MALAYSIA ROARED

I'm just so glad that ONE FC: ROAR OF TIGERS is over! Don't get me wrong, I love working towards the event and I must say that ROAR OF TIGERS has been huge! The fans were crazy and so passionate you can feel the stadium roar with excitement. That said, I am glad that one gets a break after it is done and over with. Haha!

It has been a tiring few weeks leading towards it, but I would say it was one of the most successful KL events ever! It was a Friday night, with heavy rain but even the celebrities went through that for the show! It was amazing.

When our local heroes, Saiful Merican, Ann Osman, Ev Ting and Peter Davis fought in the cage, you can feel the excitement and energy from the crowd - it is the most incredible experience ever! They were all screaming the names of our MMA fighters and like I said, the stadium was roaring with passion. It is great to see Malaysian fans screaming for our local athletes - makes you feel ONE.

I love our four Malaysian MMA stars participating that night, on a personal level. They are all awesome people, in their own ways. All of them super humble and with all my heart, I am very proud to have them as our Malaysian represents.

We all knew Saiful is facing on of his toughest opponent yet against Dejamdrong (a three-time Lumpinee champ and now training at Evolve MMA). And he did not disappoint us in the cage when he fought his heart out that night. For me, and I always believe this - winning is not really everything sometimes. It is great to win but I always judge a fighter by his/her heart. I admire fighters who give their all in the cage and when that is done, I give that man/woman 10000% respect for already doing their best in the competition. Saiful did his best and if it means anything, he has won the fight for himself and his fans by doing so.

Saiful is also a very funny and humble guy. I really like him and his wife, Dzianti, because they are two of the nicest people I've had the opportunity to meet and work with.

Ann destroyed her opponent Aya Saber within minutes and it was a well-deserved impressive win. I thought Aya would have lasted longer, judging from her last fight with Ana Julaton, the Egyptian lady seems one hell of a fighter who wouldn't give up without putting a fight for her opponent. But it looks like Ann is really too tough to challenge. I also love how Ann danced after the win haha!

Our two most experienced fighters that night have to be Peter Davis and Ev Ting! Although I missed the full fights for both (because we had to handle the post-fight interviews with media), I managed to catch the victories and watch the fight clips after. I know many commented that Ev's fight that night was boring but honestly, in the first round, I know both fighters were working really hard trying to secure a take-down. And in my opinion, Ev's head kick KO was the most awesome one that night.

Peter is a more entertaining fighter as he has the most unpredictable moves in the cage which combines everything. I thought it is really interesting to watch in a way and his most noticeable move always involves his long leg kicks when he is on ground.

Anyway, a huge congratulations to both of them for earning the W for themselves and Malaysia. We are so proud!

Fun fact, I take pride that Ev is born on the same day as me hahaha. However, he is different in that he is generally soft-spoken and only fierce in the cage. I on the other hand, is the opposite haha! 

Here are the full results of ONE FC: ROAR OF TIGERS:

Featherweight bout: Marat Gafurov defeats Rob Lisita by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:08 minutes of round 1

Lightweight bout: Peter Davis defeats Vaughn Donayre by TKO (Strikes) at 4:50 minutes of round 1

Featherweight bout: Ev Ting defeats Edward Kelly by Knockout at 4:28 minutes of round 2

Women’s Flyweight bout: Ann Osman defeats Aya Saeid Saber by TKO (Strikes) at 3:15 minutes of round 1

Featherweight bout: Bashir Ahmad defeats Tanaphong Khunhankaew by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:38 minutes of round 1

Flyweight bout: Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke defeats Saiful Merican by Submission (Armbar) at 2:12 minutes of round 2

Bantamweight bout: Stephen Langdown defeats Raymond Tan by Knockout (Strikes) at 2:28 minutes of round 1

Bantamweight bout: Anatpong Bunrad defeats Marc Marcellinus by knockout at 0:26 minutes of round 1

Welterweight bout: Hisham Hiba defeats Barbod by TKO (Strikes) at 1:01 minutes of round 2

All in all, it was a fantastic night and I can't believe I am saying this (or maybe it is too soon to say it), I can't wait for the event next year, and hopefully with my knee fully recovered, I will be able to perform even better!