KALAI BROTHERS UNITED

The name Kalai is synonym to Boxing. But boxing is not the only thing they are good at. Ex Sabah state boxer Kalai Mohammad, is an ethnic Sungai from Sandakan Sabah. Out of his 6 children, only 1 daughter, and all 5 of his sons are boxers. In the MMA scene, Eddey Kalai & Effendy Kalai are names is no stranger in the MMA circle. The other 3, Erwandy, Khairol & Ridhuan also has dabble into muay thai & MMA.



Eddey is the eldest brother. Eddey is an accomplished boxer, from the early 2000 to mid 2000, he was actively representing Sabah and subsequently Malaysia in Asia Games, Arafura Games, winning SUKMA gold, Malaysia Cup, and SEA Games. Boxing is in his blood. But after he finished his duty in the national team, Eddey was looking for another activity to keep himself fit & active. MMA looks like a good option and from 2013 onward Eddey began to ply his trade in the cage, beginning with Borneo Fighting Championship, beating another Sabahan boxer cum Muaythai specialist Randall Kadayum.

From there onward he began his journey in MMA by participating in MIMMA season1, 2, 3 & 4.

In 2014, season 2, he reached the semi-finals where he lost to eventual champion Seah Zhang Yu.

2015 Eddey was actively participating in two tournaments, in MIMMA & Jesselton Fight League (JFL). In MIMMA he again reached the semi-finals, this time Dhiaal Amal stopped him there. But for JFL, Eddey went all the way to the finals and beat Jason Gaban in a thrilling fight and was crowned the inaugural JFL Flyweight Champion.

MIMMA season 4 this year, he was back in the thick of action. This time with better preparation he beat 4 opponents to reach the Grand Finals. In between MIMMA, he also kept busy by fighting at ONE Silat tournament.

In the Grand Finals MIMMA, Eddey put up a striking match vs Zhang Yu, but lost out to Zhang Yu via rear naked choke. 

Nevertheless, coming from a striking background, Eddey has really improve on his ground game. He started with just watching on YouTube. From there on he apply what he watch when training with his students and his brother Effendey. 

The improvement can be seen in last year’s JFL when Eddey uses good sprawl and executed suplex. In MIMMA 4 earlier round, he was also able to mix his boxing skills with his wrestling and BJJ skills to control the fight. Even winning a silver in Copa Malasia (no Gi category) last year. 

Eddey works in the Royal Malaysian Police Force. During preparation of MIMMA, being a husband and a father, his routine will start after he send off his family he will start training for 2 hours in the morning, then off to work. In the afternoon, he put in another 2 hours of solid training. Then pick his family home. Usually at night he will continue with coaching boxing at Kalai Brothers HQ, and sometimes he travel to Kelang to help Effendy coaching at ELITEZ MMA Academy

Ask on what was the most challenging thing during his MIMMA journey all these years, Eddey replied,

“ My biggest challenge is to be merciless in the cage. In season 2 & 3, I kinda showed compassion. Hahaha but in season 4, I wanted to keep the medic team more busy.”

Fighting at his age of 35 this year, I wanted to know what kept Eddey motivated, what kept him coming back for more?

“To just keep on doing it…, being constantly active is my motivation. I don’t wanna stop. I enjoy being in the cage, just have fun. Furthermore I want to inspire the young talent in this sports and share with them my experience”

2 weeks leading to the match up with Seah in MIMMA 4 grand final, Eddey said he didn’t train in full intensity as he was involved in a car accident. He rammed into the back of a car and bruise his knee. But being a fighter, he didn’t use this as an excuse to stop, and kept on training through the pain.

Ask on what is his plan for 2017?

“I want to focus on preparing Effendy next year. He is young and has the potential to excel in this sports. It is not easy to make a living and fight at the same time, especially fighting at amateur level. I have three daughters and run Kalai Brothers Gym at Kepong. We opened up a bigger gym at Hulu Kelang, to be the HQ.



