AJ PYRO: " I'M BACK IN THE RING !!! "

AJ Lias Mansor, or better known as AJ Pyro will make his second appearance as pro wrestler in tomorrow Malaysia Pro Wrestling (MyPW)'s : FACE YOUR FEAR.

He first debut in pro wrestling on 8 Sept's MyPW: MALL BRAWL. 

AJ has been in the ring/cage countless time as he is a Malaysian MMA pioneer. One of the first Malaysian to compete professionally in MMA. AJ was crowned ONE Championship Malaysian featherweight champion in 2015.

His martial arts journey started in his school day as he represented his birth state (Sabah) and country (Malaysia) in Silat. During his university days, he switch to Rugby and also became a National player. After uni, he went to Thailand to learn Muaythai & competed regularly.

AJ currently runs Borneo Tribal Squad (BTS) with his wife Emily in Kota Kinabalu which offers various classes for combat sports & conditioning.  He is the head coach and have a stable of talented pro fighters from Sabah training under him in BTS elite fight team.

Wrestling is not something new to AJ as he is a Brown Belt in BJJ and the experience from rugby contributed a lot in giving him the needed skills to perform as a pro Wrestler.

MyPW is growing very well and has done an excellent job in raising the profile of pro Wrestling in Malaysia (read about my post on MyPW ) As they are expanding & their fans base grows, new wrestlers are needed to keep the show fresh & interesteing to the fans.

MyPW regularly hold tryouts for those interested to become a pro wrestler. It was in such a tryout early this year that AJ participated and immediately was selected.

During MyPW: MALL BRAWL, AJ was invited to attend as a spectator, but eventually was involved in a match. AJ explained what happened that day...

"I carried my MMA fighter legend as AJ Pyro to the pro wrestling ring. 

I attended MALL BRAWL to support my MMA fan and a friend turned to Pro Wrestler, Haziq The Blade. He had a match that day. He fought a guy who 30kgs heavier than him. He fought bravely but eventually lost to Hendo Remi. 
Hendo still not happy with his win and kept beating up and bullied Haziq. Then Hendo joined by another bully. 

I came off from my seat and asked Hendo to let Haziq go, but instead he challenged me. I jumped into the ring and just warned him. He shoved Haziq to me. I took my shirt off and confronted Hendo and his bully friend. He tried to punch me(cheap shot) but I saw it coming,.....

Dropped my level and double legged him, lifted him in the air before I slammed him down followed by ground and pound. 

He managed to stand by the corner of the ring. I attacked him with one Muay Thai jump knee. He went down again. I picked him up and finished him with The AA (Attitude Adjustment) move! The crowd went wild! The bully ran away and I checked on Haziq to see if he was ok."

In tomorrow's MyPW: FACE YOUR FEAR, AJ will join forces with Aziq Blade to teach the ever-menacing Bully Squad a lesson they will never forget!

I ask AJ on how is the training for pro wrestling different from his martial arts routine.

"Pro Wrestling training is more about choreograph and timing but the pain is still real! 

The slam, the fall, sometimes your wrestling partner/opponent will kick or punch you hard! 

Pro wrestling requires a lot of practice, practice and practice to achieve perfection."

AJ training at Grapple max Singapore in his preparation for MyPW: FACE YOUR FEAR 

Tomorrow's event; FACE YOUR FEAR will be chokeful of action as aside from AJ's tag team match, MyPW has lined up plenty of good match for fans to enjoy.

JY Eagle with the help of The Retis Double K will get his revenge on Orion Black. But wait, Tony Abel - MYPW has entered the game! We will finally find out the real culprit behind JY Eagle's match sabotage once and for all.

Serigala MYPW is BACK for blood and he has set his wolf eyes on both Furious Faizal and Harry Ray of the Feral Alliance!
That's what you get when you mess with Serigala! Awoooooo!

It's confirmed, guys! Philippine Wrestling Revolution - PWR's Chris Panzerand our golden homeboy Emman 'The Kid' - MYPW will share the squared circle at MyPW Face Your Fear this Saturday.

