EV TING'S TAKING ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS ONE CHAMPIONSHIP LIGHTWEIGHT BELT

Oct 6 is a huge date for MMA. UFC 229 will go down in Las Vegas, in possibly the biggest MMA fight in this era...Khabib 'The Eagle' Nurmagomedov will defend his Lightweight belt against MMA global star & former champion Conor 'The Notorious' McGregor.

This is a classic match of a striker (Conor) vs grappler (Khabib). Many discussion and analysis has been going on about each of their strengths & weaknesses and who will prevail.

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Over here in Asia, the Lightweight division of ONE Championship is also making headlines. Going into Oct 6 , ONE has planned for Kingdom of Heroes. In which two title fight; WBC Super Flyweight title bout is the main event and Female Kickboxing Atomweight title the co main event.
But the attention will also be on Lightweight bout of Malaysian-Kiwi Ev Ting vs Japanese Shinya Aoki.

This bout is significant as it was supposed to be a Lightweight elimination bout to determine who will challenge Martin Nguyen for the title. But on 28 Sept, ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong drop the bombshell that Martin has relinquish the Lightweight title due to injuries to his knee ligaments. Martin has also release a statement confirming the decision to vacate the title as an honourable thing to do so that he won't hold up the stacked division. ( read the story here )

With that piece of surprise announced so closed to Kingdom of Heroes, many in Ev's and Shinya's camp was hoping their fight will be push up to be a title bout as both these two are perfectly deserving fighter to be given that.

Prior to losing his title challenge to Eduard Folayang in April last year, Ev was on a four fight win streak. After that lost, he rebound by collecting another three hard fought victory against 3 veteran fighter. Many questions his stopping power as his pass three victory was all by decision, but go watch those fights and you will see the relentless work rate of  Ev and the last 3 opponents he faced are accomplished fighters.

Ev Ting's Tapology fight record

Shinya is a legend in this sports. Holding an impressive 41-8-0. His grappling skills is legendary. Digest this...he has a first round win over MMA icon Kazushi Sakubara in 2015 RIZIN 1.

Shinya won more than 30 of his fights via submission. Himself a former ONE Lightweight champion way back in 2013. Shinya loss his belt to Eduard Folayang in Nov 2016. He came back to fight in ONE in a grappling match vs Gary Tonon, then moved up to challenge Ben Askren for the Welterweight strap. He lost both fight.

He was back on track this year imposing his superior grappling to win twice in May & July both by submission in the first round.

Shinya Aoki's  Tapology fight record

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So both Shinya & Ev's credentials and achievements surely make a good case for a title fight, but as predicted ONE will not want to overload the Bangkok card. It's their Boxing title bout, so understandably they will put all effort to promote the main event.

Then came another surprise for the Lightweight division. On 1 Oct Chatri announced in his FB that for Nov 23 in Manila's event - Conquest for Champions, Eduard Folayang will fight Singaporean Amir Khan for the Lightweight title!

I must say I was rather surprise at this turn of events. For Eduard, it can be said to be justifiable as he is the former champion. He has since collected two more decision win after that lost to Martin.

As for Amir Khan, he is also on a two fight win streak, but he also has a blipped in his record with a lost to Timofey Nastyukhin in Feb this year. But no doubt the heavy handed Amir Khan is a serious contender in this division.

I would expect, with Martin vacating the title, Eduard vs Amir bout can be another Lightweight title eliminator and winner gets to slug it out with winner of Ev vs Shinya to determine the undisputed ONE Championship Lightweight Champion.

But looks like ONE need a big fight to headline in Manila, hence making the title bout, at same time rallying the huge fans of Folayang to support his journey back to reclaim the title.

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As for now, Ev will not want to be bother with the 'what ifs'. He wants to purely focus on the task at hand. Eliminating Shinya from the Lightweight contention. Ev is splitting his fight camp between his adopted land's Auckland MMA and his birthplace KL's Monarchy Gym.

Monarchy present a great place for his camp as they have top level wrestlers and grapplers to train & spar with in his preparation to face Shinya.

Ev knows that Shinya will go for his bread & butter and will try to close the distance with take downs and want bring the fight to the ground.