We use to train at MSN, but after not able to train there anymore, DeckTatoo (also known as North Borneo Headhunters) offered a place for us to teach boxing. Half of the place is his tatoo studio, the other half is the gym. I’m indebted to him for helping out as fellow Sabahan.

KALAI BROTHERS,  ELITEZ & VENUM supporters

The sad fact is the HQ will be closed. Due to some payment issue with the owner of the premise. The place was set up and I was waiting for the supplier of the mat, for 2 months we waited, but in the end he dissapeared! As we waited & the place not open for paying students yet, I use it for training to prepare for MIMMA grand finals. I told the owner that we will settle it after my grand final match. But owner is reluctant, so I will have to look for a new place.

I am not complaining, infact I am honoured to have a number of students that have stuck with us since the early days. Which is why I wanted to look for a bigger place to provide a more comfortable and better facilities for my students; and also a place I can use as centralised training for fight camp.

I would like to thank my sponsors too that has help me through my fight career, especially Potosan Corner whom provide me VENUM fight gear and RANGER energy drink

As for MIMMA 5, well who knows…if there’s opportunity maybe I’ll join again!”


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Effendy is the younger one at 25 this year. Effendy fight at bantamweight and has been a regular in MIMMA since 2013. With a record of 9-4-0, Effendy started off his first MMA bout in Borneo Fighting Championship in 2013. As his ground game was not polished yet at that first match he lost to Bruneian Noor Hidayat via submission. Subsequently he improve with 2 wins in F3 Championship. In 2014 Effendy joined MIMMA 2. Lost to Jenarten in the semi-finals.

Last year he participated again in MIMMA season 3. He also fought and win in Fight Fest 1 but in Jesselton Fight League ladder match he lost to Ahmadjon Karmiv (MIMMA 3 – Foreign Pride Champion). For MIMMA season 3 , Effendy defeated season 2 finalist Joshua Khiew of Penang Top Team. He entered the grand finals facing Johorean Tee Jac Yeo. But that bout was declared a no-contest, as Effendy pass out during an injury time out.

This year, Effendy didn’t made plans to be in MIMMA. He was helping his brother Eddey and his team Kalai Brothers Boxing preparing and cornering them during the bouts. Until he was offered a bout in The Contender Fights, a rematch with Tee. The winner will meet the winner from Damon Soo vs John Liew’s bout. Tee could not make it back as he has studies commitment overseas, which open the door for Effendy to enter the grand finals. Meeting Damon whom scored an unanimous decision over John.

Eddey , Effendy, & Joseph Yap with ELITEZ founder Andy Teh 

Rushing to prepare in short timing, including a punishing training camp at Phuket Top Team, and juggling his coaching job at ELITEZ MMA Academy in Kelang, Effendy eventually made weight and stepped into the cage to fight for the first time in 2016. Before this he kept himself busy by participating in Pro Muaythai fight in Sandakan, in which he won over Ardi Jasnal. 

Effendey fighting pro Muaythai in Elopura Fights Sandakan in Sept 

Effendy vs Damon is a classic striker vs grappler match-up. Effendy clearly was looking for a knock out punch, with his hands cocking bombs, looking to land a huge counter. Damon was able to weathered the storm and even do some striking of his own. Brought Effendy down but surprisingly Effendy whom is not known for his ground game was able to get full guard and control Damon’s posture and even attempt a gogoplata from rubber guard.

Round 2 started with good kicks exchanges from both. Damon duck under a left hook & clinch on Effendy’s body, pushed to cage, trip the leg & took Effendy to the canvas. Effendy surprised Damon with a sweep. Effendy dropping punches but Damon got up. Effendy with a triple combos. Another sets of 1-2, & Damon return fire as Effendy back step. Damon with a strainght left & got a right underhook, stepped over Effendy’s left leg & got his back. Effendy on both knees and Damon went for the choke lean back & got Effendy’s tap.



