WBC Boxing Fest in Malaysia : Borneo & MIMMA Warriors Looking to Dominate

There's no doubt that in combat sports, MMA has grown tremendously. As the world fastest growing sports it has created waves through UFC in the west and ONE Championship in Asia. But recently Boxing is getting back into the headline.

The upcoming fight between superstar champion from the MMA & Boxing field. WBC ( World Boxing Council ) welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather whom is coming out of retirement to fight UFC Featherweight & Lightweight Champion, Conor McGregor, is grabbing attention everywhere.

MMA event lead by MIMMA is growing, with plenty of competitions in Johor, Sabah and KL. But Malaysia hasn't seen a pro boxing event since 1975. That was in Merdeka Stadium when Boxing legend, the late Muhammad Ali defended his WBC Heavyweight title against Joe Bugner.

Aside from 1998 when Boxer Sapok Biki of Sarawak winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal. Boxing has not made much headline in Malaysia.

In fact it is down south in Singapore that brought back the resurgence of Boxing for Malaysia. In Feb 2016 Fight promoter Arvind Lalwani through Singapore Fighting Championship, organises WBF ( World Boxing Federation ) boxing matches. Which saw Sabahan Hisyam Sam of Borneo Tribal Squad emerged as the 1st Malaysian to win a WBF Asia Pacific Light Heavyweight Title.

Then Ringstar promoter Scott O'Ferrel brought the UBO ( Universal Boxing Organisations ) matches to Singapore, which saw MIMMA Middleweight Champion Mirage Khan becoming the 1st Malaysian to win UBO Inter-Continental Light Heavyweight title in Feb this year, but did not manage to hold on to the belt when he lost it in May this year in a fight in Resort World Singapore.

To have a WBC event back in Kuala Lumpur, after 42 years absence, featuring Malaysian pro boxers is definitely a significant accomplishment for Malaysia's boxing scene. Boxing promoter, BOXRANX is able to do this and this truly mark a new beginning for boxing in Malaysia.

In preparation for this major event, WBC-OPBF organised a referees & judges seminar in Oct 2016 at MuayFit. WBC previously in Jan 2017 held an event in Johor Bahru where Malaysian Mohd Farkhan was crowned as the WBC Asia Light Heavyweight Title.

Muhd Farkhan, 1st Malaysian WBC champion ( photo credit: Harian Metro )

WBC Boxing Fest will be on 8-9 July 2017, held in conjunction with Health Fitness and Beauty Expo in Midvalley Megamall Exhibition Center (MVEC)

WBC Boxing Fest will be at MVEC at Hall 1

On 8 July will see Semi-pro event featuring 10 bouts of new local talents.

As for 9 July 2017, will have WBC Professional Boxing matches featuring the best of Malaysian Pro Boxers and also the main event for the WBC-OPBF ( Oriental & Pacific Boxing Federation ) Silver Championship bout.

For the uninitiated WBC is one of four main governing bodies in Boxing globally, the others being WBO, IBF & WBA . WBC was formed in 1963, being the 2nd oldest Boxing organisations after WBA. Among some notable WBC champions are Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Gennady Golovkin.

It has regional sanctioning bodies affiliated to it and OPBF is the one overseeing Asia Pacific. The Silver Championship is a kind of interim or regional belt in which the Silver Champion can then progress to challenge for main belt.

This weekend will see Filipino veteran of 33 fights ( 21-9-3 ), Carlo Autentico Magali challenging for the WBC-OPBF Silver Championship in featherweight. His opponent is Indian Sandeep Balhara. Not much is known of Balhara, with only with 4 fights in his record, but 3 of it is via KO.

Fight of newbies

Borneo & MIMMA ( Malaysian Invasion MMA ) will be well represented for this event.
Sabahan Lesley Dulamit will debut as a pro in the first bout of the day on 9 July. Lesley hails from the town of Tuaran in Sabah, 45 mins from Kota Kinabalu. Now 22 he took up Taekwondo as a kid but was introduced to Boxing by his late uncle Jay.

He was with Tuaran Boxing Team but has since joined Team Karabaw Tamparuli led by coach Vallerio Gumbilai. Under his guidance, Lesley improve on his skills. When there's no boxing competition, Vallerio signed him up for MMA, Muaythai & Kickboxing competition.

His opponent has been change and the new confirmed one is Gerald Baiguen Salvador. Also debuting as a pro. Vallerio said their game plan stays the same and will focus on what Lesley can do rather play to the game of his opponent.

Fight of veterans

The most senior Malaysian boxer on 9 July is Sabahan soldier Rudy Petrus. Rudy is in the special forces unit of Malaysian Army and a seasoned boxer and has represented Malaysia in 2013 &  2015 SEA Games. This will be his pro debut.

His opponent is also a veteran in combat sports, with more than 70 fights to his name ( with close to 50 MMA fights ), is Will ' The Kill ' Chope. He is a former UFC featherweight and well known as the most active fighter in Asia, taking 3-4 fights a year, be it MMA, Kickboxing, Pro Silat, Muaythai or Boxing, Will does not care. As long as it provides him income to support his young family.

This will be his 2nd pro boxing bout and he is looking to use this height and reach advantage to get the victory.

Lesley's team mate from Team Karabaw Tham Yaw Kent will also participate in Boxing Fest. Also an MMA athlete, he will debut in boxing Semi-Pro on 8 July 2017. Tham is 2 times MIMMA heavyweight 2016 & 2015 semi-finalist.

Fight of Boxing Coaches

Another experience boxer is Eddey Kalai. A SEA Games and Malaysia Games Boxing Champion. This Sandakan lad is very excited for his pro debut. He has been looking to turn pro for a long time but the opportunity didn't appear until now. He has kept himself busy by using his boxing skills in MMA. He was the semi-finalist of MIMMA 3 and became the flyweight champion for Jesselton Fight League in 2015 and runners up in 2016 MIMMA.

Eddey's is a family man and makes a living coaching in his Kalai Brothers Boxing, together with his younger brother Effendy Kalai, whom will also fight in the semipro bout.

Eddey's pro debut will not be easy as he faced American Jonathan Clemons. Officially this is also Jonathan's pro Boxing debut, but make no mistake, he is a well experience boxers; Having fought in the American scene but some unsanctioned fight are not recorded.

Clemons is a boxing coach in Monarchy MMA Gym in KL and has trained Malaysia MMA star Agilan Thani. This will be a fight between two seasoned boxer which will produce plenty of action, so don't miss this fight which is the 8th bout on 9 July.

Fight of the big boys

Also from Borneo, Sarawakian emerging Boxing star is Stephen Onn Anak Jenggieng. Stephen was Malaysian Golden Glove champion and after some issues with state boxing association, decided to turn pro.

From his younger days as an overweight boy, Stephen overcome it with much determination and took up martial arts and weight lifting and became a trainer in The Gym Box Kuching. He took part in MIMMA tournament in 2014 and was the finalist.

This WBC fight at Cruiserweight will be his fourth fight. His first two pro fight was successful with KO victories. The set back was in May this year when he lost to Australian MMA & Kickboxing champion Ben Kelleher. Stephen learnt well from his mistakes and will be a smarter boxer this weekend going against fellow Malaysian Mohd Hanafi.

Fight of the night contender

Stephen's will be accompany by fellow Sarawakian , Daeloniel McDelon Bong. ( read my previous story on Daeloniel on his pro debut here ). Fondly known as Delon, this young lad of 18 just finished his SPM last year but already fought twice ( 1-1-0 ) as a pro boxer in Indonesia. Delon trains at Betong Boxing Academy. He use to travel for hours to Kuching to train under his mentor Fred Mandagi.

Now coach Fred is employed by MSN ( Majlis Sukan Negeri ) Sarawak and leads the training at Betong, which gave Delon more time and focus training under him. Delon is putting in plenty of conditioning work to ensure he can outlast and outpunch his opponent Jackson Lee.