As he told Fight Game Asia,

“He’s got to get past my striking, hug me and take me down. Without a doubt, Aoki will try and take me down, but there’s a few things he must get past if he wants to bring me to the ground.

“He is coming fresh off two first round finishes and people are saying he’s getting old, but this guy is no joke, you cannot take him lightly and must train for the best version possible."

Get yourself tickets to ONE Championship -Kingdom of Heroes.

 

For those not in Bangkok you may have PPV to UFC 229, but for ONE Championship, you can watch all the bouts live FREE on ONE Super App, download it now.

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FMD 15 - WATCH FIGHTS AND CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN WITH YOUR GANGS

In Bangkok, Halloween will not come until it's 4 November 2017, because that's when all the gangs come out to play. They will be playing in a den, made of metal...full metal. Warriors will be 'playing' in the cage and they will be playing for keeps. They got one way,...they got one chance,...they got one night to make it count, for all their fate will be decided in the FULL METAL DOJO (FMD)

If some of the above lines sound familiar, then you are definitely blessed with memories of growing up in the awesome 70s/80s. To celebrate Halloween, FMD's mastermind, Jon Nutt has choosen THE WARRIORS as the theme for the night. The Warriors is a cult movie by Walter Hill released in 1979 about a group of gang - The Warriors; that had to battle numerous other gangs in their journey back to their home turf in Brooklyn.

Check out FMD 15 intro video with The Warriors movie as background

Certainly fitting the theme, FMD itself has achieved cult status among fight fans all over the world. Held in night clubs, MMA fight goes down with laser light and dizzying music as background. Don't forget the unforgettable ring girls!

For the 15th edition titled 'Come out to Play', there will be 9 Cageside Gang Tables for 4-6 people for the top gangs in the city. Every Cageside Table will receive 4 complimentary gang-affiliated vests. These are tailor-made original Bangkok motorcycle taxi vests in 9 different colors with actual gang logos from 'The Warriors' movie. 

Every competing gym's fighters will also be wearing different gang vests, affiliating your gang to the competing gyms, and giving you front row, on-camera access to the Greatest MMA Party Of All Time, streamed live to the world on the FULL METAL DOJO page. 

After you purchased your Cageside Gang Table, you will be contacted to choose your gang affiliation on a first-come-first-served basis. Full details and bookings at Ticketmelon

Full list of 'The Warriors' Gangs - Vest Colors - Gyms:

check the colours of your gangs

FMD is pulling no stop to make this edition the best edition yet with plenty of teaser video to whip up fight fans appetite for action.

In the main card is American Tommy Hayden (11-3-0) , whom is back to defend his Light Weight title. The title he won defeating UFC veteran Will Chope in Feb's FMD 13. Tommy will not let go of his FMD Championship \Katana easily, he will rely on his wrestling and ground game to put down his challenger from France Jason Ponet, whom has a formidable 28 fight experience (16-11-1)

Tommy fought twice in UFC in 2012 but after the two lost, injuries and a day job kept him away from training. He came to Thailand to have a change of lifestyle and took on a job as a school teacher. But being in the fight center of Asia, he couldn't resist getting back in the cage for a scrap. Meeting Jon Nut and FMD gave him another kick at reviving his MMA career. He is now on a 3 fight win streak after leaving USA.

Tommy's opponent Jason Ponet came from Savate background, he spent most of his fight career in France and the Europe fight scene. But he did record a victory in FMD 2 back in 2014. This young challenger is quick on his feet and possessed a vicious elbow and will be stylistically be a great challenge for Tommy.

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Borneon MMA powerhouse, Borneo Tribal Squad has regularly sent their pro fighters to participate in FMD. This time around, for Malaysian and Borneon fans to cheer on, will be Allen Solomon Chong.

Allen is a well known name in Malaysian MMA. He was the one who introduced BJJ to his home state Sabah. In 2013 MIMMA first season, Allen won the amateur tournament's Lightweight Belt. He has since turned pro and holds a record of 3-3-0. 

Training at Borneo Tribal Squad

Allen last fought in Australia's Hex Fight Series 10 in July this year. Eager to add more fights to his resume and looking to continue his two win streak he took the fight even when he had to endure a bad weight cut as organizer ask him to fight at catch-weight of 59kg. It took a heavy toll on his fitness condition.

