ONE FC return to Kuala Lumpur

ONE FC: Return of Warriors

Putra Indoor Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Feb 2nd, 2013

ONE FC's latest announcement for the show in Kuala Lumpur - Return of the Warriors promises much excitement especially for fans of local fighters.

Also at this bout was an announcement about TuneTalk sponsorship of the event, you can read our exclusive interview with TuneTalks CEO Jason Lo HERE

The big bout is between URCC Champions - Lightweight champion Honorio Banario and fellow Philippine (although Malaysian based) ex URCC Featherweight Champion Eric Kelly. This will be for the ONE FC Featherweight Championship belt.

It seems strange that ONE FC would have a fight between two of the Philippines most popular fighters in Malaysia, surely a chance missed for a future ONE FC in Manila event. But the Philippines loss is our gain.

Kelly has just recovered from a tough bout at the recent celebration of ten years of the URCC: URCC 22 Dekada. In this bout Kelly fought a very tough Brad Terrey and was taken to a deciding third round by which time Kelly was fighting with one eye completely closed, somehow he managed to pull off and armbar showing once again why he is one of the best fighters in Asia, his record still stands at a perfect 9-0.

Barario rocks a 7-1 record and sits at 1-1 in ONE FC with a loss (ONE FC 2 Feb 2012) to Bae Young Kwon as his only loss in his career. Kelly beat Kwon at ONE FC 4. Banario however has a soilid record and is a submission specialist. This should lead to an explosive match-up.

Also announced was the bout between big Malaysian favorite Peter Davis who will be fighting the Indonesian Leo Krishna a man who I am sure will be expecting a massive barrage of boos as he walks to the cage as the Malaysian crowd will be right behind Davis.

Gianni Subba burst onto the MMA scene at ONE FC 6 when he defeated Singapores Bruce Loh in just 33 seconds, now he faces  Saiful Merican is an established Mauy Thai fighter.

There is also to be a four man 145lbs tournament featuring four Malaysian warriors.

Melvin Yeoh will make his debut against Raymond Tiew, this will be an interesting fight as Yeoh is a very well respected MMA coach who has already defeated Tiew back in September 2011 at the Malayisan Fighting Championship 2.  Since then Yeoh has gone 4-1, but his step up into the ONE FC cage whilst long deserved will be a major step up. He may have beaten Tiew once, but, Tiew has gone 3-1 since then as well, his only loss being on his ONE FC debut at ONE FC 2.

The winner of that fight will face the winner of:

AJ Vaa vs Jian Kai Chee. Vaa is a well known and respected MMA coach from Malaysian Borneo who will be looking to put on a good show after suffering a first round loss to Mitch Chilson at ONE FC 4. He has been training hard and also has been part of fast rising PXC fighter Mark Striegl (12-0) coaching team, so expect to see a different AJ Vaa facing Chee. Chee has fought a high level of opponents including losses to Ole Laursen, Arnaud lePont and Eddie Ng. All of his wins come at the Malaysian Fighting Championship, it will be important for him to prove that he can actually step up and compete at a higher level. These two are well matched.

That's all that is known of the Fight Card for now, as with all these things expect changes and additions over the coming weeks, we will try to keep you up to date.

Gianni Subba - A New Malaysian MMA Star is Born

Gianni Subba, Oh What A Night!

On Saturday Night MMANewsAsia got to speak to Gianni Subba after his very impressive debut win in Singapore.

On Saturday night in Singapore a young man aged just 19 walked to the cage at a near sold out arena to face a home town hero with almost 20 years martial arts experience, a man aged 36.

Think about this, that young man was representing Malaysia while his opponent was a local Singapore man who received  a massive cheer upon entering the arena everything seemingly was against him.

That young man had never, even fought a previous MMA bout, let alone in front of a crowd like this.
His only previous public appearance in a cage was in a demonstration bout at Muayfit in Kuala Lumpur.

And yet he calmly went about his business and quickly defeated the more experienced man in just 33 seconds of Round 1.

Gianni Subba was born in Hawaii, although he grew up in Malaysia, only recently returning to Hawaii for schooling.  Whilst in Hawaii he benefitted from some school wrestling but that was about it.
Since returning to Kuala Lumpur where his family live he has been training up to three times a day at Monarchy MMA  where he has worked really hard to reach the level we all witnessed.

Before this event he spent a couple of weeks intensive training at Phuket Top Team which he said definitely helped move him up another level.

When I asked him if he was nervous before the fight he said quite simply no! He did not even realise he was in a fight until he got hit the first time.

During the fight Subba landed a devastating blow which knocked Loh down and he immediately followed up with a soccer kick to Lohs head, he told me at that stage he saw Lohs eyes roll back and he knew he was out and he followed that with another big punch to the face. he told me that, that punch was all instinct he did want to do it. That's what training three times a day does, the moves become automatic, there was absolutely no hesitation from when he floored Loh, to the kick, to the follow up punch, automatic and powerful.

Obviously we should not get too carried away it's one fight, but as a debut it was awesome!

And there is even more good news for Malaysian MMA fans - he has a brother Keano who Gianni says is really good also. Could the Subba brothers soon be making a very big name for themselves and Malaysian MMA?

Irshaad Sayed Training at Phuket Top Team

Phuket Top Team have released the following News:

Muay Thai world champion turned Pro MMA fighter Irshaad Sayed will be in training Phuket Top Team - MMA Training Camp, Phuket, Thailand beginning Monday(today). He has a great opportunity to improve his game as he gets to train with one of the Top Ten best Asian MMA Gyms.

Irshaad is fighting for the well respected Chinese promotion RUFF.

At PTT he will be working with such high level MMA warriors as Anthony Leone (Bellator) Jj Ambrose (Bellator) Andrew Leone (Road FC/One FC) plus of course many others and the world class staff.

Phuket Top Team continue to grow and improve and it is definitely on the option list for top fighters who wish prepare for upcoming bouts.




Of course they have also helped Monarchy MMA fighter and new Malaysian MMA hero Gianni Subba with the final preparations before his fight in Singapore recently when he debuted in front of a near sell out crowd in his first ever MMA bout against a local Singapore hero Bruce Loh and won in emphatic style.


You can find out much more about Phuket Top Team HERE

And at their facebook page HERE

Our thanks for Boyd Clarke for the Information.

Best of Luck to Malaysian Based Fighters This Weekend

MMANewsAsia the Malaysian MMA blog would like to wish the best of luck to those Malaysian based or Malaysian born warriors fighting this weekend.

So best of luck to Arnaud Lepont friend of the show who today will be fighting one of his heroes which Win, Lose or Draw should be an amazing experience for him. Arnaud trains at Maufit in Kuala Lumpur.

Monarchy MMA another Kuala Lumpur based gym also have a representative fighting this weekend in Gianna Subba who will be taking on a big task in Singapore as he tackles the Singaporean from our friends at Impact MMA, Bruce Loh.

Good luck.

Just 10 Days to Go Before the War in Johor

Just 10 Days to Go Before the War in Johor

Published on September 5, 2012 by The Editor in NEWS, Ultimate Beatdown

Ultimate MMA Academy in Mount Austen, Johor Bahru presents:

Ultimate Beatdown 10

And here are some of the fights you can look forward to: