GRAND MERDEKA SUPER FIGHT FULL RESULTS

Last weekend was a triple whammy. The weekend of 25-26 August, saw the actions of  KK Int BJJ, Malaysian Fight Fest (in KL) and Grand Merdeka Super Fight. I had to cover 3 martial arts event, but I can only be at one physically.

But organising chairman, Johan Julian Lee Abdullah, kept me up to speed on the going ons at the event.

It was two days of action that happened at KK's latest mall - Grand Merdeka. Located around 30 mins drive from KK. It's good to see local mall coming forward to become venue sponsor for combat sports event. Knowing that combat sports event bring crowds. The participants, their team mates, supporters and families present a ready customers for their mall.

Grand Merdeka Super Fight also became an avenue for development of new talent. 1st day saw junior age kickboxers compete. Out of the 80 participants, half of them are participants in the kids & teens category which fought in 21 bouts.

On the 2nd day, adults category were held. 20 bouts were competed, 2 being the semi-pro title fight.

The event saw the participation of 14 teams + 3 independent fighters collected medals
D' Sha Muaythai from Tawau emerge overall champion with 7 champion & 3 runners-up medals.

 
Below is the results for the day 2 (adults category) :

Bout 1 -10

Bout 11-20

D'Sha Muaythai Team  - overall champion

On Day 1, saw MIMMA 5 Lightweight champion, Nathaniel Lakai of Warmonger Miri in action vs Kyo Kaede, former Muaythai champion whom is making a comeback in combat sports. This fight was specially arrange as the last fight on 25 August, which enabled Nathaniel to compete in KK Int. BJJ on 26 Aug.

It was in the class B catgeory (for fighter with 3 or more fight experience). It was a slow start as both feel out each other in the first round, but in later rounds, Nathaniel found his timing for good powerful combos, which saw an uppercut that put Kyo in an 8 count. Nathaniel won the bout via unanimous decision.

Nathaniel vs Kyo

Day 1 (kids & teens)

Day 2 (adults)

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Johan Julian wants to give shout out to coach Sharon Andrea Gerald of D'SHA MUAYTHAI , whom sent a huge contingent of kids & teens to participate.

Also to coach Dhillon Tahing of REVOLUTION GYM whom brought athlete from SMK Pulau Gaya. Coming all the way from the island to Grand Merdeka mall. Even their school principal & vice principal came to support.

This is good for the development of combat sports, to have committed coaches who sacrifice their time & effort to coach & guide youngsters and encourage them to participate in competition to enable them to grow their skills further & develop sportsmanship & camaraderie among other combat sports athletes.

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Some feedback Julian received is on the results which some coaches felt was unsatisfactory. Julian said he understood their feelings and is certainly something he would look into. But he hopes the coaches & their team understand that the organiser does not have any influence over the results.

As an ISKA sanctioned event, certified ISKA judges and referees are in charge of the decision. The referees and judges are separate from the organising team and organiser follow by the results given by them.

Moving forward, Julian said some gym need to pay attention on their fighters registering but was a no show. He advise that gym should be more responsible for this and have better planning.

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The two hi-light title bouts on day 2 certainly live up to it's name. It was very close fight as both title bouts ended in split decision. (click here to read the pre-event story)

Aziz Hoo Gwo Jye of Kinabalu Fighters won the 60kg Semi-pro title belt against Fadzly Bin Julai of Warmonger Miri. (click here to read Fadzly's pre-event story)

Daenver Randel Raphael of Kinabalu Fighters won the 85kg Semi-pro title belt against Zachenzie Zifyon Douni of Keningau MMA.

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FADZLY BIN JULAI WILL AIM TO BRING BACK GRAND MERDEKA SUPERFIGHT BELT BACK TO MIRI

This Sunday someone is going to go back with a title belt. One of the contender is Fadzly Bin Julai. This 22 year old from Miri will be fighting in Grand Merdeka Super Fight in Semi-pro K1 Kickboxing.

Warriors of Borneo had a chat with him when he arrived in KK after a few long hours drive from Miri.

How did you got involved in martial arts?
"Got involve in martial arts coz thought I would just give it a go. Always loved watching boxing as a kid. I am a Muhammad Ali lover. 

I was bored one day as I was living alone at the time and always wanted to be able to have some defensive ninja skills so I walked in Trevor Salang’s gym Warmonger and signed up. Was 19 at the time and still studying. Without having any martial arts back ground just crazy into football."

That was 3 years ago. Fadzly has since graduated with a Diploma in Hotel Management. Fighting is now his passion. As of date he has gathered experience in 4 Kickboxing bouts. After just 2 win in amateur Muaythai, he moved to pro fight.

"I was young, impatient and hate fighting in protective gears hahaha... so I went pro a lil bit too early and matched-up with some very experience dudes. So my pro Muaythai record isn't so pretty 1-4-0." 

Infact his 1st pro Muaythai fight was against Aziz 'The Shantung Zhai' back in 2016, in Bintulu CM Cup 60kg Superfight. He lost by decision in a 5 round fight.

This Sunday will be his rematch with Aziz. Although it's in Kickboxing rules, but Fadzly is confident to have the results on his side this time around.

Confident because he has put in all the hard work in a 5 weeks fight camp.

"A sample of my normal 1 session 
day of training. I start off with 7-8km run, then 24-30 mins of bag work, then its either pad rounds for stamina or to sharpen techniques or a combination of both. Then I will finish off with some calisthenics.

If I'm not doing pads I’ll be dishing out 6-10 rounds sparring with my team mates depending on their availability.

And if I have a double session for the day. In the morning is usually rope skipping for 30-40 mins, bag work 20 mins, then drilling of techniques, and sometimes finish off with some light sparring."