But never to be a person that back down from a fight, he stepped in the hexagon cage anyway, but gassed out in 2nd round. Still he managed to last till 3rd round where he got knocked out by Ryan Robertson.

It was a hard lesson learnt. Usually fighting at feather-weight, this time Allen has moved to his comfortable Light-weight. He will be an underdog, facing Maes Meu, a Cambodian Kun Khmer practitioner. Maes holds an undefeated 5-0 record, with last four win by finishes.

A very scrappy fighter that display tons of fighting spirit and good conditioning. This was evident when you watch him in Feb 2017 FMD 13, vs Thai Jiriwat; despite being out-grapple and out-wrestle and being on his back majority of the time, he was able to stay very active, defended well and controlled Jiriwat's posture and eventually secure the win via a guillotine from his back.

Allen is a colourful character and is certainly a great addition to FMD because he always perform to entertain the crowd. But against Maes, Allen need to be on full alert and pick his shot.

Warriors of Borneo supports Allen to execute Full Metal action on Maes




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FMD 15 is 2 days away, I can almost hear the clanging of the beer bottles, inviting fight fans to come and watch the best show in town and the most radical MMA party in the planet!

Listen to what Jon have to say...

" Can youuuu digggg itttt..."

Who else can rock a shirt with his own face on it and look ultra cool but Jon Nutt

Full Metal Dojo 13 - A wild night where Wild Card dominates

The 13th series of Full Metal Dojo 13 went down at Insanity Nightclub, Bangkok on 25 FEB. 9 fights were featured, in a night of wild fights, wild results, wild party and Wild Cards! ( read the pre-event write up in this link ).

On cage side was ex UFC and Strikeforce fighter Jason 'Mayhem' Miller and One Championship fighter Brad Robinson giving live commentary for the benefit of those who watch it on the live FB streaming.

main event

Co-main event

Brad Robinson and Jason Miller on cage side

Check out the full results from Tapology :

In a highlight reel finish and one of the most shocking results was the Lightweight fight between Javier Trujilo of Bangkok Fight Lab vs Ryan Feltner “Crazy Gweilo”.

Ryan live up to his nick name Crazy Gweilo ( which means crazy white guy in Cantonese ) as he rushes in carelessly and his chin went straight into Rustam's right hand. The timer in the live stream was not even started yet when he fell down from that right.

Boom!...Fist to chin = KO ( pix by Brady Weeks )

Possibly the fastest KO in Asian MMA ( pix by David Ash )

Javier deliver a few hammer fist to seal the deal, but Ryan was already out even before the additional punches as referee Dana Blouin came in to stop it. This could be the fastest KO in Asia MMA.

" He doesn't even know which country he's in! " said Jason Miller as Ryan still look dazed when he stood up.

It was cross border rivalry at its best at the Featherweight fight, Maes Meu of Cambodia vs Jirawat of Thailand.

The Thai rushes in with a push kick. Maes instintly side stepped and Jirawat missed, slipped and fell. As he got up, Maes taunt him. Jirawat attacked and got a body lock and brought the fight to the ground. Maes able to switch, they scrambled and both got to their feet. But Jirawat looks better at grappling as he body locked Maes, picked him up and slammed him on the canvas.

Maes spend the rest of the 4 minute on his back as Jiriwat's superior wrestling control the game.

At the start of 2nd round, Maes return a favour with a front kick of his own which Jiriwat barely blocked. They grappled and Jiriwat executed a perfect Judo throw on Maes and he rushes in with a soccer kick that almost connect.

Referee rushes in to break the fight and gave a verbal warning to the Thai as FMD rules does not allow soccer kick to the head of a down opponent.

Pix by Brady Weeks

The fight restart and Meas connected with a front kick, punch exchange and Jiriwat with the take down. As Jiriwat was in Maes guard, he gestured with his left hand and the referee cut in and Jiriwat complaint of a eye poke.

Fight resume and this time Jiriwat with a hard right low kick and went in to grapple, again he executed a throw and the fight remain on the ground for close to 2 minute, as Jiriwat disengaged, they stood up. 

