ELOPURA FIGHTS 2 : THE REVIEW

photo by Aliuddin Lensa

The 2nd edition of Elopura Fights went down for 2 days ( 10 -11 Mac 2018 ) in Sandakan. Organised by Sandakan Muaythai Association and held at Sandakan’s Hakka Association Hall, it was 2 days of Muaythai action that saw the day part occupied by amateur and semi-pro fights, while the night time saw the pro fighters came out and display their arsenal of the 8 limbs.

For pre-event story, click on the link here:
Elopura Fights 2: Defenders of Elopura

In total 30 amatuer/semi-pro bouts was contested with Team Karabaw leading the winners tally with total 9 victories, followed by home team, 66 Unicorn with 5 and D-Sha of Tawau with 4.

It was good to see for the first time 4 participation from SMK Pulau Gaya. A school in Gaya Island that is 30 minutes boat ride from Kota Kinabalu. Recently Muaythai Sabah has activated a few intro classes to recruit new fighters and it’s a good start to see the pool of Muaythai fighters in Sabah growing.

Many were happy with the venue as it’s clean, comfortable and have good ventilation. Although there was a slight hiccups when there was a blackout on the first day, all due to the misscom of venue owner with Sabah Electricity but was promptly rectify.

Amatuer action ( pix by Aliuddin Lensa )

Check out the amatuer results below

The night time pro fights was highly anticipated, as some of Sabah’s best fighters are pitted against the best from Sarawak & West Malaysia.

Mohamad Ajman Ajmain ( Maman ), the president of Muaythai Sandakan, lead his team of 66 Askar Hantu ( 66 Phantom Soldier ) in putting up a great show for the crowds. His team was assisted by Boxxtomoi Asia and they light up the nights with colourful lights, smoke machine and energetic music, that made the entrance of each fighters a hi-light upon itself.

photo by Ahmad Jimmy

Maman in the center with his 66 Askar Hantu ( photo by Ahmad Jimmy )

For that, the best entrance award should go to Addy Raisal of Kinabalu Kings. As the mysterious Undertaker music began and the lights was focusing on the stage, all eyes and cameras was on the stage, as they watch a figure in a hoodie came out, after a few moves he reverese back and disappear behind the curtain. All of a sudden the lights shine on the ring and there he is - Addy suddenly appear in the middle of the ring!

check out the results for the pro fights below.

Day 1 Pro results

Check out the video hi-lights of Day 1


10 pro bouts competed on day 1 with 5 bouts ending with a KO. Rayner Kinsiong, ex-national Karateka and ONE Championship's MMA fighter made a come-back to the ring against Daniel Omar of Perak. It was a swift victory as Rayner unloaded a series of combos that ended the fight via KO in just 27 seconds in the 1st round, winning himself the Sabah Muaythai Association President Cup.

photo by: Jack Tmj

Kinabalu Kings kingpin Bee Jay said this time he sponsored The King's Legacy Cup, to encourage and motivate his fighters to excel. His fighters went on killer mode and got the wins via KO in round 3 in both their fight. Haiqal 'Shark' against Aman Koboi in day 1 and the flamboyant young Shah Aryan ' Killer Prince' against Ayu Arash in day 2, both opponent from Sarawak.

The pro main card on day 1 saw Eswandy of Sarawak taking on a short notice fight against a MAX Muaythai Champ Worachat Panadkla. It was a one sided affair as the experience of Worachat whom holds more than 100 fights proof to be a level above his competition, winning via TKO in round 1.

Worachat making his entrance ( pix by Ahmad Jimmy )

Day 2 Pro results

Day 2 event saw an international bout of Suphan of Thailand against Manthan Rane from Team Relentless India. From the outset, Manthan, seems to control the fight with powerful kicks and punches. Suphan was non chalant and occasionally mock and tease Manthan and counter fire.

But at end of 5 round for the 61kg Champion Cup, Suphan was annouced winner by split decision. Manthan clearly upset but acting very professionally he accepted the judges decision.

Manthan is Yoddha FC MMA Flyweight champion, currently studying for his college degree, he travel alone from India to Sandakan for his pro Muaythai debut. After the fight , he said
“ I thought I did enough to win, although I am dissapointed but this result taught me that I must be more aggresive in future fights and go for the kill to end the fight by KO and not leave it to the judges. This is a good lesson for me and I will improve from here onward."

Manthan vs Suphan

I must say my personal favourite fight was Addy Raisal of Kinabalu Kings vs Morris Hii of D-30 Sarawak. Both came in aggresive. Throwing everything but the kitchen sink. Fight stop twice as Morris forehead was bleeding. After the check by ringside doctor, the green light was given to continue. Morris was unfazed by the cut as he continue to throw bombs. Addy had the upper hand with crisp technique and accurate shot and earn himself a hard fought 59Kg Champion Cup.

Sandakan home team 66 Unicorn recorded great success. Aptly proof that they are 'Defenders of Elopura' as the tagline of this 2nd Edition of Elopura Fights suggest.

Female pro debutant Tu Sin Yee, open the pro fight event with her win over Magdelina of Tomoi Labuan in the 1st bout of day 1. But young talent , Faiz ' Harimau Kumbang' lost his match to Ayu of Sarawak.

Tu Sin Yee (in red ) winning her pro debut . pix by Ahmad Jimmy

Faiz's fight - pix by Jack Tmj

Wawan Kalai - pix by Ahmad Jimmy

Wawan Kalai, a senior member of 66 Unicorn move them back into the win column by winning the King's Legacy Cup at 51kg.

Follow by Riedzwan Norsyahmie, collecting a KO win in round 3 against Hunson of Sarawak, thus winning him the Elopura Fights 50kg Champion Cup. Adding to his bronze medal at IFMA World Youth Championship, Bangkok and gold medal at World Youth Martial Art Mastership, South Korea, both from 2017.

Riedzwan Norsyahmie - pix by Ahmad Jimmy

In Day 2, Rahmad 'Mat Kool' again open the fights with a victory over Azman of Karabaw. Another female pro debutant from 66 Unicorn - Linn Yong, stamped her mark of dominance in winning her fight with a KO in round 1 against Glorya Nate of Sabah Khai Muay.

LinnYong, having her hand raise in victory

66 Unicorn close the night with a victory from their prize fighter Shah 'Black Machine'. Shah was slated to fight Sarawak's Muaythai Champion Trevor Salang, but Trevor was replaced by his student Fadzly Julai.

The 5 round fight title fight for the Elopura Fights 57kg Champion Belt initially started at a slow pace. But from round 3 onwards, after the fight was stalled as fadzly was given time out for a low blow, he seems to try to break his underdog status and began to rev up his enginge. Shah remain calm and managed to connect important shots to seal the victory and get the title belt wrap around his waist.

Shah in his after fight interview said he was proud to represent his home town Sandakan and this win is for his mentor Mohamad Ajman Ajmain and his 66 Unicorn team mates. He was prepared for a hard fight against Trevor. Although that match up didn't materialised, he was glad Fadzly stepped up and commended him for taking the fight in very short notice.

 

The victory in Elopura Fights 2 is important to him as he suffered a lost in Labuan's B-MAEX Pro Kickboxing. Before Labuan, he was also nursing an injury and lost in a Muaythai event in KL. He has recently graduated in sports science and will continue to pursue his fighting career and perhaps one day be able to go into coaching.

ELOPURA FIGHTS 2 - DEFENDERS OF ELOPURA

Welcome fight fans to Sandakan. The former capital of Sabah ( during the British colonial era ). The biggest city in the east coast of Sabah, Sandakan is also widely promoted as the nature city with many natural attractions for visitors to enjoy.

Combat sports event may not be the top draw for visitors to Sandakan, but Mohamad Ajman Ajmain is just trying to change that; through Elopura Fights. 

This weekend 10-11 March, will see close to 100 Muaythai fighters converge in Sandakan for the 2nd edition of Elopura Fights. 

Mohamad Ajman Ajmain or fondly known as Maman is the president of Sandakan Muaythai Association. He is also the deputy president of Sabah Muaythai Association and has been working passionately developing Muaythai in Sabah.

Elopura Fights is organised by Sandakan Muaythai Association and supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia, Malaysia Muaythai Association and Sabah Muaythai Association

Let's get to know more about Maman, the man behind Elopura Fights. 

Maman was born in Tawau in 1979, another city in the east coast of Sabah, around 4 hours drive from Sandakan. His interest in martial arts began during his childhood. Having a father whom was a martial arts instructor certainly helps.

