MMA Showdown of the biggest fight card yet for FMD

When FMD released it's 13th edition poster....using a clever play of the 1987 Predator movie starred by Arnold Schwarzenegger. It got my attention, because that movie till today is my all time favorite movie. and with this, ...I know FMD 13 is gonna be awesome!

How awesome is that?...How about matching two ex UFC fighters together in the main card and a mouth watering featherweight fight. In the main event is Lightweight title fight between Will 'The Kill' Chope vs Tommy 'Wildcard' Hayden. As for featherweight, MMA standout Ali Motamed from Phuket's Tiger Muay Thai will fight American Luke Adams of Singapore's Juggernaught Fight Club. 

Calm before the storm...Will and Tommy having a drink at FMD's press con

Okay before we get all excited about the fights, let's just go back a bit in time to see how FMD has developed over the years. The party theme fights started with DARE. It was the earliest MMA promotions in Thailand, started in 2011. They held a few shows till 2013. American Jon Nutt was their face, emcee and practically coordinate almost everything for DARE. Eventually he left and formed Full Metal Dojo (FMD) on his own in 2014.

Many would think MMA would not flourish in Thailand given that the Thais are very protective of their Muaythai heritage. But with clever marketing, and a passion to bring people together for a wild good time, Jon was able to combine party theme, music, tourism and fight sports into one entertaining show. That is FMD, with an attitude. 



FMD also has play a huge role in showcasing the best new talents from Thailand and from around the region. Bringing more attention to the fight gyms in Thailand and growing the sports of MMA in this Land of Smiles

To date, FMD has consistently held shows since June 2014 and it has build itself to a legendary status in Asia as a unique MMA event. The fights are explosives and intense, the music is mesmerizing and hip moving, the people are cool and fun loving. If the bigger MMA organisation shows are mostly like attending a rock concert, attending FMD is like going to a underground metal or punk gig. It's trully an unforgettably enjoyable experience.

Jon is a very familiar face in Asia's MMA. Aside from his own FMD, he has hosted and involved in the very successful amateur MMA tournament in Malaysia - MIMMA, regional boxing event, Songkran MMA, Singapore Fighting Championship and emcee for Patong Boxing Stadium from for 2 years.

I'm with Jon at MIMMA 2016 Grand Final

His voice is distinctively macho and he emcee very well in providing the audience with bits of infor without talking too much to educate them on MMA. He always has the right things to say to draw them deeper into the fights. Sponsors also like him as he knows how to effectively promote and highlight them without being too hard sell.



Jon was having a hectic week as FMD 13 draws closer, at the same time his wife was heavily pregnant and when Warriors of Borneo talked to him, Jon was in the hospital waiting for his baby. ( He is now a proud father of a baby boy...Congratulations! )

Tell us about the concept of FMD 13: Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made Of.
It's a play on the songs by Alicia Keys, New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of. The idea from the songs was joke amongst friends actually.  If you don't know, well...my organisation are only made of 3 people, whereas other organisation ARE organisation. We're just a couple of guys that do this...me, Ree Webster and Richard Arthur.

Bangkok is where we represent. We've always consider it concrete jungle where dreams are made of, because, well New York was where immigrant used to go, all three of us are immigrants in Thailand and Bangkok is the spot where we feel most comfortable in life and hence it is the place where dreams are made of.




It's been a journey of more than 2 years for FMD since 2014, through the journey what has been the significant breakthrough?
Yea we've done 12 shows since June 2014. For any organisation, doing a steady amount of shows yearly, it Is what puts you in the next level of being a larger and more respected shows that has more integrity. Our shows are a parties. Our shows are literally party, not just MMA. You're not in a gym, not in a stadium, you're in a club! 

And the significant breakthrough was between me leaving DARE and starting FMD, realising that in all honesty, my shows and my events is different and sets apart from all other shows that just do MMA. Also the breakthrough is realising the difference between UFC fans and MMA fans. 

There are really not many MMA fans. Pretty much anybody that says they are MMA fans are actually just UFC fans and they won't go support local shows and watch other shows such as Bellator, WSOF, ONE or FMD. They just care about the UFC.

So the breakthrough that makes FMD successful is realizing that people that actually pay for shows, we realized are not MMA or UFC fans....we made our own fans, we made FMD fans. 

People that are comin' to Bangkok and they wanna party, they want to hear great music and they want to see great fights. So what sets us apart is that we have actually made our own fan base. A lot of them are actually fans and just friends of mine that just wanna come watch a great live action show, a real live 80s or 90s action movie if you will.





Jon has been trying a few times to make Will vs Tommy happened. It was planned twice but was scrapped as both fighters got injured in their muaythai fight. But this time it is finally materializing and Jon has put this main card as a Lightweight title fight, and with Full Metal Dojo style, the champion will not be awarded a big huge belt but instead a slick life size Samurai sword!

