STEPHEN ONN JENGGIENG : FIGHTING IN THE ROAR OF SINGAPORE 2

Singapore promotional-outfit Ringstar Management, lead by Scott O´Farrell, is in the business of making local boxing history, and at the same time steadily establishing itself as one of Asia’s leading promoters. Tonight at the luxurious Resort World Sentosa, Ringstar will bring us The Roar of Singapore 2.

On the fight card we will see Borneon from Sarawak, Stephen Onn Anak Jenggieng doing battle with a tough opponent from New Zealand. On the line is the UBO Asia-Pacific Cruiserweight. Defending it is Ben Kelleher (3-0-2, 2 KOs) who won his title on The Roar Of Singapore I, last February 17. 

Stephen is among the newer generations of boxers coming out of Malaysia recently. An overweight boy when he was young, Stephen  picked up martial arts to loose weight and never looked back since. He was the first generation of MMA fighters to emerge from Sarawak.

Stephen made it all the way to MIMMA 2  ( Malaysian MMA amatuer tournament ) grand final in middleweight, losing to the defending champion Jing Yi. He then refocus his energy on boxing. Training mostly by himself and also help by coach Alexander Bajawa.

with his Sarawak team mates in MIMMA 2

Stephen has a deep desire to use his skills to represent his country Malaysia. Determined to go all out training and competing in boxing to achieve this. He won Malaysian Golden Gloves in 2015, Sabah's Mayor Cup in 2016 and Malaysia Cup qualifiers, but due to some misunderstanding between the state boxing association and him, his dream of representing Malaysia did not materialised.

As Malaysia is caught by the wave of MMA, lots of attention and sponsorship are given to MMA fighters and event. Boxing took a back seat. But Stephen  didn't give up, he continued training. and after much thoughts he decided to move up to ply his boxing skills in the pro circuit.

Stephen believe this will be the path for him to make Malaysia and Sarawak proud. 

" I do this hoping to change the boxing scene in Sarawak. I want to make people interested again in boxing and be a part of the new generations of boxers. The last we Malaysian saw a boxing great was in the 90s, when Sarawakian soldier Sapok Biki brought fame to Malaysia when he won gold in the 1998 Commonwealth Games. We have to start moving forward and not look back to build boxing in Malaysia." 

Stephen used to work as a personal trainer in Gymbox Kuching. Since turning pro, Stephen has fought twice. Both times in Singapore. Earning himself two win with 1 KO win. Representing Vladimir Boxing in Kuala Lumpur,  Stephen was sent to Bali under Mirah Boxing Gym to prepare for tonight's fight.

In Bali, Stephen get to train and spar with many skilled boxers from around the world. He met Roman a boxer from Latvia, whom according to Stephen is the tallest, fastest, biggest and hardest hitting sparring partner he ever met. Under coach Craig Christian, Stephen had a full 2 months fight camp and is fully ready to take on Ben Kelleher.

Their fight will be between two ex MMA fighter turned boxers. Ben has a very accomplished record in MMA, with a 21 fight record ( 11-10-0 ) fighting mostly in the Australian MMA scene. Ben is also Australian K1 Kickboxing champion and has worked with many trouble youth before as a youth justice officer in Australia.

Ben Kelleher

The Roar of Singapore 2 will also see 2 other Malaysian MIMMA stars. Hui Keng Fai and Muhamad Meeraj. 

Hui Keng Fai is MIMMA 3 Lightweight champion. Winning it in last year epic fight that saw him slugging it out vs Jace Law. 

Hui made his pro debut on The Roar Of Singapore I (February 17), and scored an impressive first round knockout. Now, in only his second fight, he will challenge for the vacant UBO Asia-Pacific Welterweight title against undefeated Indonesian Indra Anser (2-0).

Keng Fai vs Indra

Muhammad Meeraj (8-1, 4 KOs) is the most accomplished boxers among tonight's 3 Malaysian. Meeraj is 2 time middleweight champion of MIMMA, winning it in dominating styles in 2015 & 2016. As for boxing, last year he won the UBO Asia-Pacific Light Heavyweight title, and this past February he added the UBO Inter-Continental title to his resume.

Meeraj vs Haley

Tonight he will defend both those titles, and try to win the vacant IBO Oceania crown, when he takes on tough New Zealand warrior Chase Haley (3-1, 1 KO), who, like Meeraj, is also a very accomplished MMA fighter.

The hope is that Meeraj in the not too distant future can put himself in line for a world title-shot, perhaps against UBO King Ryan Ford. If victorious, a title-defense on home soil would undoubtedly be the most significant boxing event in Malaysia since Ali fought Bugner in Stadium Merdeka in 1975.

Get to Know Istela Nunes

ONE Championship : Dynasty of Heroes in Singapore on 26 May 2017 will be headlined by Angela Lee vs Istela Nunes for the ONE Championship atom weight championship belt, which is held by Angela; this being Angela's second title defense.

Everyone has heard of Angela Lee. Let's find out a bit more about her opponent.
2Istela is from Brazil. Urged by her father, She started learning capoiera and then picked up Muaythai. She then fights in Brazillian MMA scene and got world's attention when her triple kick KO of Karoline Martins in FLC 2 in Apr 2016 grab the headlines.
Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/WsU6gSUHfyI
( Do look out for the male Ring Girl...emm i shud say Ring Guy ...haha )

Istela...confident with her Muaythai roots

Four months later in August 2016 after the win  she was grabbed by ONE and they offered her a fight that pitted her against Mei Yamaguchi. 3 months earlier in May 2016, Mei was the one that gave Angela Lee a very tough fight for the championship belt that Angela won. 

Istela vs Mei Yamaguchi

Istela won the fight against Mei in 3 round unanimous decision, which moved her record to 5-0-1. and earned her a title fight vs Angela. At 5'4 Istela is same height with Angela. On paper Istela looks to be superior at stand up due to her Muaythai background. She has 52 Muaythgai fight and was 2 times World Muaythai Champion.

watch her promo video by ONE 

Going into this title fight, Istela is confident that her stand up will win her the knock out. Angela is not known for her striking but more for her prowess with grappling. She is the first women to win a fight by using the twister submission and almost all her fight are won by submission, except the unanimous win over Mei and her last fight vs Taiwan's Jenny Huang. In that fight, Angela has shown much improved striking as she won the fight in 3 rounds.

Angela Lee out striking Jenny Huang

But can Angela outstrike Istela? or will she goes back to her bread & butter with take down and wrestling which has given her so many victories. Istela mentioned in an interview she believe that ONE wanted to build up Mei Yamaguchi and never expect Istela to beat her. And now she is out to proof that that win is not a fluke and she has what it takes to be the new champion. Her motivation also comes from wanting to dedicate this fight to her father, whom pass away six months ago. To make her father smile in heaven, she wants to win that belt.

Will we see the case of Ronda Rousey happening this Friday night and see the Atom weight belt goes to Brazil? Don't miss this fight...it's going to be fast & furious! 

PPV: Official livestream at oneppv.com | Tickets: bit.ly/oneheroes

Will this be reality....

or this remains.

AGILAN THANI OUT TO DETHRONE BEN ASKREN

It started from a twitter war, as Agilan Thani emerged triumphant from ONE Championship: Thrones of Tigers in Feb, against his most accomplished opponent at that time, Taiwanese Jeff Huang. Agilan was on a 5 times winning streak going into that fight. Took him just 2 round to disposed of Jeff Huang in with his favorite move the rear naked choke.

Pix from The Fight Nation

From that victory, Agilan was pushing for a Welterweight title fight in ONE Championship: Kings of Destiny in 21 April in Manila, where Ev Ting was confirmed for a title fight against home town hero Eduard Folayang. 

ONE didn’t fullfilled Agilan’s wish at that time. They won’t have two Malaysian challenging for Championship title in one event. Agilan’s vs Ben Askren needs to be in the main card. The social media exchange began to intensify as Ben Askren responded and Malaysian supporters started to rally behind Agilan to make the title fight happen.

Now it’s already a reality. This is fight week. ONE Championship: Dynasty of Heroes happening in Singapore this Friday 26 May will be a chance for Agilan to bring back an MMA world title…a title which Malaysia missed out when Ev Ting lost in a 5 round war with Eduard.