"My late father, Ajmain Abd Ghani was active in martial arts. He was a Silat teacher 'Guru Silat' and also manager of Taekwondo Team in Tawau back in the 80's. 

Our home had always been visited by so many people from all over Malaysia

I remember many people from Kelantan and Kedah came (and brought so many food including keropok lekor) for various reasons; some came to learn and quite a few came to challenge my father for a spar. There were also visitors from Indonesia during those days. That influenced my interest in the art of fighting."

In his teenage years, Maman developed an interest in boxing and started learning basic boxing. He also picked up a bit of Tomoi during his uni days (1999-2000) from his Kelantan and Pendang friends. To the extend of even going to their village during semester break to learn more techniques.

His involvement in Muaythai began back in 2011, it was a visit to to Cikgu Alang's house. That night he was hosting an introductory Muaythai seminar which was conducted by Kru Bernard Radin (Vice President of Persatuan Muaythai Malaysia). 

In that seminar Maman began to realise that Muaythai is growing fast as a sports in Malaysia and has commercial value. That was when he started to think of setting up a Muaythai club and training gym, which he eventually formed and named it 66 Unicorn.

Maman works as an immigration officer and ever since he got promoted is now base in Limbang in the state of Sarawak. Which is 10 hours drive from Sandakan. But this does not deters him from making sure Elopura Fights are well organised. With a strong team that supports him at Sandakan, all things gets done. He name his reliable team AskarHantu 66.

"Because they are like ghosts. They are mostly active at night and when they do their work, you don't notice anything today, but suddenly in the morning the work is done."

Warriors of Borneo talks to Maman about Elopura Fights.

This is Elopura Fights second edition (EF2), can you give us a little background on how this event came about?
First Muaythai Event that we organized in Sandakan was Dynamite Naksoo: Asia Fight Tour, Sandakan back in 12th December 2015. Its a collaboration with our Australia counterpart Dynamite Naksoo Muaythai. The event was so succesfull that we started to plan to do another one. 

The second event we did was Elopura Fights (12-13 August 2016) which we collaborated with Boxxtomoi Asia and KL7. We decided to use Elopura Fights as our event name to reflect the locality of the event. Elopura (Elok + Pura) which means Beautiful Land is what Sandakan used to be called once upon a time.

We were planning EF 2 once we completed EF. It was supposed to be held April 2017, but I was promoted and transferred to Sarawak so we have to postpone the event. I was just trying to settle down at my new workplace and cant focus on EF 2. So the project was kept in a drawer until last December 2017. We met with Denz Artisan Coffee Roasters and he expressed his interest in sponsoring our Muaythai Event. After some discussion we agreed to organize EF 2: Defenders of Elopura.

2016 event was very successful, not just for the fights but also the pre-event, you have the Triton convoy, Superbike Convoy, a great welcoming dinner, opening performance by Persatuan Seni Silat Gayong Malaysia. What can be expected this year?
This year we are focusing on the fights. We have gathered 38 professional fighters from all over Malaysia including 3 Thai Fighters and 1 from India. We are trying to make it all about the fight first. We have not planned to do any gimmick. Straight to business. Muaythai fights galore.



Can you share on the itinerary for EF2? 
We will have amateur fights from 9am to 4pm. 

There will be 32 amateur bouts, and 3 Semi pro ladies bouts. It will be in super fight format. 

Some of the Defenders of Elopura from 66 Unicorn will see action in amateur fights ( come and support - ammy fights is free entrance )

The Pro fights will begin at 7pm. 9 pro bouts on the first night and 10 pro bouts on the 2nd. The highlight of the 1st night  (10 March)  is Elopura Fights 50kg Champion Belt between local Sandakan favorite fighter Riedzwan Norsyahmie vs Hunson ak Kayan from Sarawak. 

For your info Riedzwan Norsyahmie was the bronze Medallist in 2017 IFMA World Youth Championship Bangkok in August 2017 and Gold Medalist in 2017 World Youth Martial Art Mastership, South Korea in November 2017. But the fightcard is so stacked that all bouts will promise smoking hot fights. 

On second night (11 March) the Elopura Fights 57kg Champion Belt will be the highlight. It will be between Sabah best Muaythai fighter Shah 'Black Machine' against Sarawakian Muaythai Hero Trevor Salang. It will be blazing hot! But then again the fightcard for second night will also be so stacked that I can't say which one will be the hottest bout.