OK now back to the fights that will go down this Saturday. 

At his current record stands at 33-12-0, Will 'The Kill' Chope is considered the busiest fighters in MMA. He fights almost every month. Not just in MMA, but he also takes up Muaythai, boxing and kickboxing match. Last year alone he fought 15 times, 10 MMA, 2 K1, 2 Muay Thai,1 Pro Boxing. 

Will has the ambition of going down in history as the fighter with most fight...he is eyeing to beat Dan Severn's record of 101-19-7 and the still active Jeremy Horns' record of 91-23. At only 26, Will looks like a potential heir to that title.Will is based in Thailand and fighting is his full time job that puts food on his table and provides for his family. 

Asked on how his is able to keep injury free to fight regularly...
"Part luck, Part just training and fighting smart. I got a lot of experience and ring time. I know my limits. But accidents do happen...but I just have to recover and don't use them as excuses"

In an interview with John Hyon Ko of The Fight Nation. Will explained that there are ways to fight regularly, one just have to keep busy and take up any fights that come along. He said that a lot of fighters are like divas, they want to choose their opponent, their own timing and their choice of place...they want everything in their favor. 

So if fighters want to make a living out of fighting they can't behave that way. Will said lots of fighters he met admire how he can fight every month, but most of them don't really willing to do it. ( catch the interview in this link )

Will fought in UFC in 2014, losing to Max Halloway, the current UFC Interim Featherweight Champion. Most of his fights are main event feature. In April 2016, Will became URCC's Lightweight Champion, but he lost the title to Brazilian Fabrício Guerreiro last month at URCC 29

Considered the tallest Lightweight in MMA at 6ft 4, he uses his reach advantage fully to keep opponents at bay as he peppered them with strikes using his long limbs. And when he gets in the pocket, he lets loose his knees and those long limb will also swiftly sneak in for a choke.


On the opposite side of the cage is Tommy Hayden. He has a record of 10-3-0. He is a person that likes to scrap. 

As Jon Nutt puts it, ...
" I personally likes a fighter that really likes fighting, not just showing they like fighting. Tommy is a type of guy that if someone punch him in the face, he just smiles, that's the type of fighters I like and I want on my card."

Tommy was active in the American regional MMA scene till he was offered to fight at The Ultimate Fighter Season 9 in 2009. He lost that fight. He was back in UFC in 2012, fought twice but lost to Fabrício Camões and Dennis Bermudez.

He came to Thailand to refocus and coach at Bangkok Fight Lab. Tommy last fought in a China MMA promotion - WKG in Jan this year wining by submission in round 2. 

Ask about his take on fighting...
"Fighting to me is LOVE. It sorta reminds of of obsession. Honestly fighting is fear, its emotion, its anxiety, its happiness, its sadness, its everything roll into one, its life.

When I jump out of a plane with a parachute, that's fun. When I'm 100ft under water watching sharks swimming around, that's fun. When I'm doing something that could get me kill, that's fun for me. That's life for me. 

So every time I get to step in the cage, that is real life. That's when I experience my true self. That's when I get to express myself"

It's a great match and this is the card with the most experience fighters ever put up in FMD. Will is a striker and Tommy is a wrestler! Opposites attract and sure fire mayhem in FMD cage when the bell rings!

The Featherweight fight between Ali Motamed and Luke Adams is also a promising fight that will possibly be the fight of the night. Initially Iranian Ali was schedule to met ex UFC fighter Rocky Lee, but Rocky could not make it and it looks like Ali will see no action in the cage.

But a last minute arrangement materialize and the accomplished American Luke Adams stepped up to offer himself. Luke started his pro MMA career fighting in the regional MMA scene around California for 6 years.

He is now a coach in Singapore's acclaim fight gym Juggernaut Fight Club. Luke is riding on a 6 fight winning streak and all these 6 victory is finishes with either strikes or submission, that never goes the distance.

Iranian born Ali is a young fighter that started his amateur MMA fights in Malaysia and Thailand. He fights out of Tiger Muay Thai. In all his 9 amateur fights, 8 were victorious. Ali turned pro in 2016, fighting in China's Bullet Fly FC. He is now on a 3 fights winning streak. Luke is the most experience fighter Ali has met so far and a victory over him will certainly established Ali as a hot talent for the bigger organisations.

pix credit: David Ash of Singapore Maven

3 pro and 8 ammy cards are schedule this Friday. And all this will go down at Bangkok's happening night club, INSANITY NIGHT CLUB. Tickets is available at ticketmelon.com and at the door. 

And if you are not in Bangkok, do your self a favor, grab yourself a cold beer or any other beverage of your choice, some chips or buffolo wings ( if you are there, you can order it from the HOOTERS girls ), glue yourself in front of your computer or smartphone and click on to Full Metal Dojo FB and watch it on live stream!