Delon will need that as Jackson Lee is a seasoned MMA and Kickboxing fighter. He was MIMMA2 Semi-finalist and has actively fought in Ultimate Beatdown and F3 Championship. With a nickname Iron, Jackson is known to have heavy hands and always looking to finish the fight early. Their bout is no.4 , so don't visit the food booth or the loo when this happen or not you will miss out a potential fight of the night.

Another two Sarawakian featuring on the pro cards are featherweight Ahmad Amirulfadzli Bin Pendi from SS Fighter and light flyweight Syafiq Hazziman Bin Abdullah Jefri of the Sarawak Boxing Team.

Fight of the new breed vs old master

Bout 7 promise to be fireworks. Hui Keng Fai (2 -0-0, 2 KOs) who is a current boxing champion in Singapore as well as an amateur MMA champion in MIMMA, will be fighting Professional Boxing for the first time in his home of Kuala Lumpur and in WBC.

Keng Fai started in MMA and was a regular in MIMMA. He managed to reach MIMMA's semi-finals for 2014 & 2015. Looking at how promising he was, MIMMA decided to feature him in the 2015 Grand Finals. He won the fight convincingly with a standing guillotine.

From then on he came back in 2016 very strong, reaching the finals meeting defending Lightweight Champion Jace Law. That fight was considered one of the best fight in MIMMA's history. Both fighters showed tremendous fighting spirit and high boxing skills as they slug it out for most of the rounds. Keng Fai emerge as Champion with a submission win. With growing confidence of his boxing skills, Keng Fai seek more action and fought pro boxing in Singapore.

In only his 2nd pro fight in Singapore recently in May, Keng Fai achieved success by winning the UBO Asia Pacific Welterweight title.

He will be facing professional MMA veteran and Pro Boxing debutant Sam Chan. Sam is one of the pioneer in Malaysian MMA scene. He fought in the now defunct Malaysian Fighting Championship.

Equip with lots of heart and high spirit despite the lack of proper technique. He lost his debut MMA fight against Malaysian MMA pioneer Melvin Yeoh in 2011.

Not a person of ego, he knows that the only way to improve is to learn from the best...and he went to learn from Melvin. And along the way also train and learn from Matt Pellino and Will Chope.

Sam last fought MMA in 2013, with a win in Legend Fighting Championship 11. He partnered a friend and decided to start a gym in 2014. It took up a lot of his time. Things got worst when his partnership didnt worked out. Sorting out all this and starting another business venture into furniture took more of his time away from training.

But Sam's heart never left the fighting scene. He made a decision to come back. And has been putting in countless hour to sharpen back his skills. Ring rust is anticipated, but Sam is not looking to pressure himself with a must win results. He just wants to relax and enjoy himself in the ring. Like Bruce Lee said, to have no techniques as your techniques, ...just go with the flow.

At 29, this may be considered late for a come back, but Sam is determined that with discipline and commitment he knows this will be a new beginning for him.

Come fight fans...do some healthy activities this weekend, visit the Health expo and catch this historic Malaysian Boxing event. get more infor on tickets at Tickets Pro.

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.

MIMMA 4 is turning up the furnace…it’s getting hot in the Semis

MIMMA 4 is turning up the furnace…it’s getting hot in here! The flame has been up a few notch for the semi-finals. Happening this weekend, 6-7 Aug at Paradigm Mall, Petaling Jaya. Earlier in April MIMMA holds its tryouts in a few locations in Malaysia, namely; Penang, Johor, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, and then it moved on to the ladder match and subsequently the quarter finals in end May before the fasting months starts.

For the Semi-finals, this is where the men are separated from the boys. Its where fighters with more refine skill sets are at. The fights will be tougher and the pressure to win higher. This year’s Semi-finals are a mixture of some newbies to MIMMA and also some experienced MIMMA ‘veteran’.

