MMA in Singapore and Malaysia On The Rise
Mixed Martial Arts in our little corner of Asia has come a
long way in the last few years. Until around four years ago there was nothing
but silence. Since then in Singapore and Malaysia we have had tremendous
change.
Back in May 2010 Victor Cui then with ESPN was behind Martial Combat a ground breaking event in
Singapore that certainly helped push some of Asia’s finest fighters into a
whole new area of popularity and brought local televised MMA to many homes.
Between May and October of the same year there were 12 Martial
Combat events.
Less than a year later Victor Cui launched the ONE FC Empire the present biggest MMA organisation in SE Asia. Its first show was in September 2011.
In Malaysia we had the much smaller but nevertheless widely
anticipated local shows with the Muayfit – Malaysian Fighting Championship, F3
and the oldest of them all Ultimate Beatdown at Johor’s Ultimate MMA Academy.
Since then Ultimate Beatdown has broken out of the gym and
recently staged its most successful show to date at the KSL City Mall in Johor
with representatives from many gyms from both sides of the causeway and even
further afield.
F3 continues to limp along, although present feedback is
that finally it is getting its shit together and recent shows have had no
‘dodgy’ judging decisions, could F3 finally be about to gain respectability? We
hope so it would be good to see it fulfil it’s promise.
MFC I believe still lives but it does seem to have been
derailed somewhat by the arrival of MiMMA – Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial
Arts the first of Malaysia’s events to attract big sponsorship and gain TV
coverage. Thanks to the patronage of Tune Talk. Finally MMA in Malaysia is
proving a suitable place for bigger name sponsors.
Of course in Malaysia, ONE FC have also been a fairly
regular visitor to Kuala Lumpur with a series of successful shows and a very
excitable crowd.
We even had a visit from Chinese based MMA organisation
Legend FC this show was recorded for Chinese TV. Sadly the crowd stayed away
and although the fights were on the whole exciting the thin crowd was I am sure
a terrible disappointment. This was sadly the last show from Legend who closed
their doors leaving many disappointed fans behind.
Recently in Borneo another Malaysian MMA event has started
up the Borneo Fighting Championship It seems that MMA really is getting a good
foothold in Malaysia and Singapore. Soon
we can look forward to the biggest of them all. The UFC are coming and they
have picked up a few local faces to give the card some real zing. But before
that we have a new boy on the block.
Debutant Singapore organisation Rebel FC daring to square up
to ONE FC on its home ground and that home ground just got tougher with ONE FC
announcing that they have signed Ben Askrin the ex-Bellator champion who was
widely expected to join the UFC and then the WSOF and so it must been seen as a
real coup when he went to ONE telling journalists that he will be getting paid
more than 80% of UFC fighters.
But back to Rebel: With a Main Event featuring the talented
Australian ‘Ruthless’ Rob Lisita (12-5) from Phuket Top Team against Takeshi
(Lion Takeshi) Inoue (21-8) the Dream and Shooto veteran from Shooting Gym
Yokohama.
A supporting main event bout between North Korean Gyo Pwang
Hwang (3-3) Korean Top Team and
Singapore favourite and Juggernaut Fight Club based Syfiq ‘The Slasher’ Abdul
Bin Samad (2-0) should get the crowd on their feet.
Bottom line is this though; will the fans turn up and make
the event a financial success. That is all that matters for the money men
behind these events, coverage and crowds.
ONE FC seems to have settled down and is surely here to
stay, nobody can deny that it’s cards are improving in quality however talk of
having 95% of the local fighters on their books rankles when the last event
featured an immediate rematch championship title fight for a fighter who didn’t
even make it to the end of the second round in the first fight.
Oh and I will never ever be happy to hear ONE FC call it’s
championship’s World Titles! Come on guys how about Asian Championship or ONE
FC championship?
The UFC are thought to want to put on show’s in this area on
a regular basis but how many of those shows will be in Singapore or even
Malaysia is unknown. I suspect sadly not many as they will surely head to
bigger markets. Either way having the UFC around can only benefit those local
fighters lucky enough to get picked up by the “big show” who will be able to
increase their exposure and their pay packets with better sponsorship
opportunities as fighters can surely see an opportunity to maximise their
opportunities and brands can get the kind of coverage they could previously
only dream of.
So the future for MMA in Malaysia and Singapore is bright.
More opportunities for fighters to test themselves in a cage and a visible
ladder that they can aim to climb up.
Of course it’s not all sunshine. Recently watching the UFC
on Malaysian TV, I was again angered by the pathetic things that get censored.
During the night every time a bit of blood was on show the censors turned the
picture black and white this well after 10pm when all good children should be in bed.. So I guess B&W makes it just fine it’s not blood
if it’s grey, although doesn't that make it look like brain matter?
But overall MMA is this area is enjoying unprecedented
growth and long may it continue, all it needs is some decent officials and less low level fighters with inflated opinions of their abilities, a little bit more honesty in the game would be a good thing.