It’s official, MyPW’s resident heroine Phoenix Nor Diana will battle it out against Tyra Russamee at MyPW Face Your Fear.
This is a Women’s Match you don’t want to miss. Will Phoenix keep her winning streak against the more experienced Exotic Panther?

And for the Main Event, MyPW's Undisputed Champion Daryl Wong has officially accepted the Three Stages of Hell thrown to him by Gotham-MYPW. With his title and career on the line, the Asian Warrior got personal when he brought up Gotham's failed marriage!

Come and support Malaysia's one & only Pro Wrestling show.

To get tickets please contact Lalang Squad or contact Kevin now for tickets at +601135431990
Ticket (Free Seating): RM50
Date: 13 October 2018
Time: 4:30pm -7.00pm

Venue: KuAsh theatre

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MyPW - THE RAISE OF MALAYSIAN PRO WRESTLING

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This is a good time to talk about pro wrestling. As we just witness the biggest fight in MMA at UFC229 that ended just like a pro wrestling event. Much has been debated & discuss about how UFC has becoming more and more like WWE. And to some fight fans pro wrestling is frown upon for being 'fake'

For me I grew up watching wrestling in the 90s. Late night was spend in front of TV watching the antics of Hulk Hogan, Macho Man, Jake the Snake and many many more iconic wrestlers from the then WWF ( which has been rename WWE ). Many afternoon too were spent in the mamak shop with MILO ping and roti canai, cheering on my favourite wrestlers.

As I grew into my love for martial arts, I began to also develop a negative feeling towards pro wrestling for being a staged show and lots of exaggerated acting. I craved for fights that are real, which draw me to UFC.

But my respect for WWE grew when I started working in the marketing industry. Of how they can sell out arena week after week for their shows and packed a stadium for big shows like Wrestle Mania. Then UFC cross path with WWE when they brought in Brock Lesnar to boost their viewership. This clearly shows how successful pro wrestling promoter are at marketing their products.

I must admit that I am a bit outdated in the development of pro wrestling in Malaysia. But I do keep myself abreast on the activities of local martial artist; and I was pleasantly surprise when my fellow Sabahan & Malaysian MMA pioneering pro athlete, AJ Pyro posted in FB about his involvement in MyPW (Malaysia Pro Wrestling).

I began browsing through their FB. I must say I was really impress on their work. Not just the show they put up but their marketing. Their promo video, their event posters all look very slick and professional. They also sell a storyline for their fans to follow. This is the key in getting fans more involve and will follow their series of events. I really think local combat sports promoter can really learn a thing or two from MyPW.

Let's find out more about MyPW.

There are thousands of 90s kids that grew up with wrestling like me, then came the millenium generations that grew up with The Undertaker, John Cena, Stone Cold, The Rock etc...Ayez Shaukat Fonseka is one of them. He dreamt of one day becoming a pro wrestler.

His love of the sports entertainment made him engage into combat sports and stunt works. He was a Muay-thai and mix-martial artist before, fought in various competition and winning medals along the way. His background is owning a degree in medical course and worked in filming industry in various positions, from editing, cinematography, stunt works and directing.

In 2014, while still in his 20s, Ayez travelled to United States to learn pro-wrestling. After months of grueling training under Ric Drasin, Ayez returned to Malaysia and started up Malaysia Pro Wrestling (MyPW), following that opens Malaysia Pro Wrestling Developmental Centre (MyPW DC) on March 2014.

Early on, the development centre is being monitored by former WWE trainer, Dr. Tom Prichard, through Ayez mentoring the students' progress and getting advises on moving forward. From 2016 onwards, Ayez became the sole Head Coach of MyPW and everyone is under his tutelage until today.

Till date MyPW has held 10 matches, featuring our own Malaysian born and bred talents as well as foreign superstars ranging from Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore. Ayez himself is one of the star wrestling persona in MyPW as SHAUKAT.

Ayez @ Shaukat

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Warriors of Borneo talked to Kevin Kayes (the spoke person of MyPW) to learn more about it.

What is the main story line? Is the story line work for the whole event? or it's by individual character.
The story line work mostly individually. Like the recent one (MyPW Mall Brawl) featuring AJ Pyro, who saved Aziq Blade from Hendo Remy & Amir Za (Both are Bully Squad group), it resolves on Aziq fighting against his bullies, and has been carried since the previous show back in March 2018. 