We also have 2 Female Pro bouts 1 each night that will pit Tu Sin Yee (66 Unicorn) against Magdelina (Tomoi Labuan) on the 10th and Linn (66 Unicorn) against State athlete Glorya Nate (Sabah Khai Muay) on the 2nd night.

Tell us about your team, 66 Unicorn. What does the name signify? Share with readers the journey of you starting the gym, the development, the challenges, the achievements and the future.
66 Unicorn Muaythai. The number 66 is actually taking the spirit of Sabahan leaders Double 6 tragedy. They fight for Sabahan right until the end of their lives. Hence our motto 66 Never Surrender. 

Unicorn is a mythical creature which is the opposite of the usual creature many of the fight gyms use. This is more to my philosophy of how we should carry ourselves. 

We want to be humble. We don't want to look like a dragon but fight like a pussycat. UNICORNS are deceivingly sweet and cute but once we fight we will fight to the death. 

Maman : the beginning of 66 Unicorn 

with Kru Bernard Radin during Basic Muaythai course and Khan upgrading in 2013

Maman sharing his knowledge in the gym. Maman is head coach ( technique & tactical ) . Dr Sanjay serve as Strenght & Conditioning coach & team doctor. Other Trainers are Najib, Azhar, Watie & Muliadan

I believe in Sandakan only 66 Unicorn is the only active gym/team in Muaythai/ kickboxing...how do you see the development of martial arts in Sandakan in general.

Yes you are not far off. So far 66 Unicorn is the only active team from Sandakan. 

We have been trying to invite more people to open up a gym/training centre in Sandakan and so far there are a few that started to set up training gyms. But they are quite 'shy'. We will organize a meeting in the near future to find out what can we do to help.

Upgrading in progress. 

spanking new upgrade done at their gym located at Bandar Utama Sandakan

In 66 Unicorn, you have a team of juvenile fighters and some newbies, tell us your team's development program? What is your expectations this year for them.

Yes we do have a team of juvenile fighters and newcomers. We have been doing the same thing since the beginning. We emphasize on the strong foundation of Muaythai. We don't do fancy stuff. We do basic, basic and basic. 

We instill the importance of fight IQ to our fighters. And we put fitness as one of the most important thing for our fighters. This year will be a good year and we expect some of our boys and girls to represent Sabah to the nationals and hopefully some will also be selected to represent the country again. 

three generations of champion ( from Left : Shah, Rahmad & Syamie )

Fighters from Sandakan, who is the upcoming one to look out for? 

• Riedzwan Norsyahmie 'Golden Shin' 17yo
• Faiz 'Harimau Kumbang' 14yo
• Rahmad 'Mat Kool' 14yo
These are the upcoming fighters that will be a force to be reckoned with in Sabah Muauthai scene in my humble opinion.

How do you go about promoting EF2? Any assistance from government agency ?

We have full cooperation from Sabah Sports Commisioner, Ministry of Youth and Sports Sabah, Sandakan Municipal Council and the Police. Our promotion is going on smoothly. 

Amateur fights in the day time is free entrance .
For the Pro fights to get your tickets please call:

Tea Library: +601116043075
Herman Bin Usman: 0128423785
Frank Setter: 0128014589
Mienn Manyon: 0145503066
Rioo Alexandria: 01110032302
Rams Thokke: 0178383996

Elopura is an old name for Sandakan, I see that u are also using EF2 as a tool to promote Sandakan in sports tourism. What was the response like from participants?

( outside Sandakan ) base on last year's event.

The response was very good. From the feedback we get, most of them can't wait to come back to Sandakan and join our event. They also spread good things about Sandakan hospitality in their hometown. We are glad.

For first timer in Sandakan, what do you recommend them for food? Places of interest and activities?

Sandakan is a food haven. From Seafood to Indonesian food to Western food to our local delicacies, you name it, we have it! But our SEAFOOD is second to none; so don't miss the opportunity to experience it yourselves.

For place of Interest there are many, From Sepilok Orang Utan sanctuary, Crocodile Farm, and beautiful islands like Selingan, Lankayan, Bakungan. If you are lucky you might get to see turtles laying eggs!