ONE Fighting Championship's inaugural show last September was a night when reputations were won and lost and Eric Kelly emerged with much more to show from his night's work than a $5,000 USD submission of the night bonus. In beating the undefeated Mitch Chilson he proved conclusively that after running up a 5-0 record in the Philippines he was ready to take on the world.

Kelly came into that bout as the URCC featherweight champion who had never been beaten and had submitted every opponent he had ever faced. Despite these credentials there were question marks over his credentials; Could he be as effective at an international level? Would his submission skills be as effective on the international stage?

The 30 year old Filipino answered those questions in emphatic style when he silenced the Singapore crowd by choking Chilson into unconsciousness midway through an action packed first round. That performance rendered Kelly perhaps the most exciting property in the entire featherweight division in South East Asia.

For reasons beyond his control Kelly found himself sidelined while other fighters overtook him but, on June 23rd at ONE Fighting Championship: 'Destiny of Warriors' in Kuala Lumpur, he will be back and he is determined to keep his perfect professional record intact.

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I saw today Bloody Elbow published an interview with Bob Sapp which reminded me that I had an even more interesting interview with 'The Beast' from back in February which I decided at the time was too long and complicated to attempt to make into a coherent article

Here, in all it's glory, is the complete transcript of my interview with Sapp. My personal highlight is him expounding on his theory that doing any sort of actual training for a fight is a complete waste of time. I warn you now the entire thing is 2628 words long which might well be some sort of MMA Mania record.

In his own words...

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Sometimes the events which dictate the course of MMA history take place far away from the cage, without the need for referees and cornermen or the presence of a baying crowd. The deals that are done behind closed doors and the partnerships which are formed behind the scenes are as important to the sport's development as anything that happens after the bell sounds.

If you look back at the seminal moments then the history of MMA events such as the UFC's acquisition of Pride, the seven year deal the organization signed with Fox or the success of a reality TV show called 'The Ultimate Fighter' are the true turning points.

This weekend an event will take place which will not involve the UFC but could dictate the entire future of MMA in the East. The 'ONE Asia MMA Summit 2012' will bring together around 150 of the key players in Asian MMA ranging from promoters to sponsors to gym owners to fighters to broadcasters.

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Sources at ONE Fighting Championship confirmed the rumours that UFC veterans Roger Huerta and Phil Baroni would be going head to head in a welterweight clash on June 23rd. Both men are legends of the sport who have spent time training in Phuket but no-one predicted they would one day end up fighting one another.

Huerta has competed for most of his career at lightweight but did make the move up to 170 lbs to take on War Machine last November, suffering an unfortunate injury in the third round. Baroni has done most of his fighting at middleweight but has fought at or around the welterweight limit a few times.

The two initially discussed the possibility of fighting one another on Twitter on Friday and hours later MMA media began reporting that the match up had been made. Huerta is known for his aggressive style and outstanding cardio but will be at a significant disadvantage in terms of size.

Baroni has heavy hands, is confident he can keep the fight standing and believes his power will be too much for the smaller fighter. Huerta will need to fight at the hectic pace which is his hallmark and if he can take the fight into the later rounds his conditioning should make the difference.

Before this fight, which is booked for ONE FC: 'Destiny of Warriors' at Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Baroni has an assignment in the US when he takes on fellow brawler Chris Holland. That fight is booked for Ring of Fire 43 on June 2nd.

The card for ONE FC's first ever show in Kuala Lumpur is slowly taking shape with eight fights announced so far featuring the likes of Renato Sobral, Masauze Imanari, Eddie Ng and Gregor Gracie.

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Photo credit: Robin Merrill

Roger Huerta is the latest fighter to be announced for ONE Fighting Championship: 'Destiny of Warriors' which is taking place in Kuala Lumpur on June 23rd. His opponent is yet to be confirmed but it will represent a return to action for "El Matador" after suffering a rib injury in the third round of his fight against War Machine last November.

Huerta, who is based in Phuket, was one of the fastest rising stars in the UFC but decided to leave in return for a lucrative Bellator contract. He has faced the likes of Kenny Florian, Gray Maynard and Eddie Alvarez in his career but has struggled recently with three straight losses.

He's also starred in the movie Tekken and was the first mixed martial artist to ever be featured on the front cover of Sports Illustrated. Huerta's celebrity status is such that when he was caught on camera chasing someone who he had just seen assaulting a woman, it was headline news in the US.

