Here is some information from the event
Ultimate Fight Night 5 at the Ultimate MMA Academy in Johor Bahru.
Ultimate Fight Night 5 Results and Reports
Let me set the scene:
ONE FC is a one event organisation that with massive financial backing has quickly become a behemoth in the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Scene. In reality it has done very little, so has a lot to prove to fulfill the hype and of course through some very smart dealing by Victor Cui they have created ties with most of the major organisations in Asia (indeed Australasia).
Before ONE FC of course their were many big successful events especially in Japan with the likes of Dream.
But for many years their have also been many smaller organisations that have been putting on events and even some gyms.
That is the case with Ultimate MMA Academy in Johor Bahru – This was the fifth event, all held at the Academy itself and all watched over by mainly friends and family of the fighters.
This is probably one of the longest established MMA Gyms in Malaysia, and yet most people even in Johor do not know it exists, it’s hidden away and the owner Chian Yik, is a quiet, unassuming passionate man more interested in training people and helping boys become men and men become warriors, than marketing.
That’s changing now as Ultimate MMA Academy continues to send it’s fighters out to compete in events like Muayfit, ONE FC, and elsewhere.
This gym is not some glamourous room full of air conditioning and rows of gleaming training machines, THIS is a fighters gym, if you want to learn the way that fighters train and really create a ripped body and gain confidence this is the place for you. If you want to look pretty for the ladies in the gym while jogging on row after row of running machines then you will feel out of place.
This gym has what it needs, a cage, row up on row of gloves and pads, the necessary training machines for real work to be done, and a variety of punch bags, heavy balls, tyres (?) yes tyres believe me real MMA people use tyres and skipping ropes and weights.
But believe me it works these boys get fit!
But tonight was all about the FIGHTS:
Four fights with fighters from Kuala Lumpur and local boys.
Fight One:
The first fight was changed at the last minute due to a late withdrawal, this led to Zech ‘The Boxing Computer’ being a ladt minute stand in to fight young Z.U.E.S. Just sixteen years old. (two UMMA guys and friends fighting each other).
In his last outing at Fight Night 4 Zech had fought a brutal draw with a Melaka based Iranian nicknamed ‘The Vampyre’ it was a very interesting fight.
Z.U.E.S. was concerned as Zech was his friend, his trainer and his team mate and he did not want to fight him.
Well, once the fight started all those thoughts disappeared as this two guys put on quite a display of powerful kicks, punches and ground work. 15 minutes over three rounds and both were bloodied and bruised. Once the scores were handed in the referee announced a draw to the appreciative crowd. Usually a draw is an unsatisfactory end, but nobody could doubt that these guys had fought themselves to a standstill and they deserved equal honours.
Fight Two:
Was a Muay Thai event:
With:- Yus “Razor” VS Halstein “The Hellsing”
This was three, three minute rounds and it started off fairly evenly, Yuz came into the ring with an ankle injury from playing football earlier in the day, initially he had pulled out of the fight but then he decided take part.
Yuz is the perfect Muay Thai model, he is sleek and ripped, but against Hallstein who appeared bigger but less toned he was unable to make much headway.
Yuz started well and they both traded kicks and punches but midway through the first round it was plain to see that Yuz was not as mobile as he would need to be to keep away from the power that Hallstein had brought to the fight.
Over the first round Hallstein proved the more powerful, his punching had much more effect and eventually he floored Yuz with a barrage of punches to the head and body, Yuz was up quickly.
In round two Hallstein continued to advance and again his power told and Yuz was floored, this time he was given a standing eight count.
In round three Hallstein had to weather an early barrage as Yuz let loose with some truly powerful kicks, but, once Hallstein landed a few powerful barrages of punches the fight turned again, during that round he floored Yuz twice more for two more standing eight counts.
The judges gave a unanimous decision to Hallstein.
Fight 3:
From Kuala Lumpur we had FS. Cheng fighting a local boy in his first fight Speedy Meng Yan.
FS Cheng is a small wiry guy with a reputation that is way beyond his physical size and Speedy was in for a real test.
This fight started in a blur as FS Cheng came out swinging and soon he had speedy down and in an Arm in Guillotine, there was much discussion as to weather or not Speedy tapped but regardless eventually he broke free and for a few precious seconds he was in top position and raining down blows but FS Cheng is a talented fighter and soon had reversed the position and almost unseen sunk in a strangle hold and this time Speedy did tap and it was all over.
F.S. Cheng had brought it and is one to watch for the future.
This brought us to:-
THE MAIN EVENT
Sam (the ‘real deal’) Chan Vs JJ (the ‘White plague”) Meyer
Both these boys were from Kuala Lumpur and we are thankful that they made the almost four hour journey down to visit us.
This was a three, five minute round fight.
The first round started off well with plenty of to and fro, there was much skill shown and lots of powerful punching and kicking, plus lots of work against the cage, about half way through the round it went to the ground and Sam ended up on top and no matter what he did JJ could not shake him off and of course Sam used the position to lay punches into JJ’s face.
Round Two followed the pattern of the first but this time JJ had the top position and he controlled Sam, taking his turn to give back some ground and pound. There were a few arm bar attempts and at the end of the round both were trying ankle locks but the bell stopped the round.
Round Three again followed the same pattern as the first except Sam took JJ down earlier and had more opportunity to ground and pound JJ. The remainder of the round was spent on the floor, Sam’s body controlling JJ’s with relative ease as both fighters tired.
When the bell rang both fighters stood up and embraced, they were classy guys from beginning to end. Going in to round three it was even and therefore it was clear that Sam had won round three and therefore the fight.
I hope we see the guys from KL again, they were both training in the Gym on Friday evening (separately) and I think they both enjoyed learning some new ground moves from Chian Yik.
Overall it was a fun event with good fights.
The event was also streamed live over the internet and even with minimal publicity it still attracted a healthy audience. Was this the first time an MMA event had been streamed live in Malaysia?
Now, if only we can find a bigger venue!
So, to round up our story, these smaller gyms and fight events all have one thing in common, they are all early steps in careers that the fighters hope lead to bigger things maybe even eventually ONE FC or even UFC. Sure it’s a long and tough road but it is possible, and if not these young guys learn that hard work brings results and they also learn to respect their competitors.
On TV in Malaysia they advertise the button on remote controls that will enable parents to decide what to allow their children to watch. The thing they show that parents might wish to guard against is a fighting event. This, is a disgrace, they show Indian gangster films, American Crime shows, Chinese films and yet the thing the choose is a fighting event.
How many times do you read a boxer, a fighter, say that they were trouble makers or bullies until they discovered boxing or fighting and that taught them respect. Hopefully Malaysia can begin to understand the benefits these gyms can bring to their youth.