For the uninitiated, MIMMA is the premier amateur MMA tournament in Malaysia. Touted as the biggest, and the most well organized MMA tournament in Asia, if not the world. Sponsor by Tune Talk and strongly supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia, MIMMA has produce many talented MMA athlete that now compete professionally in big MMA promotions around the region. Names like Keanu Subbha, Allen Solomon Chong, Adrian Tham, Agilan Thani and Muhammad Aiman has become household name in the Malaysian MMA circle.

In its fourth series now, we can see fighters evolve and improve. They are now more balance in their skill sets. More fighters now come prepared, strikers has added grappling and wrestling into their arsenal. While ground fellas are now equipped with boxing skills and more muaythai strikes.

From the first MIMMA in 2013, the numbers of martial arts gym has also increase significantly. More people have taken up martial arts, the serious bunch one for competition, but a lot more for fitness and shedding weight.

MIMMA certainly has created a boom in the fitness industry too as more gym also introduce strength and conditioning classes to improve on fighters fitness. Fight moves are now also a norm in many aerobic classes.

Many regional competition have also emerged, such as Warriors FC in Penang, JFL (Jesselton Fighting Championship) in Sabah, Ultimate Beatdown in Johor, and BAC (Borneo Amatuer Challenge) in Labuan. Which gives fighters more opportunity to test their skills and increase their fight time to gain experience.

Few years back, hardly anyone outside of the martial arts circle knows what MMA stand for. Now at least if they don’t know, most would surely have seen or heard about a match or two in the media. In short MIMMA has created an impact to Malaysia.

Lets look at the Semi-Finalist.Out of the 40 athlete. 11 are from Borneo (4 Sarawakian, 6 Sabahan & 1 reside in Sabah).

There are some good fight to look out for. Day 1 on 6 Aug, will see the repeat of Battle of Borneo in Heavyweight as Sarawakian Tsan Nieng Kai meets Sabahan Kent Tham. Tsan last year also meet Kent in the Semis. It was an all out war between the two as both huff and puff for 3 rounds which is won by Kent by unanimous decision.

Tsan Nieng Kai vs Kent Tham

Kent moved on to contender fight but loss to Grand finalist from Penang, Niker Tan. Niker is also back again this year looking for a rematch with Sabahan defending heavyweight champion Darren Low whom he lost to in MIMMA3 Grand finals. But first Niker have to overcome Johorean Steven Yeoh.

Tsan last year represent Gymbox but has moved on to open his own martial art gym - MAD Fight Club in Kuching. Meanwhile Kent after the lost in MIMMA3 contender fights, fought on in Kota Kinabalu based JFL to emerge as its inaugural heavyweight champion.

Md Zakhir vs Md Hasbullah

Flyweight fight to watch will be Md Hasbullah (Sabah) vs Md Zakhir (Johor). Hasbullah or nick name The Garagas Man (which means rogue / rascal in Sabahan Dusun language) is a fighter much improve from last year’s MIMMA3 where he lost in ladder match due to lack of grappling skills. From there on he has polished up his game tremendously and with strong determination and pure fighting spirit has claim victory in Fight Fest, BAC and JFL.

He is the JFL bantamweight Champion, after a real hard battle of back and fourth with Din Hamsah. Before reaching final of JFL, He fought in the semi as a huge underdog to Ahmadjon Karimov ( MIMMA3 Foreign Pride Champion). In that fight after brushing off a fever he fought a constant back and fourth battle to emerge winner by unanimous decision.

His road to the MIMMA4 semis is a win by armbar in round 1 vs Fikhrul, and got a walkover win at quarterfinals as opponent pulled out.

Hasbullah’s success largely was at the guidance of Keningau MMA coach Mohd Bakri, ( read about Hasbullah in my previous post ) but this year Hasbullah decided to took on a challenge to lead a gym on his own. Karabaw Gym Keningau branch opened in June this year and Hasbullah has been busy playing the role of head coach & preparing his own fight.

His opponent Md Zakhir, is considered a veteran in MMA, although just 24 this year. He fought in the early days of Malaysian MMA at events such as Malaysian Fighting Championship, Ultimate Beatdown & F3 around 2011-2013. Back this year to continue his martial arts journey, Zakhir is an experience and explosive fighter. En-route to the semi, he submitted Lennon Ginibun of Sabah in the quarter finals. Expect a trully explosive fight between these two flyweights.