Restart and Jiriwat ducked Maes' punches and went for the body take down, but this time Maes got hold of a guillotine and shortly after Jiriwat tapped out.

It does not look like a deep guillotine, perhaps Jiriwat was already out of gas. Victory to the Cambodian.

Brad mentioned that he's been in the Asian MMA scene for around 10 years and they used to be no grappling or wrestling in South East Asian fighters, but now it's amazing to see Thais and Cambodians going at it with body slam, double leg take down and plenty of grappling.

The co-main event which almost didn't happened when Tiger Muay Thai's Ali Motamed's opponent pulled out in the last minute. In came the ever ready Luke Adams of Juggernaut Fight Club Singapore and FMD have a great match up at the co-main event.

pix by David Ash

Ali look lighter as he move laterally side to side stalked by Luke. A couple of kicks exchange at the beginning , Luke grabbed Ali's left kick got a single leg , good cage control and wrapped up both Ali's leg for a take down. Luke control well from top. When they stood back up, Luke easily took Ali down. At a north south position at one time landing knees. Even tried a toe hold but Ali survived.

pix by Brady Weeks

Ali tried to escape but gave his back and Luke capitalised and control the whole remaining round from top.

Round 2 was similar story, Luke exerting dominance from top , for almost 3 minutes constantly looking for a submission finish. In the slippery moment, Ali manage to switch, got top position, stacked Luke. Luke rolled and Ali connected with a knee to Luke's head. Luke scramble forward for Ali's leg, Ali escaped.

pix by Brady Weeks

The stalked each other. Luke's right brow bleeding. Luke again going for a take down, Ali avoided. At 1 minute left, referee Olivier Coste call for a time out to check the gash on Luke's right brow.
Medical team deliberated and decided to call off the fight as the cut's opening was too big.

Ali won by TKO and improved to 4-0. Luke was still fresh and could go on to dominate but it was not his night. This warrant for a rematch.

pix by Brady Weeks

Pitting two ex FFC warrior creates a highly anticipated main card in Tommy 'Wild Card' Hayden vs Will 'The Kill' Chope. In a combined record of 61 fight for both fighters, this is considered the card with the most experience fighter ever put up in FMD.

In FMD style, Tommy Hayden's walk in song was Trey Parker's 'Now you are a man', ...sang live by FMD's founder Jon Nutt himself.

Tommy Hayden walking out to Jon Nutt's singing

Will was expected to control the distance using his longer reach. But Tommy was very effective in initiating a few feints and immediately to the take down in the beginning of all 3 rounds.

pix by Brady Weeks

pix by David Ash

pix by David Ash

The clash of styles was very obvious, Tommy totally control the fight. He may be shorter but he does came well prepared looking rather buffed. He took the fight where he wanted...onn the ground and put a whole lots of pressure on Will and totally shuts down Will's game

Tommy earned himself a Full Metal Dojo's Samurai Sword as the winner of the Lightweight title. Tommy's victory capped off a very glorious night for Bangkok Fight Lab, making them 4-0 in FMD 13.

Where else can you win a Samurai Sword but in FMD

Time to partyyyy!

As for Will, it's just another day, another fight. He's in good spirit and will take this loss as a learning to do better against wrestler. No rest for him as on 5 March he will be in China to fight again

After fight, the party continues at Insanity, then to Movenpick, to Hooters and finally the FMD crew went to Guns n Roses concert in Bangkok!

Caught up with Jon after fight...

WRB: Did the show went as you expected?
JON: "I knew FMD 13 was gonna do well, but I didn't think it was gonna do that well in terms of the view in FB. We had like 100,000 view on FB. It was absolutely nuts! It far exceeded expectations!"

WRB: The Cambodian vs Thai match was a killa!
JON: "Definately gonna have more Cambodians on the next show. And Koreans, yea more Koreans on the next show. I had no ideas how large our market in Korea was. A lot of love from the Koreans."

WRB: Any rematch you wanna set up?
JON: "The only rematch I want to make is Luke Adams vs Ali Motamed. Luke Adams took the fight last minute and didn't have much prep. I think he definately overlooked Ali Motammed, ...Ali Motammed is a stud!"

The Rockstar of Asian MMA - Jon Nutt

FMD will be back!