Potential opponents include Eduard Folayang, Ole Laursen, Zorobabel Moreira and Shinya Aoki and Huerta can also fight at welterweight which would open up the possibility of match ups with Fabricio Monteiro, Yuya Shirai and even Phil Baroni.

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Photo via UFC.com

DEEP middleweight champion Riki Fukuda has only fought twice since signing for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) back in 2010, but he has already attracted plenty of controversy.

His decision loss to Nick Ring in his debut is widely regarded as being one of the worst decisions ever and UFC President Dana White took the unusual step of awarding both fighters win bonuses.

The former pro wrestler didn't fight again for almost a year after being forced to withdraw from one contest due to a car crash but after three rounds against Steve Cantwell at UFC 144, the judges did the right thing, for once, awarding Fukuda a much-deserved win.

Fight number three in the UFC will be against Constantinos Philippou at UFC 148 next month and Fukuda took time out from training for that to talk exclusively to MMAmania.com.

Take a look.

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The card for ONE FC: 'Destiny of Warriors' at Stadium Negara on June 23rd continues to be released a fight at a time with Allamurad Karayev vs Roldan Sangcha-an the latest addition.

Karayev is currently ranked top 50 in the flyweight division (by fightmatrix.com) after running up a 9-0 record fighting exclusively in Malaysia, with all his wins coming by way if stoppage. ONE FC initially offered the fight to 10-0 Rey Docyogen but he will be sitting his architectural exams so Team Lakay proposed Sancha-an as an alternative.

Although the Filipino will be making his professional debut he has at least one amateur win under his belt and training with the likes of Eduard Folayang, Honorio Banario and Kevin Belingon, as well as Docyogen, he should be well prepared for his ONE FC debut.

Karayev, from Turkmenisan. is just 20 years old while his opponent is 21 meaning we could be looking at the future of the flyweight division in action. He is a member of the Muayfit camp in Kuala Lumpur and has lived in Malaysia for much of his adult life so should have strong support in the 10,200 capacity Stadium Negara.

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Evolve MMA is to open its doors to visiting martial artists for the first time with a 'vacation training program' which will allow anyone to spend time training with the team of world champions there. Thailand has traditionally been the destination of choice for anyone looking to improve their stand up skills but Singapore could become an attractive alternative.

ONE Fighting Championship is headquartered there and MMA is growing rapidly in popularity but Singapore is also home to the highest concentration of top level Muay Thai fighters outside of Thailand. Among the trainers at Evolve MMA are Muangfalek Kiatvichian, Lamnammoon Sor Sumalee, Orono Wor Petchpun, Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn and Attachai Fairtex.

Singapore is more expensive than Thailand but it is also much more modern and compares favourably with any major Western city. The Evolve MMA facilities are all indoors and air conditioned which might appeal to travelers who don't want to have to acclimatize themselves to a tropical country.

Working one on one with former Lumpini champions like Namsaknoi, Attachai, Orono, Lamnamoon or a former Rajadamnern champion like Muangfalek s a proposition which will be very attractive to students of the history Muay Thai and with some supposedly affordable accommodation packages (you have to email for actual prices) Evolve MMA in Singapore could soon establish itself as a more urban South East Asian alternative to training in Thailand.

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The name Arnaud Lepont is very well known in South East Asia as he has trained in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia and been one of the stars of the Bangkok based promotion DARE Championship.

It's not surprise that Asia's biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion should take an interest in one of the most flamboyant fighters in the region and Lepont will be making his ONE Fighting Championship debut when he takes on Eddie Ng next month.

That fight will be one of the most eagerly anticipated on the ONE FC: 'Destiny of Warriors' card which is taking place at Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur on June 23, 2012. Ng is one of the stars of the world renowned Evolve MMA camp and should bring a few fans from Singapore but Lepont is a member of the fight team at Muayfit and is fighting in his adopted hometown.

It will be a big test for Ng, who is coming off a win against Lepont's team mate Jian Kai Chee, but it will also be an opportunity for the Frenchman to showcase the sort of power and aggression which has helped him run up an 8-1 MMA record.

He recently spoke to MMAmania.com about how happy he was to have signed for ONE FC and to have the opportunity to take on a rising star in Asian MMA.

Check it out.

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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Paul Kelly was one of three men arrested this morning (May 15, 2012) in England and charged with conspiracy to supply class A and class B drugs, according to the Liverpool Echo.

Kelly was somewhat unfortunate to find himself cut from the UFC last year with a 4-3 record. He fought most recently for the Super Fight League, losing a unanimous decision to Ryan Healy.