Hong Weng Hooi vs Eddy Kalai

On the other side of the semi finals for Flyweight, another Sabahan Eddey Kalai is fighting Penangite Hong Weng Hooi. Eddey is an ex national boxer and well experience in the fight game. Started his MMA journey with the 1st MMA event in Borneo, Borneo Fighting Championship in 2013. He joined MIMMA2 and reached the semis, lost to eventual winner Seah Zhang Yu.

In MIMMA3 Aug 2015, again stumbled at semis, this time lost to Dhiaal Amal, who went on to challenge Seah for the belt but lost in a thrilling battle. Eddey continued fighting in Sabah in Oct 2015 and won the JFL Flyweight belt.

He is also looking to complete the unfinished business of his younger brother, Effendey Kalai, whom was a grand finalist for MIMMA3 Bantamweight. Effendey suffered a controversial behind the head strike that resulted in him fainting. The match was announced a no-contest, hence making MIMMA4 Bantamweight belt vacant for this year’s fighter to take.

Eddey’s opponent Hong is the team mate of Seah Zhang Yu from 3S MMA Penang. Hong actually loss the ladder match fight to Trevor Salang from Miri Sarawak. But due to Trevor pulling out of quarter, Hong was offered to fight Ferdaus Gaban of KL & won the bout.

Hafizul vs Joseph Yap

I’m excited to watch featherweight fight of Sabahan Hafizul Hakeem vs Joseph Yap of KL. Hafizul from Team Karabaw Sipitang, Sabah is a spirited fighter. He tasted his first MMA fight in Ultimate Beatdown 14 in 2014. Wanting more, in 2015 before MIMMA3 tryout, he went to fight in Full Metal Dojo. All alone and on his own expenses in Bangkok, he lost the fight to a Thai native by guillotine choke. Armed with better experience he fought all the way to the Grand Finals of MIMMA3 to meet eventual champion Mohammad Aiman. Aiman has now moved on to fight at pro level.

As for Joseph, this young fighter is a prodigy trained by martial arts star Andy Teh Kim Huat of Elitze MMA. At 25 this year, he only started seriously training in Jan 2015. Under the careful guidance of Andy Teh teaching Joseph MMA and coach Effendey Kalai in boxing and Ngeoh Jian Cong in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Joseph soaks it all in like a sponge.

In March 2015 he debut in his first MMA match. Going in like a dynamite in Ultimate Beatdown 15 winning by TKO with punches. He was a feature fighter in 2015 MIMMA3: Contender Fight, winning that fight vs Uriel Yu.

Just last month in Penang’s Warrior Fight Night appearing in the main card, he defeated Joshua Khiew ( MIMMA2 grand finalist) by TKO in a series of strikes in round 2. He is now on a 7 fight winning streak and all these fights are by TKO / submission. Joseph is looking to continue his winning streak and aimed to use his aggressiveness to win this match.

Bryant Tan vs Samsuri

Another Sarawakian to watch out will be Bryant Tan from Daro. Distraught by heart ache of a break up four years ago, he picked himself up and started training muay thai and became a muaythai specialist.

Watch out for his devastating muaythai low kick as he takes on Mohd Samsuri. His original opponent supposed to be Jasmond Sangeh but due to Jasmond’s injuries Samsuri is offered the fight. Samsuri lost to Mohd Ezzat in the quarter finals. Ezzat is also in the other welterweight fight as he Faiz Faisal of Penang.

On to the Grand Finals for John Liew

Bantamweight BJJ prodigy from Alpha MMA Sabah , John Quincy Liew Ming Lun was looking forward to face Jessen Ong of 3S MMA Penang. But a horrible injury during training dislocated Ong's elbow and he does not have time to recover for this semi finals fight. This moved John directly into the grand finals, as there’s no title holder from previous year due to the no-contest match Effendy Kalai vs Tee Jac Yeo.

