronze in Brunei age group championship for 100M breaststroke and silver in 200M breatstroke. 

JY Cup Women Superfight will see the battle between Riyana Razman of TNT Kickboxing, Kuala Lumpur vs BCG's own, Cindy Martin. 


Cindy Martin, age 21 known by her nickname as “Dark Princess”. The name was chosen due to her vibrant personality and fearlessness in the ring.

Hailed from Sipitang, Sabah and has been in Labuan since 2012. Currently working in the hospitality industry. She has been with BCG for about 5 months and been training hard as to realize her dream of becoming one of Borneo's best female fighter. 

Her inspiration and role model comes from the world famous UFC female fighter, Ronda Rousey.

Cindy's first fight was in Stand 3, Keningau where she clinched the victory as champion for female 60kg K1 Amateur. Cindy is like a machine when she fights, unstoppable and possessed good cardio and will keep pushing the pace of the fight.

BAC is also a colloboration with Sabah's premier K1 Kickboxing tournament, STAND. As ISKA rep for Borneo, Alvin hope to see more colloboration between local Borneo base fight event to avoid clashing of event and also to establish Borneo as a powerhouse for K1 Kickboxing in terms of producing skill fighters, quality referees and well organised events.
Rayner Kinsiong, founder of STAND endorsing the colloboration with BAC