Looking back, Agilan’s martial arts journey is like a fairy tale. His is a story of an overweight boy who got bullied in schools. Growing up in Sentul, one of the most notorious area in Kuala Lumpur, with his father as a single parent, life was not a bed of roses. He picked up Karate to equip himself with self-defense skills and earned a purple belt. At age 16 he discovered the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jit Su from Monarchy MMA founder, Samir Mrabet and from there on he progress exponentially.

Watch the video on Agilan's early childhood life & his inspiration

Agilan took his first MMA match in a local Malaysian promotion, F3 Championship in 2013. Victory was swift as he took the win in round 1. Season 2 MIMMA was in 2014, and being Asia best amateur MMA tournament, Agilan quickly signed up. In between training, Agilan would be helping out cleaning the gym and teaching few classes. He even sleep in the gym. 

It took him 5 win to became MIMMA Welterweight champion. Disposing all except one of his opponents by submission or TKO. His talent was noticed by Victor Cui and ONE Championship signed him up in 2015. Agilan stayed very active, he fought 3 times last year. To date Agilan holds a 6 fight win streak. All six fights never go beyond round 2. 

Winning MIMMA season 2 catapult Agilan to MMA stardom in ONE

Agilan is not known for fancy striking. He plays smart, avoiding trading punches by staying close to his opponent and ever ready to go for take down and stick to them like a leech. From there he will constantly peppered his opponent with short strikes to loosen them and once a window of submission opportunity appear he will take it in lightning speed to finish the fight.

To date, Agilan considered his fight in MIMMA2 semi-finals against Norahmed Ali Zahreh to be his toughest, even though Agilan took the win with a submission in round 1, but that was the time he felt he was in real danger. 

Standing in Agilan’s way for ONE Championship gold is 32 year old Ben “Funky” Askren. Going against Askren is certainly a big step up the plate. Ben is touted as one of the most talented wrestler in MMA and considered the best welterweight talent outside of UFC. Ben achievement in wrestling has given him an undefeated record of 15 wins.

Funky ply his trade mostly in Bellator, which he fought 9 times. Winning the Welterweight title in 2011. But many have the opinion that Ben did not fight the best welterweight there is, whom mostly is in UFC. But Ben couldn’t see eye to eye with Dana White and so he took up the offer from ONE.

He first fought in ONE in 2014, then challenging for Nobutatsu Suzuki Welterweight title in his 2nd fight in ONE FC 19, which he won in just one round with a TKO win.

His 3rd ONE fight against Brazilian Luis Santos in April 2015 was disappointing, as it ended with controversy. His eye poke ended the fight in round 1 and the fight was declared a No Contest results. A rematch was scheduled in Nov 2015, but that too ended disappointingly as Luis didn’t make weight and the fight was call off. 

A championship fight against Vitaly Bigdash was initially scheduled in Bangkok but was called off due to Thai King's passing.

The last time Ben fought was in April last year, winning it by going the distance in 5 championship rounds vs Russian Nikolay Aleksakhin.

Agilan fighting style is similar to Ben. Their style may not be visually entertaining, but it is very effective. It’s the kind of styles that keep themselves from getting lots of damage.

“If he takes me down and submits me, I will retire.” said Askren. Not because he thinks it will happen, but because he is supremely confident that he won’t be schooled by Agilan. But the pressure is on him. There’s so much at stake for him, being undefeated and the title holder. 

Agilan being just 21 and an huge underdog has nothing to lose. He is hungry, driven and motivated to proof that Askren is defeatable as he sees that there are holes in Askren game that he will take advantage of. 

This Friday, on the main card will be Angela Lee also putting her Straw weight title on the line against Brazilian accomplished kickboxer Istela Nunes. To make things interesting ex ONE Lightweight Championship title holder Shinya Aoki will go against Gary Tonon in a special grappling super match. 

ONE Championship is pulling off all the brakes for this Friday 26 May show with many other local heroes such as Singaporean Female MMA star Tiffany Teo of Juggernaut Fight Club and newcomer 19 years old Amir Khan from Evolve MMA.
and many other regional heroes.

They planned to make an impact which will soften UFC's return to Singapore on June 17. 