Hooters...babyyyy. Pix credits :Pugilpix.com

Thanks to all the sponsors that is making FMD 13 happen

Get ready for an unforgettable night!

YOUNG GUNS Blasting at Fight Fest SIDMA K1 Results

4-5 FEB 2017, Fight Fest colloborated with SIDMA College to organised a K1 Kickboxing Championship focusing on fighters with less than 7 fights. This is to unearth new talents in the fields of Kickboxing.

Read more about Young Guns here ( click below for pre-event coverage )

http://warriorsofborneo.blogspot.my/2017/02/fight-fest-to-open-2017-fight-calender.html

Below is the full results:

Organising chairman Johan Julian of Kinabalu Fighters wants to thank all the fighters and their team that has participated and cooperate well in terms of timing to ensure the championship went smooth.

On ground was Coach Alvin Chong of Borneo Combat Gym Labuan , whom is the ISKA Borneo representative. Alvin was on the look out for potential fighters that stand out to rope them in for the National K1 Championship.

Cruz Fitness team

Cruz Fitness fighter - Isaac Yong, won two of his match via spinning back fist KO, but lost in the finals of the 65kg.

Naziman of Keningau MMA , relishing his victory in a hard earned victory over Isaac for the 65kg category

Warmonger from Miri taking home 1 Gold and 1 silver

Mohd Rayyan leading the debut of his new team Black Mamba

Coach Mohd B. Bakri of Keningau MMA with his fight team

Kinabalu Fighters proud to have Brandon Chong back to fight after some time off to continue his studies

Brandon Chong with his Coach Randal Kadayum. Brandon won the 65-70kg category via KO in the 1st round

The promising talents of young guns from Team Karabaw

Cynnie of Rhino fought an excitingly close final match vs Liyana of Keningau MMA. Split decision win to Liyana

ONE Championship : Thrones of Tigers

ONE Championship is returning to KL tonight at Stadium Negara. It will be an important night for the Malaysian fighters feature tonight. Most of them are looking at tonight to establish a firm footing in their fighting career.

On the main card Ev Ting, the Kuching born Malaysian fighter base in New Zealand will be looking to make a statement in ONE Championship Lightweight category. Ev has 7 fights in ONE, most of it as a featherweight, winning 6 of it except one in May 2015 vs Marat Gafurov, the eventual featherweight champion. Ev is on a 3 fight winning streak ever since. Beating top notch fighter such as Honorio banario and Eric Kelly of Philipines.

Arriving at Stadium Merdeka smart and sleek

Ev moved up to Lightweight in his most recent fight was in KL last year Sept vs Aussie vet Rob Lisita. It was a tough 3 rounds fight, but Ev managed to control the fight with his better conditioning and effective strikes to get a decision win.

Tonight will be another night he face a veteran, Kamal Shalorus of Iran. With strong wrestling, Ev may not want to challenge Kamal on the ground. Keeping the distance and peperring Kamal with shots may do the trick for Ev as he journey on his quest to achieve success in ONE's lightweight division

Ev's friend Agilan Thani is also on a roll. Fighting in ONE's welterweight division, Agilan is the product of MIMMA2 where he steamrolled through the ranks in 5 fights before meeting Ong Aik Tong. Agilan demolished Ong in round 2 with punches to became the welterweight champion.

Realising his huge talent, ONE offered him to fight pro and Agilan has not look back since. Winning 5 times, all his fight never went the distance, most end in round 1 with submission finishes.

Agilan's martial art journey began when he was 13. Getting fed up of being bullied he took up Karate, he progressed to purple belt. Growing up in Sentul, which was a rough part of Kuala Lumpur back then, he was not a big fan of studies. At 16 he discovered Brazilian Jiu Jit-Su. And from then on he kept on improving in skills, conditioning and mental strength.

Agilan said he owed his martial arts success to his first coach Samir Mrabet of Monarchy MMA, his girlfriend and his father whom encourage and motivates him.

Agilan's fightname is 'Alligator' and he likes to finish his fight in quick snap, but it was a fight in MIMMA2  semifinals against Ahmed Zareh that he felt he was in danger. He recovered and finished that fight with a choke in round 1.

Tonight could be the biggest challenge for Agilan as he faces an MMA athlete with a 6-2-0 record...Jeff Huang of Taiwan. Both of them have a win over Trestle Tan in round 1 finish. Jeff in 2015 and Agilan in last year's ONE : Unbreakable Warriors. Both are fast finishers but have utilises different way to achieve it. Jeff likes to stand and strike while Agilan prefers to take the fight to the ground with his wrestling and grappling.

Even though he has strong grappling, but Agilan considers himself a martial artist. To him every opponent is different, and to face them, he focus more on improving his own techniques and mental strength.

Ask on what he thinks to one day be able to challenge ONE's welterweight division King... Ben Askern,
" I m more then happy to fight him any time cause it's all about challenging the best there is in sports like this.