When after fight, Effendy said he was not in full battle mode. Because he wasn’t expecting to fight for the belt. His training was mostly on his own. Not much sparring and his ground game mostly practice on a dummy. But the biggest factor affecting him was his mindset. He was so focus in preparing his brother Eddey that when Eddey lost, it kind of affect his focus on his own game. But he was glad to have the opportunity to stepped into the cage and fight. 

We won’t see the last of Effendy yet. As he is still young and on the path of learning. With good preparation and right focus Effendy is a fighter to watch out for.

The Heat is On - MIMMA4

2016 is the year of Fire Monkey. It’s certainly scorching lately. With El Nino is in full effect, the weather in Sabah is so hot & dry. The local political scene is experiencing a fiery time. But there’s a welcoming heat that will burn the passion of all martial artist out there. The heat from MIMMA4 ( Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts ). Fire…aptly chosen as the theme this year is exactly what it intend to do, into the 4th season, MIMMA4 continue to blaze the path as the best amateur MMA tournament in Asia if not the world.

This weekend of 5-6 MAC, happening at 1 Borneo Hypermall, Kota Kinabalu is the 2nd leg of the tryouts, after last weekend where it began at Penang.

The venue; 1 Borneo Hypermall is ready to receive fighters

The spark ignited in 2013, as a platform to nurture and grow local Malaysian talents from the MMA scene, by preparing a tournament for amateurs to contend and put their highly honed skills and countless hours of dedicated training to the test. During its first season, MIMMA has managed to become the central entity for all MMA hopefuls, opening the eyes of the public about the limitless potential of the sport. Records were broken and benchmarks were forged in its second season, and in its third season history was made when MIMMA introduced two new categories ( Foreign Pride and Women MMA ) to further enhance the development of the sport in the country, sealing its stature as the gold standard of amateur MMA in the world today. 2016 will see a continuation of hard work put into improving MIMMA as a proper platform for amateur MMA hopefuls to start their journey as well as injecting new innovation to ensure the local MMA scene stays vibrant and ever-expanding.

Tune Talk is the driving force behind MIMMA. Being one of the youngest but most innovative telco in Malaysia, it extends its innovative way of doing things to MIMMA4 , where MIMMA4 will be shifting most of its operations online, fully utilizing its presence, beginning with a fully digital registration process for all amateur MMA hopefuls in order to ease the flow during the day of the tryouts.

Go online to register yourself as a fighter

At the launch of MIMMA4 in Jan 2016, with Borneo Champion in the middle, Jace Law-Lightweight Champ 2015 & Joanna Yap Female Champ 2015 from Sarawak ( photo credit -YK Tang )

Jason Lo, CEO of Tune Talk stated, “Initially, we wanted to adopt a sport with which we could truly associate with and we felt that MMA was it for us. It is a sport that demands discipline, dedication and passion. This aligns with Tune Talk as we are also fighters in our own right, going up against the big telcos in Malaysia. Early on, we created this great relationship with ONE Championship to ensure MMA became well known in Malaysia, but that’s not enough for us because there is a lot of MMA potential here. With the guidance of ONE Championship, we created the Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts.”

“It is 2016 and we now have 2 MIMMA Champions fighting and making a huge impact in ONE Championship. This is just the start as we expect more champions to make the transition into fighting professionally soon. Tune Talk is now the frontrunner in both the amateur and professional MMA scene in Malaysia and this will continue as it will take the Malaysian MMA scene to the next level, ensuring our goal of making Malaysia the MMA hub of the region completely materialize in the near future,” he added.

For those new to MIMMA, the tryouts is a selection process for MMA fighters to qualify for MIMMA Tournament. Fighters will be judge on 3 stage, striking, ground game and sparring, where fighters need to show how they put together skills at striking and grappling to convince the judges that they possesses not just the techniques but also the heart and motivation to fight. Selected fighters will go through the ladder match, quarter finals, semis and the contender fights at Paradigm Mall, Petaling Jaya. The grand finals usually are held in a indoor stadium sometime in Oct.