The main story is our MyPW Undisputed Champion Daryl Wong will be facing his #1 Contender Gotham, who has an ally called Feral Alliance, and Gotham will stop at nothing to take out Daryl Wong for good. Every shows, there will be a story, whether it is a recurring one, or a new one. Sometimes, we revisited the past for nostalgic effect.

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Who's your champ? tell me about their persona & fight hi-light?
Our current MyPW Undisputed Champion is 'Asian Warrior' Daryl Wong. He is a mix of American and Chinese heritage. 

He embraces his eastern side of his family to become a renown fighter across South East Asia. He has deadly kicks and strong enough to lift a grown man over his shoulder. Despite his baby-face and carefree attitude, Daryl Wong possess the fighting spirit and never gives up to any obstacle thrown at him.

Daryl Wong

Was it difficult to promote & sell pro wrestling to Malaysian crowd? Do you see the fans growing? Is it easy to sell an event?
From the beginning, it wasn't as hard as it thought to be because we had a wrestling fan community, which ever expanding from time to time. Our shows were supported by them and our tickets often sold out. 

Our event usually caters up to 250 to 300 seats at average. However, approaching general Malaysia audience, is otherwise wholly. Nonetheless, the fans kept on growing and after Mall Brawl, we are expecting to see new faces in the crowd.

Tell us about your current talent pool? How did you manage to find them? 

Malaysia does not have a deep history of sports wrestling, we only have the fans who basically follow it in TV / Mamak shop ( correct me if I'm wrong ), so how do your talent go about training? Is there a place where you provide them training?

Ever since MyPW DC officially opens in 2015, we engaged in social media and posts on conducting tryouts for the beginners. So far, the students enrolled after they went to our shows, or they known of our existence in social media (Facebook especially). It is true, we are used to be fans watching the wrestling in tv, Mamak restaurant, etc but now we have social media, we might as well use the platform to expand. We have moved 3 times since the inception and currently our DC is in iM4U Central, Puchong.



How does MYPW plan to grow and gain new fans? What's in the plan for next 1-3 years? What are the challenges you face? What are the positive development so far?
We plan to get noticed by Malaysian by appearing in the mainstream mass media, which is the TV channels like in Media Prima or Astro. By that way, Malaysia as a whole would get to know us. At the moment, we only plan to engage to local radio station to provide marketing and spreading the words of our existence. 

We will do our best to reach mainstream within the next 3 years, as well as gaining more fans worldwide. The only challenges we face is how niche the market is as well as the mentality of the society who only sees Pro-wrestling as fake, yet violent entertainment sport. However, after the recent show, we managed to get words from new fans and interested to watch us performing again in near future.




Who is behind the character development & story line development? What kind of story line / character do you think appeal to Malaysian fans?
The Creatives are behind the character, stories and they decide whichever seem fits to the audiences. The drama between two wrestlers, good vs evil has always been entertaining to our Malaysian audience. 

However, the Malaysian fans tend to like those slapstick comedic type of matches and they're easily entertained when there's cartoonish situation. Wrestling fans however, more likely moved when they witness high risks move and compelling back & forth strikes instead. 




Regionally in South East Asia, is there a Pro scene actively holding events?
Indeed there are, plenty of them. Singapore has two promotions; Singapore Pro Wrestling (SPW) & Grapple Max (GPMax) and they often made a show almost in every month starting this year. Philippine Wrestling Revolution (PWR) also gaining momentum and those three, aside MyPW, are the active pro-wrestling circuits we have today.

For those interested to become a pro Wrestler? What are the criteria?
To be a pro-wrestler, one needs to be strong. Strong in both physically, mentally; literally and metaphorically. You would need a body which can withstand beatings, a mind which doesn't quit even the body is failing, and a huge spirit to carry the whole training, exercises until achieving your objectives. 

Age, genders, races, those criteria are merely trivial. Don't be worried, you can achieve great strength, endurance and stamina by train hard and smart thoroughly.