According to the Liverpool Echo article, heroin, cannabis and large sums of money were recovered as police executed 12 search warrants in the Liverpool area. In total seven arrests were made and Kelly was one of three men charged with conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs.

The maximum sentence for possession of a class A drug (like heroin) with intent to supply is life, while the maximum sentence for possession of a class B drug (like cannabis) with intent to supply is 14 years, according to United Kingdom law.

Kelly is 27 years old and currently has a 12-5 professional mixed martial arts (MMA) record. He fights out of Team Kaobom in Liverpool and has faced the likes of Donald Cerrone, Dennis Siver and Jacob Volkmann during his UFC career.

Follow James Goyder on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/jamesgoyder.

Mark Kolbe - Getty Images

Unless your names is Brock Lesnar there are no shortcuts into the UFC, a spot on the roster has to be earned the hard way with wins outside the octagon. There are few fighters in the organization today who took quite as long or hard a route as Brian Ebersole, who had already fought 63 times across three different continents when he got the call from Joe Silva.

Ebersole might have been riding a seven fight win streak but he was still far from the matchmakers mind when it came to selecting Australian based fighters for UFC 127 in Sydney. Although he had done well enough on the domestic scene his American passport probably counted against him.

That was until an injury to Carlos Condit forced him off the card and the UFC were left scrambling around for an opponent for Chris Lytle. With less than two weeks to go until the fight many fighters would have thought twice about stepping up to face a seven year UFC veteran on a four fight winning streak.

Not Ebersole, for him it was the opportunity of a lifetime and he had no hesitation in accepting the challenge,

"I couldn't turn down a chance to be in the UFC, when all indications previously pointed to the fact I might not ever get a chance."

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They're back.

Reports about the demise of DREAM appear to have been premature, as the Japanese promotion will be back with a mixed martial arts (MMA) card in late July, although the date is not yet confirmed, and will be headlined by a fight between Shinya Aoki and Kazushi Sakuraba.

MMAmania.com today (May 10, 2012) confirmed an initial report by Fight Sport Asia (via Bloody Elbow) with sources close to one of the fight camps.

Sakuraba is 42 years old and riding a four fight losing streak but remains a legend in Japan where he is immensely popular. Aoki is more of a polarizing figure but he is DREAM's most marketable fighter and saw a seven fight win streak snapped by Eddie Alvarez at Bellator recently.

Who will prevail in this battle of submission skills?

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Another day, another fight announcement from ONE Fighting Championship although, in fairness, it's a good one.

Malaysia's number one mixed martial artist Adam Kayoom faces the fight of his life against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) legend Gregor Gracie in his hometown of Kuala Lumpur.

With 10,200 seats to fill in Stadium Negara, ONE FC needed to find a fighter the Malaysian crowd could really get behind and Kayoom could well be that man. He might not be famous internationally but his martial arts credentials are absolutely impeccable and he holds a black belt in both BJJ and Taekwondo and has won world titles in Muay Thai.

Coincidentally both fighters are coming off wins against the same opponent, Gracie fought his way to a lopsided decision win over Seok Mo Kim at ONE Fighting Championship: 'Champion vs Champion' last September while Kayoom took less than four minutes to drop the Korean and then submit him at DARE Championship 2/11 a few weeks later.

Gracie has a record of 6-1 and is rated by many as the most likely of the current crop of fighters to emerge from MMA's first family to make it to the top. Kayoom has only fought three times and is 2-1 but his only loss was by decision to an opponent who had 13 times as many fights as him.

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Another fight was today (May 8, 2012) added to the card for ONE Fighting Championship: 'Destiny of Warriors,' a lightweight clash between Hong Kong's Eddie Ng and French fighter Arnaud Lepont.

Lepont has been training and fighting in Asia for several years, moving from Vietnam to Thailand and he is now a member of the fight team at Muayfit in Kuala Lumpur. He was a welterweight champion of German promotion Gods of War and has an 8-1 record, none of his nine fights have been the distance.

Ng is one of the stars of ONE FC and has a huge fan following in Singapore. In his last fight he made short work of Lepont's Muayfit team mate Jian Kai Chee and he has a record of 5-1. Just like his opponent he has never been to a decision in his professional career.

The French fighter is one of the top fighters to emerge from Thai promotion DARE Championship and is currently in the semifinals of their welterweight tournament. He will presumably be moving down to 155 pounds to fight Ng who has won two fights out of two for ONE FC.

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The first two fights to be announced for ONE FC 'Destiny of Warriors' which is taking place at Stadium Negara on June 23rd will see Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) experts Renato Sobral and Leandro Issa take take on Japanese veterans Tatsuya Mizuno and Masakazu Imanari.

The main event will feature two fighters who have been on the scene for a long time. Babalu made his debut back in 1997 and has faced the likes of Chuck Liddell, Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson and fought for the UFC title twice, while Mizuno is the number one light heavyweight in Japan and holds stoppage wins over both Melvin Manhoef and Yoshiyuki Nakanishi.

Issa and Imanari are both coming off wins at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the Brazilian battled his way to a unanimous decision over Soo Chul Kim in September while the Japanese leg lock specialist did what he did best against Kevin Imanari in March, forcing him to tap to an inverted heel hook early in their fight.

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MMA in Indonesia has a long history, perhaps more so than any other country in South East Asia with the possible exception of the Philippines. There have been well over 50 MMA events held there in the last ten years but this figure does not tell the entire story.

TPIFC was the Indonesian equivalent of the URCC and put on televised cards almost every other month but unfortunately concerns about the brutality of the sport led to its demise in 2004 leaving a vacuum which has never satisfactorily been filled.

Despite the lack of competitive opportunities Indonesian fighters have continued to practise the elements of MMA, in particular BJJ which black belt Niko Han has done much to develop with his chain of Synergy schools.

The most successful fighter in the country, Fransino Tirta, has only fought four times in the last seven years despite having a world class record. However opportunities are starting to arise with ONE FC, Asia's most prestigious MMA promotion, electing to hold its second ever card in Indonesia in a show which was witnessed by 4,500 people and featured a handful of homegrown fighters.

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New MMA promotions seem to be popping up all over Asia at the moment and one of the latest, Dubai FC, put on an event for the first time ever last night. The main event featured a heavyweight contest between UFC veteran Ricco Rodriguez and a veteran of the UK scene in Stav Economou while the rest of the card contained mainly Middle Eastern fighters.

Long term Dubai resident Malok Omarov made a successful return to MMA after over a year away from the sport. The experienced Muay Thai fighter from Dagestan defeated Stuart Davies from England by TKO in the third round of their fight.

Earlier in the night Brazilian veteran Fabricio Nascimento defeated Iran's Mohammad Naemi by armbar early in the opening round of their fight while while another Iranian, Mohammed Jamshidi, fared only slightly better falling victim to a second round armbar against Michel Maia from Brazil.

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There was a time when Rich Franklin was one of the most dominant fighters in the world. In 24 fights he had only been defeated once, held the middleweight belt, was unbeaten inside the UFC and riding an eight fight win streak.

Then along came 'The Spider,' a relatively unknown Brazilian called Anderson Silva who had been fast tracked to a title shot after beating Chris Leben emphatically in his UFC debut. The rest, of course, is history and Silva is now widely regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet while Franklin's name barely even merits a mention when fight fans are discussing the 185-pound title picture.

Franklin's legacy as one of the most successful middleweights of all time was already secured but by beating him not once, but twice, Silva effectively cast him into the MMA wilderness, expelling him from the weight class which he had made his own and forcing him to bounce around between 195-205 pounds, often accepting fights against much bigger men.

Had Franklin been given the choice he would never have left the middleweight division but he posed a problem to the UFC who decided they could not afford to risk having him kill off any new contenders who might emerge for Silva's crown.

"The UFC knew they couldn't market a third fight between me and Anderson and that is why I was encouraged to move to 205 even though many of the fighters there are much bigger than me. I have spent the last couple of months losing the muscle it took me years to put on and now I am back at 185 I want to make a run for the title."

Bar the two losses to Silva, his record at 185 is immaculate.

As a middleweight he is 8-2 with nine of those fights inside the UFC and five of them for the middleweight title. By contrast, the current number one challenger, Chael Sonnen's tally as a UFC middleweight, stands at a much less impressive 6-3.

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If Rocky IV taught us one thing, it is that the secret to success in combat sport is to train in a cold and inhospitable environment where you can spend all your time chopping down trees and pulling peasants cars out of ditches instead of, say, sparring.

One person who obviously doesn't subscribe to this theory is Ole Laursen. He was born in Manila, grew up in Denmark and has spent the last few years living and training in North East Thailand but recently returned to the Philippines to set up a camp in Boracay.

It is a small island which is home to some of the best beaches in the world and is popular with Filipino tourists but has yet to be inundated with overseas visitors. Laursen trained here for his last two fights, including the famous win over Eduard Folayang, in a recently constructed cage which is situated just a stones throw away from Diniwid Beach.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) is extremely popular in the Philippines and everywhere you go you will see people wearing caps and t shirts with familiar brands on them. However Laursen's Legacy Gym is the first camp set up to cater to martial arts tourists and should be finished in a few months time.