John has background in boxing and trained by MIMMA1 Lightweight Champion, Allen Solomon Chong in BJJ and MMA will certainly bring his A game to the finals.

Joel Nickolson vs Damon Soo

The other two semi finalist, Joel Nickolson of Sabah Top Team and Damon Soo will need to battle it out to see who face John. Joel is a Taekwondo stylist but have been training MMA & Luta Livre under Italian coach Antonio Battistesa for a year.

Damon Soo is no stranger to the fight game. He has been around since MIMMA2 reaching quarter finals. MIMMA3 in the semi-finals losing a close decision to Hafizul Hakeem. Trully a specimen with his hulking physique to be able to fight at bantamweight. He has top notch submission skills and a heavy hand. He’s back with a vengeance this year, securing two choke submission in round 1 in the ladder match and quarter-finals.

Fahim Noh vs Mohd Eswandy

18 year old Eswandy from Kuching has revenge in his mind. He is out to avenge his muaythai coach A.Karadech Seesombat or affectionately call Eddy. Eddy was the grand finalist for last year’s Foreign Pride category. He fought Ahmadjon Karimov from Tajikistan, but lost emphatically in 39 seconds to Ahamdjon’s strikes.

Eswandy has been training muaythai since 16 and was Malaysian national champion in 71kg two years in a row, 2014 & 2015. In fact he will fight at the national again a week after MIMMA semi-finals.

Eswandy train at SS Fighters and believe that his coach is still one of the best strikers in the game and he diligently learn from him to show that Eddy’s pass on knowledge will lead him to the grand finals and win the belt.

But he is not forgetting about his ground game. His team mate in SS Fighter and Studio 23- 1st MIMMA Female champion and Sarawakian compatriot Joanna Yap is passing her BJJ knowledge to him. This grappling skills will come in handy as he face Fahim Noh. Fahim has good BJJ skills and is an experienced fighters from the early days of F3 Championship.

One of the best action photos by YK Tang of MIMMA3 Grand Finals last year: Nazri Sutari vs Hui Keng Fai

3 more stand out to pay attention to in this Semi-finals rounds are Hui Keng Fai of Muayfit KL, Singaporean Nazri Sutari and Theeban Govindasamy. Keng Fai ‘s current record is 12 fights, (9-3-0). A very explosive and well balance fighter to watch. He is MIMMA3 semi-finalist. Knowing he has huge potential, MIMMA offered him a feature fight vs Nazri Sutari in last year’s Grand Final. And what a great idea that was, as both of them pull no punches swing for the fences. Keng Fai won by standing guillotine in round 1.

Pix by MMA Latest: You can bet Nazri will bring his top game in every fight.

Its really great that MIMMA introduce the Foreign Pride category last year, so that we can enjoy watching some talented non-Malaysian slog it out in the cage. Nazri Sutari is one of my favourite. This Singaporean nick name Pork chop usually walks around close to 77kg, but when it comes to fight week, he will cut to 70kg and looked ripped! A former national fencer he started his MMA career in Singapore promotion Rebel FC and Singapore Fighting Championship. Nazri is a risk taker and will not hesitate to throw caution to the wind to outstrike his opponent. I believe It’s going to be a explosive match between him and Alfred Leko from Indonesia.

Theeban Govindasamy

Karate stylist Theeban will also vie for a spot in the Grand Finals. Theeban reached the semi-finals last year only to fall to Meeraj the eventual welterweight champion.

But again knowing the huge potential in him MIMMA offered him a fight vs Sabahan and MIMMA1 heavyweight champion Adrian Tham. Theeban uses his long reach and Karate move to control Adrian. But Adrian manage to dominate using superior BJJ skills to win the fight.

Fight fans, get your fan ready, or turn up the A/C. Don't forget to pour yourself an ice cold drinks....coz it's gonna be a hot hot semi finals. Make sure you tune in to RTM TV1 for some pass fights to warm up yourself. Check out MIMMA's website for live streaming.