MMA in Asia

[GeneChing]

Well, I didn't foresee that one coming.

Hong Kong's Celestial Tiger Inks Martial Arts Deals
1:17 AM PDT 4/23/2012 by Karen Chu

The Hong Kong-based cable channel operator signed exclusive content deals with FremantleMedia, South Korea’s CJ Entertainment and France’s Fighting Spirit for its action channel KIX and other networks.

HONG KONG – Celestial Tiger Entertainment (CTE) signed exclusive content deals with FremantleMedia, South Korea’s CJ Entertainment & Media Corporation and France’s Fighting Spirit for programming to run on its action channel KIX and all CTE channels in Asia.

CTE inked a multi-year output deal for mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion Bellator Fighting Championships, the sixth season of which, distributed by FremantleMedia Enterprises, will premiere in May on KIX across Asia.

From France’s Fighting Spirit, CTE signed an exclusive output deal for global championship kickboxing tournament It’s Showtime. KIX has expanded its programming from action films to include martial arts and combat programs, which currently includes Japan’s worldwide promotion K-1, the US-based MMA promotion Strikeforce, and MMA combat program Dream.

CTE also closed an exclusive volume deal with South Korea’s CJ E&M Corporation for its channels in Asia, including cable series Blood Thirsty Prosecutor, starring Yun Jung-hoon (My Wife is a Gangster); drama Hero with actor Yang Dong-gun; crime series Quiz from God starring Ryu Duk-hwan, and mini-series Girl Killer K starring up-and-coming actress Han Groo as a female assassin.

[GeneChing]

In Malaysia

Asia the home of mixed martial arts
By Dennis Wong
New Straits Times
Sunday, Jul 01, 2012

Judging from the 10,000 strong crowd that thronged Stadium Negara last weekend for the One FC Destiny of Warriors competition, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is here to stay.

This new form of close quarters combat, using a mix of various martial art styles, is gaining popularity not just in Asia but throughout the world, judging from the viewership of the matches that were also broadcast live on the Internet.

Malaysia is certainly making a name for herself in the MMA scene with rising stars such as Adam Shahir Kayoom, Peter Davis and Aj Lias Mansor, sparring alongside MMA greats such as Gregor Gracie, Masakazu Imanari, Renato Soboral and Tetsuya Mizuno.

"One FC is now a platform for martial arts proponents in the region to reach even greater heights in their careers," said One Fighting Championship chief executive officer Victor Cui.

He said as sports was very much culture-oriented, Asia was the home of the MMA because of its martial arts heritage.

"We have Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Donnie Yuen. Everyone in Asia knows about martial arts. It is part of our culture. In Japan alone there are 50 million karate practitioners. Now MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world and we are here to stay," he told the New Sunday Times.

In the past 10 years, MMA has raked in US$500 million (S$633 billion) via pay-per-view live telecast, compared with boxing, which only netted half that amount.

"MMA creates local heroes, which also gives opportunities for local martial arts proponents to build their careers. When we watch an F1 race, many of us are supporting an international racer. We do not enjoy the pride of showing off a local hero. But in MMA we have that," added Cui.

And it was patriotic pride that drove Malaysian spectators wild the minute local fighters entered the cage despite the presence of famous names such as Marcos Escobar, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt holder. This was the first time Malaysia hosted an international level MMA event.

He said Asia had a larger fan base and a deep talent pool because of its martial arts culture.

"A fighter who knows silat, karate or tae kwon do can become an MMA fighter in just two to three years.

"They just need to work on their stand up and grappling skills and they can be a complete fighter," he added.

Malaysia can also stand tall in the MMA arena as three of the 18 competitors during last Saturday's championship are locals.

One of them was Adam, who was badly taken down and pounded by Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Gracie in the first round of the championship, before emerging winner in the third round, dominating the match with his muay thai skills.

Though Adam clearly won the match against Gracie (who is part of a prominent sporting family from Brazil known for their founding of Brazilian jiu-jitsu), he was quick to honour the family.

"Without them, BJJ and MMA would not be what it is today. Thank you for helping us BJJ instructors with employment, and the knowledge of BJJ," he said after winning the fight.

The victory comes as a double joy for Adam who will be a father soon.

Adam travelled to Brazil at a young age to learn BJJ from Ricardo Liborio who trained under Carlson Gracie, considered the best in the sport.

After winning several BJJ titles in Brazil and Australia, he decided to take up Muay Thai in Thailand, where he was initially rejected from most gyms because he was considered too old to train with them.

But he proved them wrong by winning the world titles in 2006 and muay khmer in Cambodia the following year.

The two other Malaysian fighters who fought that night were model-turned actor Peter Davis, who went against 21-year-old Singaporean national boxer Quek Kim Hock.

He proved many wrong when he won the match against Kim Hock in just 55 seconds in the first round.

Former national silat champion AJ Lias Mansor, 37, however, was out of the match after 1 minute 25 seconds into the first round against American Mitch Chilson, 34, by a rear naked choke submission.

[GeneChing]

Cebu businessman bringing Asia’s biggest mixed martial arts show to Manila
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 30 Aug 2012

Cebu businessman Victor Cui, the son of Diplomat and Consul General Victoriano Cui, is bringing Asia’s biggest and most prestigious mixed martial arts promotion to Manila this Friday night.

ONE Fighting Championship was founded by Cui just over as year ago and has already put on shows in sold out stadiums and arenas in Singapore, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. On Friday it is the turn of the Philippines with 16,500 fans expected to fill the Smart Araneta Coliseum to capacity at ONE FC: ‘Pride of a Nation’.

It will be the biggest MMA event to ever take place in the country and the first chance for fight fans here to get a glimpse of famous fighters such as former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia and Jens Pulver and DREAM champion Bibiano Fernandes.

There will also be five champions from top Filipino promotion the URCC as well as three members of the legendary Gracie family on the card and Cui says he was determined to make the first ever ONE FC event in this country a night to remember,

“This is our first time in the Philippines and this country has some of the most passionate fight fans in the world so we wanted to make it a really special card, stacked with champions from all over the world and fighters who are household names and MMA legends.”

There will also be some recognizable faces in the crowd as famous Filipino models, actors and TV personalities will be rubbing shoulders in the VIP area with former President Joseph "Erap" Estrada who has confirmed he will be attending Cui’s event.

Mixed martial arts is the fastest growing sport in the world and is a multi billion dollar industry in the US. Although extremely popular in Asia, particularly in the Philippines, there had never been a promotion in this continent to rival the UFC in the West until ONE FC came along.

Cui, who was formerly a senior director at ESPN Star Sports, clearly spotted a gap in the market but even he admits to being taken aback by the speed at which ONE FC has grown to become firmly established as the leading MMA promotion in Asia,

“In all my years of working in the sports entertainment and media industry I have never witnessed a sport with such rapid growth as MMA. My aim is to put ONE FC in a billion homes across Asia and the response so far has been phenomenal, our next two events are on course to collectively sell almost 30,000 tickets.”

Cui, who lives with his wife and two daughters in Singapore, has been described by numerous journalists as ‘the most influential man in MMA’. With ONE FC’s next event taking place in the same venue which hosted the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ when Ali fought Frazier he is already making history and he says he is only just getting started,

“ONE FC is only a year old so this is really just the beginning, next year we are going to put on events in cities all over Asia and this definitely won’t be the last time you see a ONE FC show happening right here in the Philippines.”

Fight fans in Cebu might have to wait a little bit longer for a taste of live action as, according to Cui, ONE FC won’t be coming here anytime soon,

“Nothing would give me more pleasure than to put on a ONE FC show in Cebu but it’s difficult finding a venue big enough to fit all the fans who want to buy tickets into. Manila is only a quick flight away though and there are still some tickets left but you can stay at home and still watch because all our shows are streamed live on the internet.”

For more information or to watch ONE FC: ‘Pride of a Nation’ live online visit: www.onefc.com.

We'll see how this goes...

[GeneChing]

Singapore - land of shopping malls...

Asia's martial arts capital is ... Singapore?
Here's a fistful of reasons to believe it
By James Goyder 10 September, 2012

Evolve MMA founder and owner Chatri Sityodtong joins members of his fight team for a convincing "don't mess with us" photo shoot.

Singapore is renowned for its strict laws, clean streets and rapid urbanization. Martial arts? Not so much.

But that's fast changing. Over the years the city-state has quietly been building up its credentials to emerge as the fight capital of Asia.

Here's a fistful of reasons to put doubters into submission.
The rise of MMA

Mixed martial arts (MMA) combines several different fight styles, and is one of the fastest growing sports on the planet. Giving the sport further legitimacy, the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation was founded in Sweden earlier this year.

Much of Singapore's current martial arts success is owed to the efforts of two Asian entrepreneurs who chose to base their MMA businesses in the city.

Filipino Canadian Victor Cui is behind ONE Fighting Championship, Asia’s biggest MMA promotion.


A fighter from Evolve serves his opponent a forceful kick during a ONE Fighting Championships welterweight bout in Singapore. The other, Chatri Sityodtong from Thailand, is the owner of Evolve MMA, arguably the most successful martial arts gym in Asia.

Famous fighters

Chatri, a Harvard graduate and wealthy Wall Street investor, decided to turn his business talents to martial arts in 2008. He was a veteran of numerous muay Thai fights who held a blue belt in Brazilian jiujitsu so the decision to take his entrepreneurial flair and apply it to martial arts came naturally.

“I have always been passionate about martial arts but when I first came to Singapore there really was nothing here, it was difficult to find anyone to even train with personally," says Chatri.

"I decided to set up Evolve MMA not just because I saw it as an investment opportunity but because people in Singapore seemed to live very sedentary lives and I wanted to give them somewhere they could come to stay healthy and to learn something new.”

"Asia will always be the spiritual home of martial arts but Singapore has become its epicenter," says ONE FC founder Victor Cui. Chatri would not have made his millions on Wall Street without being able to spot a trend and Evolve MMA has grown to the point that it is already regarded as being the top fight training facility in Asia.

Famous fighters from the United States such as former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Rich Franklin and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren will travel halfway across the world to train there and, according to the founder, membership is booming.

“Singapore really hasn't had a culture of sports historically, let alone martial arts but in the last four to five years the martial arts scene in Singapore has skyrocketed," says Chatri.

"Judging by our growth rates at Evolve MMA, the MMA industry in Singapore has grown eight to 10-fold during that time frame and new martial arts gyms are opening all the time.

"In the past I would have said Tokyo was the martial arts capital of Asia but now it is Singapore. Even the UFC is looking to establish its Asian headquarters here.”

Vegas-style fight nights


Eyes on the fight, boys. ONE Fighting Championship's first event took place in Singapore's 12,000-seat Indoor Stadium last year. Cui believes that the country he calls home has already established itself as the martial arts capital of Asia, but there's definitely room to grow.

“Singapore has always been a commercial hub but martial arts has really helped to establish it as a tourist destination too because people from all over the world will travel here to train MMA or to take in an MMA show," he says.

"Asia will always be the spiritual home of martial arts but Singapore has become its epicenter with the biggest live shows and the best training facilities.”

ONE Fighting Championship’s next show in Singapore is taking place on October 6 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and will be headlined by legendary Japanese fighter Shinya Aoki. For more information visit www.onefc.com.
A simple desire to get fit

The scene in Singapore is not just about world-class fighters competing in enormous arenas.

Most people who train in martial arts aren’t looking to slug it out in the ring or the cage but to lose weight, get fit or do something a bit different.

There are plenty of places in Singapore catering to everyone from beginners to experienced competitors. Here's a quick list of some of the most popular.

Evolve MMA

Evolve MMA is home to some of the best MMA and muay Thai fighters in the world such as Shinya Aoki, Rafael Dos Anjos, Orono Wor Petchpun and Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn, and is regarded as the top martial arts training facility in Asia.

But you don't have to be interested in an MMA career to train at Evolve MMA. There's an enormous variety of classes at all times of the day that cater to students of all abilities.

Sessions include everything from boxing to muay Thai to Brazilian jiujitsu and the trainers are all world champions with very impressive credentials. There are two locations, one is in Far East Square and the other at POMO Mall.

For more on classes and schedules, check out www.evolve-mma.com.

SA Judo Academy

The SA Judo Academy was founded in 2003 by fifth Dan Judo black belt Tang Soon Onn. He was formerly a coach for the national team and represented Singapore in many competitions including the World Judo Championships and the SEA Games.

Adult classes take place at the SA Budo Academy at SAFRA in Tampines on Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays and children’s classes take place at the same venue on Saturdays and Sundays.

There are also classes held in four separate locations. Visit www.sajudo.com for more info.

Vanda Boxing Club

The Vanda Boxing Club offers both boxing and muay Thai and is best known for training professionals from all walks of life for its "white collar boxing" competitions.

Often with no previous boxing experience participants will embark on a 12-week program that culminates in an amateur fight in front of a live audience.

Boxing and muay Thai classes take place every day of the week except Sunday and are held at a variety of times. There are also sessions for children and classes reserved exclusively for ladies.

For more information visit www.vandaboxing.com