Can someone (Malaysian) do this full time and make a living?
We would say, we are yet to encourage that pro-wrestling is a career to make ends meet at the moment. For experience, yes you are welcome to try. We too wish we can make a living out of professional wrestling, like those in the bigger wrestling circuit which made it into mainstream, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) & World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to say a few.

As fight fans let's shake off the negative notion of pro wrestlers. Yes they are entertainers. They entertain you through the showing off of their skills in the rings. What they do is a performing art of athleticism which they develop by putting in hours and hours of tiring & painful training to ensure the smoothness of techniques and eye catching acrobatic moves.

Immerse yourself also in their characters and story line. So that when you watch the event, you will be more engross and truly be transported away from your daily work stress.

MyPW most recent event ENTER THE RING  was on Sept 21 in Singapore. It was a colloboration between MyPW and Grapple Max Singapore.

MyPW will have it's upcoming event FACE YOUR FEAR  this Saturday 13 Oct  at  KuAsh Theatre, TTDI. Grab yourself a ticket at only RM50 (free seating) to watch local talented pro wrestler do their stuff.

Grab your tickets today

AIR ASIA PRESENCE IN UFC 229

It's timeeeeeee!  Yes the iconic line scream by veteran announcer Bruce Buffer will kick off on Oct 6 2018, the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history as UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (26-0, fighting out of Dagestan, Russia) battles former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor (21-3, fighting out of Dublin, Ireland) in the main event of UFC® 229: KHABIB vs. MCGREGOR, 

Weigh-in was on Thursday & everybody on the cards made weigh.

At the ceremonial weigh in yesterday attended by tens of thousands fans, as Asian especially Malaysian, bet you didn't miss some familiar faces there. Yes the 4 hot ladies in red at the back, standing next to the ring girls are Air Asia air stewardess.

This is a partnership between UFC & Air Asia that started in Nov last year to deliver unprecedented branding of Air Asia in UFC's event. The famed red corner will be taken over by AirAsia creating unparalleled visibility for the airline brand on fight night. (read the post on this here )

Dana white with Tony Fernandes

"AirAsia is one of the most widely recognized brands throughout Asia – Pacific and they are a perfect partner to help us build positive brand awareness for UFC,” 

UFC President Dana White said. 

“This partnership is a great fit and we look forward to launching more exciting experiences for our fans.”


"We are thrilled to be part of a UFC world first," 

said Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia. 

"AirAsia and UFC share the same values and vision, and we see the weigh-in and Octagon takeover as a perfect opportunity to leverage this affinity and connect with MMA fans around the world. We look forward to having amazing athletes fight out of the AirAsia red corner."

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Beyond UFC 229, AirAsia will continue to activate across UFC properties including the organization’s inaugural event in Beijing later this year, when UFC returns to China for UFC® FIGHT NIGHT: BLAYDES vs. NGANNOU 2, presented by General Tire. To further cement its status as the first Official Airline partner of UFC, the AirAsia Airbus 330-300 decorated with UFC branded livery will fly to Beijing during fight week. 

Earlier this year, AirAsia announced its support to develop the next generation of MMA athletes in Asia, by sponsoring Indonesia's One Pride strawweight champion, Linda Darrow, as the inaugural recipient of the first UFC Training Scholarship, for a month-long program at the UFC Performance Institute®, the world’s first mixed martial arts multi-disciplinary research, innovation and performance center. 

UFC’s commitment to the Asia-Pacific region is driving exponential brand growth with increases seen in fandom, live events and athletes as the organization continues its investment across the MMA ecosystem. Fans across Asia can tune in to watch UFC® 229: KHABIB vs. MCGREGOR, presented by Harley-Davidson, on Sunday October 7, please check local TV listings for more information.

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UFC Fans in Malaysia, you can catch UFC 229 live at these places.

(Oct 7 SUNDAY - 10am Malaysian time )

Shamrock Irish Bar KK Waterfront​ - Kota Kinabalu,

MacGregor's​ -Johor Bahru

Burger Bay​ - Petaling Jaya

Strive MMA & Fitness​ - Setia Alam

Octagon Asia MMA​ - Penang

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to get great offer!

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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