Last weekend was a triple whammy. The weekend of 25-26 August, saw the actions of KK Int BJJ, Malaysian Fight Fest (in KL) and Grand Merdeka Super Fight. I had to cover 3 martial arts event, but I can only be at one physically.
But organising chairman, Johan Julian Lee Abdullah, kept me up to speed on the going ons at the event.
It was two days of action that happened at KK’s latest mall – Grand Merdeka. Located around 30 mins drive from KK. It’s good to see local mall coming forward to become venue sponsor for combat sports event. Knowing that combat sports event bring crowds. The participants, their team mates, supporters and families present a ready customers for their mall.
Grand Merdeka Super Fight also became an avenue for development of new talent. 1st day saw junior age kickboxers compete. Out of the 80 participants, half of them are participants in the kids & teens category which fought in 21 bouts.
On the 2nd day, adults category were held. 20 bouts were competed, 2 being the semi-pro title fight.
The event saw the participation of 14 teams + 3 independent fighters collected medals
D’ Sha Muaythai from Tawau emerge overall champion with 7 champion & 3 runners-up medals.
Below is the results for the day 2 (adults category) :
| Bout 1 -10
|
| Bout 11-20 |
| D’Sha Muaythai Team – overall champion |
On Day 1, saw MIMMA 5 Lightweight champion, Nathaniel Lakai of Warmonger Miri in action vs Kyo Kaede, former Muaythai champion whom is making a comeback in combat sports. This fight was specially arrange as the last fight on 25 August, which enabled Nathaniel to compete in KK Int. BJJ on 26 Aug.
It was in the class B catgeory (for fighter with 3 or more fight experience). It was a slow start as both feel out each other in the first round, but in later rounds, Nathaniel found his timing for good powerful combos, which saw an uppercut that put Kyo in an 8 count. Nathaniel won the bout via unanimous decision.
| Nathaniel vs Kyo |
| Day 1 (kids & teens) |
| Day 2 (adults) |
Johan Julian wants to give shout out to coach Sharon Andrea Gerald of D’SHA MUAYTHAI , whom sent a huge contingent of kids & teens to participate.
Also to coach Dhillon Tahing of REVOLUTION GYM whom brought athlete from SMK Pulau Gaya. Coming all the way from the island to Grand Merdeka mall. Even their school principal & vice principal came to support.
This is good for the development of combat sports, to have committed coaches who sacrifice their time & effort to coach & guide youngsters and encourage them to participate in competition to enable them to grow their skills further & develop sportsmanship & camaraderie among other combat sports athletes.
Some feedback Julian received is on the results which some coaches felt was unsatisfactory. Julian said he understood their feelings and is certainly something he would look into. But he hopes the coaches & their team understand that the organiser does not have any influence over the results.
As an ISKA sanctioned event, certified ISKA judges and referees are in charge of the decision. The referees and judges are separate from the organising team and organiser follow by the results given by them.
Moving forward, Julian said some gym need to pay attention on their fighters registering but was a no show. He advise that gym should be more responsible for this and have better planning.
The two hi-light title bouts on day 2 certainly live up to it’s name. It was very close fight as both title bouts ended in split decision. (click here to read the pre-event story)
Aziz Hoo Gwo Jye of Kinabalu Fighters won the 60kg Semi-pro title belt against Fadzly Bin Julai of Warmonger Miri. (click here to read Fadzly’s pre-event story)
Daenver Randel Raphael of Kinabalu Fighters won the 85kg Semi-pro title belt against Zachenzie Zifyon Douni of Keningau MMA.