Tonight will also be a crucial night for ONE Championship female star Ann Osman. Ann raise to stardom in female MMA is trully remarkable. As a pioneer in female MMA, credit must be given to her to bring attention to the women category.

Ann  at ONE pre fight promo for BAD LAB

She paved way and inspired many other women to pick up an MMA glove and train. Ann is a multi talented women. Considered late when she debut in ONE FC 11 in 2013 when she was 27. Ann is a business women, running a tourism business and spoke person for women MMA.

Her 3 fight winning streak was broken in 2015 when Russian Irina Mazepa utilizes her superior striking to KO Ann. It was a hard loss for Ann. She took a few months off to trains and pick herself back up. Getting back to winning way when she beat Hait Farag in China in 2016.

Taking up a short notice fight two months later vs debutant April Osenio of the fame Team Lakay of Philipines, Ann took April down and exert ground and pound. A couple of reversal ensue. Ann went for a double leg take down but April was fast to wrap her arm with a guillotine when she hit the ground. She tightens the hold and Ann tapped out.

Ann does not look back...she has a warrior heart and is out to proof to her critics that she is resilient and still in contention for ONE's women flyweight crown which is still up for grabs. Tonight she intend to make a statement in this division by a dominating win when she face Cambodian Vy Sreh Khouch.

Other Malaysian MMA star on the cards are Keannu Subbha, Mohd Aiman and Saiful Merican
Warriors of Borneo wishes all of them a successful fight!

Fight Fest to open the 2017 fight calender in Sabah

Usually the year end and beginning of the year is a busy time eating, feasting and holidaying...year end most people took leave to enjoy the holidays, Christmas and celebrating the coming of the new year. As we enter 2017, school starts and most people are back into the daily motion of work. Then, eating and feasting again was the main activities as Chinese new year celebration started last week on 28 Jan. 

But for some, during the pass few months, it was a time to prepare for battle as they train for their K1 Kickboxing match in Fight Fest. Happening at Likas Sports Complex, this is part of a bigger event which is the UNITAR-SIDMA Sports Carnival. This sports carnival will also feature other activities such as fun run, functional fitness competition, dance fitness and more.

It's going to be a busy martial arts weekend at Likas Sports Complex as Sabah Karate Association is also kick-starting their competition calender with their 16th edition of the Sabah State Cadet, Junior and Under-21 Karate Championship at the Badminton Hall of Likas Sports Complex.

FIGHT FEST - SIDMA K1 Kickboxing Championship is dubbed Young Guns as this is a tournament for fighters with less than 7 fight records and those that has not represented their state or the national team and not for finalist of pass Fight Fest.

The main objective according to organising chairman Johan Julian of Kinabalu Fighters is to give opportunity for new talent to test their skills, gain experience and ultimately to expose them more in a tournament with level playing field in terms of experience.

2016 was a breakthrough year for Fight Fest as it managed to organised a Martial Art Business Summit, the first of such event in this region and the hugely successful Fight Fest 3 : Kingdom Comes which combined MMA, Kickboxing and grappling tournament together with Cosplay and Dance Fitness activities

Fight Fest Business Summit speakers and participants 

Fight Fest 3...by the numbers

Julian said 2017 will be another exciting year for Fight Fest and this colloboration with SIDMA College is one of the events he has planned to grow the K1 Kickboxing sports among new comers in martial arts. 

The ultimate aim is to work with ISKA to make Borneo the power house of K1 Kickboxing in this region. This is will be done with the cooperation with other event organisers such as STAND and Borneo Amatuer Challenge of Labuan

Julian with SIDMA College representative

In 3 Jan, Julian was invited to give a talk on Fight Fest at Webcamp KK ( a gathering of people from various industry and background to share experience and passion on different subjects ). Julian shared with attendees on how he started Fight Fest, the challenges he goes through and the aspiration of one day seeing fighters that participated in Fight Fest making it big in the global martial arts scene.

Fight Fest - SIDMA K1 Weigh in was completed on Thursday and 18 categories will be competed. As of Thursday 125 fighters has registered. This is a good numbers despite having this competition just shortly after all the year end celebration and Chinese new year.

Cruz Fitness team at the weigh in

This competition is sanction under ISKA and ISKA Borneo representative Alvin Chong will be on the lookout for potential talent to be featured in the semi-pro cards of the National K1 Tourney schedule to be held at the end of the year.

Come and join in the fun at UNITAR-SIDMA Fitness Carnival and do drop by the boxing ring to watch great Kickboxing action. Worry about parking? Call for GRAB ride and reduce your headaches. 

Warriors of Borneo wishing all the fighters best of luck, fight hard, fight smart, fight with all your heart!

Layout of the event. Located at the Carpark to the jogging track , Likas Sports Complex