Striking ( photo credit-YK Tang )

Grappling

Put it all together now...

Sabah, as part of Borneo, the headhunters land has always been a succesful hunting grounds for MMA talents. In the 1st season itself, Sabahan such as Allen Solomon Chong and Adrian Tham became the inaugural MIMMA Lightweight and Heavyweight champion respectively. Sabah also is home to reknown MMA athlete such as Rayner Kinsiong, AJ Pyro and Ann Osman, whom all fought as pro in ONE Championship. In season 3 we saw, Sabahan Darren Low defending his Heavyweight belt and 3 Sabahn as grand finalist in Hafizul Hakeem, Felicia Yunus & Effendy Kalai.

Next weekend 12-13 MAC, will see a few martial arts tournament happening. The prestigious Piala TYT Sarawak for Muaythai will be held at Bintulu and Fight Fest : Mata Leao Submission Tournament at Kota Kinabalu. Perhaps this may affect the numbers of fighters coming for the tryouts. As the local fight scene grows this is inevitable. Nevertheless athletes that's interested to make a name for themselves in MMA, can still go for tryouts at other states.

in case you miss out KK Tryouts, these are the dates for other venue

Major gym such as Team Karabaw, lead by head coach Rayner Kinsiong will invade 1 Borneo with at least 40 fighters for the tryouts. Hafizul will return again this year. Will he be able to use the experience from 2015 to secure a belt this year? Experience fighters such as Douglas Gumbilai ( MIMMA3 Semifinalist), Kent Tham ( JFL Heavyweight Champion 2015 ), Masko Franklin ( JFL Middleweight Champion 2015 ) and Erexy Emmenuel will also have another go this year.

Team Karabaw, receiving a visit from Datuk Jahid Jahim last week to show support at their Tamparuli branch

Alpha MMA, founded by Allen Solomon Chong, where Felicia Yunus trains at,  this year will send 4 to 5 fighters, but Felicia will be taking a break from MMA and concentrate on BJJ this year, but watch out for Liew Ming Lun, a product of Persatuan BJJ Negeri Sabah's youth program, Liew is a BJJ prodigy and has been working hard on adding striking to his arsenal. Liew just turn 18 and is very determined to achieve glory in MMA.

Liew Ming Lun...dream of being in the UFC one day.

Meanwhile from the gym that produces Malaysian 1st female pro MMA fighter-Ann Osman, Borneo Tribal Squad, will see 4-5 fighters participating.

Borneo Tribal Squad

Sabah Top Team lead by Italian pro fighter Antonio Battistessa, whom is a regular in MIMMA as one of the officials will be sending 10 fighters.

Sabah Top Team

Meanwhile from Keningau, KMMA, will send 4 fighters. One of them being the Jesselton Fight League (JFL )Bantamweight Champion – Hasbullah Sanmin. The ferocious fighter has develop well ever since his lost in ladder match in season 3 due to inexperience in grappling. He has improve by heaps in his ground game through the tutelage of his coach Mohd Bakri and will be the one to watch for this season.

with Md Hasbullah when he emerge as JFL Bantamweight Champion in 2015

With the help of MIMMA, MMA has become more popular and as more fights gym opens, more fighters are born. Gyms are also bringing in experience foreign coaches to enhance the skills of locals and to elevate local MMA standard.

The early seasons may see many fighters are basically either striking or grappling dominant, be prepared to see this 4th season where fights will be more technical and where fighters are more well rounded in all aspect of martial arts. Many who come will be experienced fighters as some would have participated in the many local tournaments that was held througout the year.