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There weren't too many names which fans outside the Philippines would have been familiar with on the URCC 21 card but there was a full house at the SMX Arena who got to see some of the stars of the future in action.

Eduard Folayang, Eric Kelly and Kevin Belingon are already well established internationally but back home a new generation is emerging which will soon be ready to challenge their status as the top fighters in the country.

One name to look out for is Jonathan Sumogat. He is only 20 years old but he defeated Mark Abrillo in the first round of their fight at URCC 21 to make it three submission wins out of three in his professional MMA career.

Sumogat is a product of Cenojas MMA in Davao and an accomplished grappler who won gold at the 2011 Pan Asian Games. He also looks remarkably young and is likely to quickly outgrow the flyweight division but clearly has the potential to develop into one of the best fighters in the Philippines

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Since moving to Singapore it has all happened for Eddie Ng. He has registered two emphatic first round stoppages, made an army of new fans and finished high on a list of the most eligible bachelors in the country.

The word 'superstar' is often bandied about a bit too easily but in Ng's case it is rapidly becoming applicable. He has the looks and his back to back ONE FC wins are testament to the fact that he also has the ability.

At 26 years old time is also very much on his side and he doesn't seem to be in any danger of letting the attention he has received since arriving at Evolve MMA in Singapore less than a year ago go to his head,

"I try to not think or care too much about any attention. What I do think and care about though is making sure that every day I am improving myself as a martial artist and as a person. I have to continuously train and improve my skills in order to continue finding success in competition. Any sort of recognition or attention is just a by product of being successful in competition."

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The Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) is a decade old this year and has put on 41 events in cities all over the Philippines, making it easily the longest running promotion in South East Asia and one of the most established in the world.

It was founded by husband and wife team Bubbles and Alvin Aguilar in 2002. Alvin is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) black belt who has been involved with mixed martial arts (MMA) in the Philippines since virtually day one and did not form the URCC to make his fortune but because he wanted to bring some sort of regulation to the dangerous and violent underground fighting scene he was involved with at the time.

"Well I happened to start training MMA early and I have never stopped training. I was part of a very violent underground culture that saw people shot, stabbed and killed, all because of martial arts. This is because when one fighter would lose the other camp would never accept defeat. I had to put an end to all of that by making it mainstream in a league for everybody to see to end all the violence. Necessity is the mother of all inventions I guess."

The URCC is sanctioned by the Games and Amusement Board in the Philippines which is the official regulatory body for all combat sports. However it is distinctive from most of the famous promotions in the West because it uses a ring, non conventional weight classes and a ten minute opening round.

According to Alvin this is because he wanted to stay as close to the original spirit of MMA as he possibly could while going down the regulatory road.

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It is no secret that the Super Fight League (SFL) has yet to live up to the owner's lofty expectations. Both the opening shows only sold a handful of tickets and the reaction from the Indian public and media has been muted at best.

However, Sanjay Dutt and Raj Khundra, the Bollywood stars who provide the substantial financial muscle behind the SFL, are not ready to give up just yet -- even if it means abandoning all attempts to actually make the business profitable for the time being.

SFL 3 is taking place in just under two weeks time at the 25,000 capacity IGI Stadium in Delhi and the organizers have taken the unusual step of making tickets available completely free of charge. This is from the SFL facebook:

SFL3 comes to IGI Stadium in New Delhi on May 6! Everyone, collect your free passes from all VLCC and Fitness First centers across Delhi. Hurry, before they run out of passes!

PS: Every party/ person can collect as many passes as they like. We've got a capacity of 10,000 people. What're you waiting for!?

While I am sure that the SFL would not have envisaged needing to give away tickets when booking such a large venue at least the people behind it are adapting to the challenge and looking at alternative ways to lure people into attending their events.

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There are a number of Vietnamese fighters competing at an elite level of mixed martial arts (MMA) with former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le the most notable, although Nam Phan is also on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster and Bao Quach and Tyson Nam have enjoyed success with some mid-tier organizations.

All of these fighters were either born in the United States or, like Le, moved there at a very early age and have represented their adopted countries throughout their career.

There has yet to be a homegrown Vietnamese fighter but in Hanoi, one man is working hard to change that.

Long Van Nguyen is the owner of Vietfighter, which is home to a number of ex pats as well as locals who all train together in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Muay Thai, boxing and, of course, MMA.