STAND : JUNIOR EDITION FULL RESULTS

STAND Junior edition concluded on 20 MAY 2017. Read about the pre-event story here:
A total of 12 teams send their junior warriors (below 18 years ) to Karabaw Gym in Kepayan.
1. Persatuan Tomoi Labuan - Labuan
2. TeamX - Kuala Lumpur
3. Teamkarabaw Papar - Papar
4. Kalai Brothers Gym - Kuala Lumpur
5. Teamkarabaw Keningau - Keningau
6. Teamkarabaw Tamparuli - Tamparuli
7. Kinabalu Kings - Kota Kinabalu
8. Klinch MMA - Kuala Lumpur
9. Teamkarabaw HQ - Kota kinabalu
10. D30 - Sarawak
11. Borneo Phoenix Muaythai - Putatan
12. Sabah Top Team - Kota Kinabalu

Below is the full results

Skills wise, these juniors may not technically be polished due to their age and lack of experience, but many of them show good fighting spirit and lots of heart in the fight. STAND is here to provide that platform for them to gain that valueable fighting experience.

Some pictures of winners below.

Champions from Karabaw Tamparuli : Wesley Oliver, Kallen Jafili & Kenny Jafili

D-30 Muay Thai team from Miri, Sarawak. A regular in fight events in Sabah

D-30 head coach Master Tang Hui Ding with his champion Aurora Chai ( right ) & Maurien Hii ( left )

48kg finals, both are from Kinabalu Kings , and they are twin brothers! Shah Aryan (right) won the fight. His brother Areen Khan on the left

MILO was there to energize the juniors and their team

The Juniors is the future, let's all come together to build great foundation for martial arts in Borneo. ( pix courtesy of Bee Jay - Kinabalu Kings )

STAND - Time for The Junior to Come Out and Play

The rush beating of hearts, the hurried breathing from nervousness, heads spinning with so many thoughts of what you should or should not do...these are the feelings many experience before especially when they want to get in the ring to face their opponent. Most of this feeling is because of lack of experience. Usually after a few fights, most will learn how to deal with it and learn from the pass and move forward.

This is what STAND wants to achieve. To build the younger generation of fighters by giving them opportunity to fight. Fight among their peers, not someone older with more experience.

STAND Junior edition orgarnised by Karabaw and sponsored by Borneo Majubina and supported by MILO will go down this Saturday 20 May at Karabaw HQ gym in 88 Marketplace, Kota Kinabalu.

According to STAND founder Rayner Kinsiong, this is the first time in Malaysia Junior Title Belt are up for grab in 10 categories for boys and girls. The winners will need to defend their Title Belt in future STAND Junior event.

The fights are sanction by ISKA ( International Sports Karate Association ) and will be 2 mins x 3 rounds with 1 minute rest in between rounds, with amateur rules. Open to only fighters age below 18. Head gear, mouth guard and shin guard is a must to keep all fighters safe.

Team Karabaw Tamparuli, their Junior ready to come out and play!

STAND Junior edition will the fifth STAND event being organised. The original idea began with having a kickboxing event to be the platform to unearth and develop new talent in combat sports. Kickboxing under K1 rules are chosen because it uses rules that can benefit all type of stylist. Practioner of different style, such as Taekwon-Do, Karate, Silat, Kung Fu, Muaythai can get in the ring and compete in a common rules fight.

Rayner is very proud of the achievement and the progression of STAND so far, but he still harbour much hope that the state sports ministry are able to see the positive impact they are doing to the young people, and hope that the ministry will come in and support this effort.

He said he received many request from different districts such as Sandakan, Tambunan and Keningau to have STAND organised in their place because lots of people can see that STAND are able to move more young people to learn martial arts, to be active and live a healthy lifestyle.

He would love to full-fill their request, but obviously financing it is the biggest challenge. Organising a combat sports tournament is not a way to earn money. Many times he has to sacrifice his own time and invest his own money into making it happen. And he said without the constant supports from his family and his Karabaw family, STAND would not be what it is today.

MILO supporting the development of Junior Kickboxers. Myself with Rayner handing over the sponsored MILO

And most importantly too, is to have sponsors that are equally passionate about the event they are involve in. This is where he said he is very thankful to have Borneo Majubina Aidil Zakuan believing in the same objective and supporting the same cause as he does which together they have build STAND.

STAND is only in it's 2nd year, it is still in a developing stage but is surely charting it's course to have more events this year and years to come. With the support of all party, STAND hopes to make Borneo a powerhouse in Kickboxing, not just in producing more talents but also to become the premier Kickboxing event in Borneo.