Fighters that presevere and do not give up will eventually reap the reward, just look at what Muhammad Aiman has achieved. He was the finalist in Season 1. Reached the Grand Finals in Season 2, but had to withdraw as he miss weight. In Season 3, he started all over again and eventually emerge as MIMMA3 Featherweignt Champion!

( photo credit-YK Tang )

Another good example is Jace Law from Sarawak. Not satisfied of reaching the semi finals in Season 2, last year Jace came back with a vengeance to dominate the Lightweight division with his signature JKO finishes and become the MIMMA 3 Lightweight Champion.

On branding sides,  making a first time appearance at MIMMA will be VENUM and AMNIG. Venum debut as the official apparel sponsors and AMNIG as the official apparel sponsors. Potosan Corner as the sole distributor of VENUM will set up stall to sell their products.

Bring on the HEAT!

wanna look dapper like these MIMMA referees.....

...get your AMNIG apparel at MIMMA Tryout- KK

wanna fight like a champion in the cage....( photo credit-YK Tang ).

...get your VENUM fight gear from POTOSAN CORNER

...but if you just wanna look cool like Matt Pellino.... ( photo credit-YK Tang )

...then come on down to 1 Borneo at MIMMA4 Tryouts for some awesome MIMMA4 merchandise

Much thanks to all the sponsor, as without them we fight fans will be deprive of MMA action

Headhunters - 5 ( 4-5 DEC 2015 )

Allen Solomon Chong is a busy man...not only is he a young father to a active toddler, he works as a resident architect in Architect KDI in Kota Kinabalu, he also heads BJJ Sabah and his own martial arts & fitness gym - Alpha MMA.

In August Allen and the team from BJJ Sabah was occupied heads to toe organising Sabah Open BJJ, then in Oct back Allen and his team from Alpha MMA was busy preparing his star students Felicia Yunus whom fought at the Grand Finals of MIMMA3.

December is again time to roll....for Headhunters 5 is here!

Headhunters is a local BJJ Tournament started in 2011 by Allen with more than 80 participants. Making itself into the record book as the 1st BJJ Tournament in Malaysia. As a pioneer of BJJ in Malaysia, Allen form Persatuan BJJ Negeri Sabah to ensure a good development of BJJ in Sabah and his ultimate goal...to get BJJ into SUKMA ( Sukan Malaysia ) and with the aim of Sabah talent leading the medal tally.
Check out my previous posting about the background of BJJ Sabah here.

Headhunters & BJJ Sabah has play such a big role in Malaysia's MMA scene, athelete such as Osman ( ONE Championship Pro fighter ), AJ Pyro ( ONE Championship Malaysian Champion ), Adrian Tham ( MIMMA1 heavyweight champion ), Darren Low ( MIMMA 2&3 Heavyweight Champion ) Samuel Lai ( JFL Finalist ), Valerian Rosario ( JFL Female Champion ), Md Hasbullah ( JFL bantamweight Champion ) have all sweat, grind and roll on the matt of Headhunters before.

Looking back in 2011 when Headhunters was first organise, ONE Fighting Championship was just launch too.

This year will see Headhunters having a green theme, matching the colours of prizes sponsors - MILO.

MILO is one of the prizes sponsors

Allen and his team working late into the late to ensure all set up is proper

Winners will also get prizes sponsor by SoDoWe Lifestyle Shop & 333 FightGear. The regular venue at Citymall will make way for IMAGO Mall.

2014 Headhunters at Citymall

This year will also see greater support from the Sabah state government with the Sabah Sports Minister himself, Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan, officiating the launch.


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Let's have a chat with Allen...

What made you started organising Headhunters? What's your goal?
" Our primary objective, in lieu with the Persatuan BJJ Sabah, is to ensure the progress of the sport of BJJ and ensure professionalism in its practice. we register members practicing the sport and also maintain a database of recognised and approved list of instructors and exponents in Sabah. the sport is new and anybody can throw on a belt, but we have a duty to upkeep the quality so that if gym owners come to us for recommendations of available coaches, or check on qualifications, we can give them reassurance of quality or address issues of conduct among our members. we take cue from other professional organisations. Like how established associations in Sabah arbitrates architects, engineers and also its clients. we are still learning and ironing out issues along the way, and we aim to eventually bring BJJ into SUKMA."