Strenght and conditioning is 1-2 times a week depending on my coach schedule."

I first saw Fadzly fight was in Sandakan's Elopura Fight this year May. I was eagerly waiting to watch Trevor Salang vs home town favourite, Shah (66 Unicorn). But unfortunately Trevor pull out due to injury and Fadzly replaced him.

Frankly speaking I didn't expect much from Fadzly. Him facing the very experience Shah in front of his home town crowd is certainly daunting but as the rounds progress I was impressed with how Fadzly was able to stand his ground and manage to strike back, although he lost, but he gave a great account of himself that day.

I asked him on that fight in Sandakan,
"That was crazy. Please bear in mind I had only 4 days to train for that fight as I was away in the UK for 6 weeks without training just run and sprints hahaha plus I need to cut 5kgs in those 4 days"

But I just couldn't let anyone else take that spot after Trevor pulled out hahaha again,... impatient."

Impatient he maybe, but Fadzly does not give up easily. He was in Labuan in July for a Super4 fight in STAND Muaythai. He lost the final fight to Champion Sunny Sabornido of BCG Labuan.

 Just a week ago in KL, he took a pro boxing match.

"It was for Lekir Ultimate Fight 2.0 . Got TKO by ref stoppage in the 2nd round. Clearly I wasn't ready for it hahaha.  Pro boxing was no joke. Especially against a real pro boxer from Singapore

But it was a good experience from me though, given that I was actually preparing for this K1 Super Fight this Sunday the whole time."

What is his long term plans...

"Currently I am working on opening a cafe with my brother and our partners. In terms of plan in martial arts, I’ll just go with the flow really. Keep training and fighting as usual. 

His thoughts on WARMONGER,

I go there train, do my thing, grow as much as I can with my team mates. There's not many of us who train to fight. Most of the members are there for fitness instead of fighting really. That's a challenge when it comes to finding different sparring partners I guess."

It takes a different breed of people to train, and step into the ring to fight. Fadzly is one of the rare few from Miri.

Come to Grand Merdeka Mall this Sunday and catch his fight against Aziz entrance ia FREE.

GRAND MERDEKA SUPER FIGHT

This weekend is going to be Super! Super because Grand Merdeka Super Fight is on!

Happening at Grand Merdeka Mall , KK's latest shopping mall in Bandar Sierra (roughly 30 mins drive from Kota Kinabalu).

This event is organised by Kinabalu Fighters and sponsored by Grand Merdeka Mall, Mian Sports Equipment and Tritonic isotonic drink.

It is part of the Summer Festival calender of events organised at Grand Merdeka Mall which happens in the month of August and September. Some of the other programs include Cosplay Fiesta, Borneo Wheels Day and Grand Merdeka Battleground.

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This event according to organising chairman Johan Julian Abdullah is to further grow K1 Kickboxing among newbies. Giving amateur fighters a chance to step into the ring to gain valuable fight experience, under the sanctioning of ISKA.

A total of 80 fighters have signed up for Grand Merdeka Super Fight.  In the first day 25 Aug will see kids and teens category. Under 12, 12-14 and 15-17. A large numbers of these kids and teens are from D'Sha Tawau, lead by coach Sharon Andrea Gerald and also SMK Pulau Gaya lead by coach Dhillon Tahing of Revolution Gym. 

On Sunday 26 Aug, adults category will start at 12pm and end with the highlights, two semi-pro bouts. 60kg Super-fight and 85 kg Super-Fight. Semi-pro rules allow for knee to the body and double hand clinch but no elbow strikes.



" We have a huge amount of kids and teens. We run it using class system to categorised the experience of the fighters to ensure a fair and even fight. Class D for adults debut or just 1 fight experience. Class C - Young Guns for those with 4 fights or less. Class B is for those with 4 fights or above."
- Johan Julian

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1st bout, for the 60kg Super-Fight.

Fadzly Bin Julai (Warmonger) vs Aziz 'The Shantung Zhai' ( Kinabalu Fighters). Both these fighters have been in many title bouts ( kickboxing & Muaythai) but has come out empty handed.

Fadzly participated in last month in Labuan's STAND Muaythai Super 4, Fadzly lost in the final. Just few days ago he took a boxing bout in Lekir Ultimate Fight in KL but lost.

In 2016, Fadzly and Aziz met for the 1st time in a Muaythai pro fight. Fadzly lost that fight. So many fights, so close yet so far...come this Sunday he is determined to go back Miri with a title belt on his waist.

As for Aziz, he has been very active in Muaythai and Kickboxing. He most recently won a Sanda bout in Labuan. In Kickboxing he lost in B-MAEX title fight last year in a close fight and in Fight Fest. But this kid does not have 'giving up' in his dictionary. He keeps moving forward and will also be putting his best strike forward to ensure the belt is his.

2nd bout is for the 85kg title.

Deanver Randall of Kinabalu Fighters will step into the ring vs Zachenzie Z Douni of Keningau MMA.

Deanver is from Tawau and started training in Kinabalu Fighters 2 years ago and comes from TaeKwonDo background. He debut his kickboxing fight in SIDMA Young Guns last year. He is on a 6 fight winning streak with wins at various events suchs as BAC, Ultimate Beatdown Borneo and Fight Fest. He feels that it's time for him to win a title belt to further motivate him forward.

Zachenzie is a prodigy from Keningau. Zach has various experience participating in Muaythai, Kickboxing, MMA and Grappling. He is only 18 and already collected 1 gold and 1 silver for his Kickboxing bouts. He has boundless energy, preparing for his title fight this Sunday, he is also squeezing in a BJJ match on Saturday at KK BJJ Championship. 

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