This year you are expecting how many participants? Any special activities this year?
" We expect to see up to 90 competitors signed up. We are being conservative on estimates as this is the first time we are experimenting with alternative rule sets for no-gi since we are having Sabah Open every year to cater for the IBJJF rule set. Understandably the ADCC type rules may be unnerving to some, but I am confident Borneo's warrior spirit always have surprises up their sleeve.

Aside from increase number of participants, what has greatly change or evolution over the years?
"The community has seen a remarkable growth stemming from how important the art is in the MMA scene and also availability of large reknowned tournaments in the Asian region. Local Sabahans are very passionate and shows great promise and character. the local tournaments like HH5 has always been the whetstone for which the locals sharpen their game before bringing it to the big scenes, and we revel to cater for the needs of the community. we hope to have a Sabahan BJJ Mundials champion one day."

In the early years what is the public reaction to BJJ?
" Contact! There is simply too much contact for the average person to fathom. we are brought up on stories of no-touch fighting and air punching training, but globalisation has now allowed us to be more well informed as to how physical altercations can unfold and how the grappling game has its niche."

What other activities BJJ Sabah organise besides Headhunters?
"Our annual tournaments include the Badak open, Sabah Open and Headhunters grappling tournaments."
We also have a youth development program and frequently send our youths to participate in major tournaments around the region. this could not happen without the support of the State Sports Ministry and the enthusiasm and unity of the athletes, training partners and coaching team."

BJJ Sabah also was very successful in Sabah BJJ Open, in the future how do you differentiate the events?
" Sabah Open will primarily operate with the International format, namely IBJJF style.
Headhunters will cater for submission grappling rules like ADCC. We will still have the gi operate in IBJJF however."

From interactions with people, many are still rather blur to BJJ, I mean they do not understand the techniques and what the athlete is trying to do and how points are scored...from my observation the way MIMMA do the live commentary it seems to educate and make the general public undertsnad MMA better, would u be thinking of such move in future?
" I believe live commentary should stay within promotional events. We aim for athlete performance and we seek not to distract the athlete's focus. We have many recognised gyms and instructors listed by the association that will be more than happy to spend the light of day to explain to prospective practitioners the nuances of the sport, personally. BJJ guys are a very friendly bunch. Our focus is on the athletes. our tournaments are for the athletes.
And if all else fails, i will advise the famous quote: google it."

Over the years who are the contestant from Headhunters that you see has achieve great success?
" The greatest success is always the success that has yet to come. look to the youths for the answer."

Which team are strong this year?
" Every team brings something special to the table. The strongest team is the most united team. We may have different factions, but we are all united in Persatuan BJJ Sabah. We are Sabah strong!"

Tell me about Alpha MMA 's youth program?
" The Persatuan has elected Alpha MMA to host its activities. As such, recognised potentials will not be charged for training and will receive sponsorships that are pending approva; by the Ministry on a case by case basis. Our list of sponsored youths are growing annually and look to see big things come out of the future generation. The new will almost always outperform the old. It is our job as peers to set the bar as high as possible for their betterment of aim."

BJJ Sabah also send athlete to participate elsewhere right? Tell me about it.
" Every tournament that we plan to enter, we make an estimated cost for the sponsored athletes. It is pending approval on a case by case basis. we are a class B sport, so we have to pay for the cost ourselves and hope to gain full approval after. We mainly hit up the Pan-Asia comp in Manila but this year we may expand our horizons to compete in the IBJJF circuit in japan. Expect insanity in training leading up to that."

Warriors of Borneo wishes BJJ Sabah and you a successful event for Headhunters 5.

Thank You Allen for your time.