Find out after the break why he believes that the sport is just starting to catch on in Vietnam and has a lot of potential to grow.

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A 6-1 record marks out Melvin Yeoh as Malaysia's most successful mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and the sole loss of his career only came about because of a blatant refereeing error. The owner of the Ultimate MMA Gym in Johor Bahru has quickly and quietly gone about making himself the most sought after fighter in the entire country.

His MMA career began in September 2011 when he took on three opponents in the space of a single day at "Mayhem 2," which was organized by Malaysian Fighting Championship in Kuala Lumpur. He beat two of the top local fighters at his weight that day, but it was the culmination of almost two decades of martial arts experience.

"My hometown is Perlis, which is on the border between Malaysia and Thailand, and I started my martial arts journey by taking up Taekwondo lessons at the age of 13 followed by Muay Thai, but I wasn't serious about it. Between the ages of 13-17 I was a troubled teenager who liked to fight in school and on the streets a lot. My grandfather brought me to a martial arts school to allow me to focus my fights in the ring and I started fighting at the age of 14 but stopped when I was 19 as I needed to further my studies in the university."

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Quek Kim Hock had 8,000 Singaporean fans cheering for him when he made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut at ONE Fighting Championship 'War of the Lions.' It was a lot of support but it brought with it a lot of pressure for the 20 year old who was up against a very late replacement in the shape of Japanese American submission specialist Major Overall.

As well as an accomplished opponent who made a successful MMA debut of his own at DARE 1/12 earlier this year Hock also had to deal with the weight of expectation which comes with having a passionate hometown crowd behind you.

When he won the Singapore Indoor Stadium absolutely erupted but had he lost you would probably have been able to hear a pin drop. The victory was particularly well received because Hock had to escape from a leg lock attempt early in the first round which had the crowd holding its collective breath but for the fighter himself it was all in a day's work.

"I can't really remember the leg lock because it all happened in a flash. All I could recall is that he grabbed my leg and I went for the counter instinctively. Of course I was feeling a little nervous as it was my first ever professional fight and there was such a huge crowd but I guess I still enjoyed the attention."

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The Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) is the longest running promotion in South East Asia and the most popular in the Philippines and it is almost a decade since it was first founded by Alvin and Bubbles Aguilar. Next week sees it returning to Manila for the first time in almost six months for what will be the 42nd URCC card.

URCC 21 is taking place at the 12,000 capacity SMX Convention Centre at the Mall of Asia in Manila and will be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Froilan Sarenas and Nicholas Mann. Both men are champions with Sarenas holding the middleweight strap while Mann is the reigning light heavyweight title holder but it is the 3-0 Filipino who is moving up in weight for this fight.

The rest of the card consists mainly of up and coming homegrown fighters who will be competing to follow in the footsteps of Eduard Folayang and become the next fighter from the Philippines to break out onto the international scene and obtain superstar status.

There aren't too many opportunities for 119 lbs fighters outside of the Philippines but the URCC's pinweight division is extremely competitive. The division is currently dominated by 10-0 Rey Docyogen but two of the main contenders to his crown will do battle when Alvin Ramirez takes on Roy Doliguez.

Doliguez is 1-0 in MMA but is best known as a boxer who once fought for the WBO Super Flyweight Title with 12 of his 19 wins coming by way of KO. Ramirez, who has already been beaten by Docyogen twice, is a Yaw Yan (Filipino kickboxing) practitioner who will be looking to improve on his 4-4 record with a second successive win.

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This time last year Allamurad Karayev was a student in Kuala Lumpur who trained regularly but had never given too much thought to competing in mixed martial arts, it was more of a hobby albeit one he showed exceptional aptitude at. The sport has come a long way in Malaysia since then and no-one has achieved more than the 20 year old from Turkmenistan who has established an impeccable 9-0 professional record with nine stoppage wins out of nine.

There are not many flyweight fighters in the world with records which can compare with Karayev's and while the sport is still very young in Malaysia and the competition not as intense as in more established scenes there is no doubt that he has made a very encouraging start to his fighting career.

You only need to see his fights to know that he is very confident in his hands and packs genuine one punch knock out power but he says his style is difficult to define,

"It's hard to say exactly what my style is because back in my country we used to practice boxing style but here I started doing Muay Thai. I would say Muay Thai but with emphasize more on punching rather than kicking. I started learning martial arts when I was 9 years old. Like most of the fighters in the world I stared with Karate. Then after that when I was 13 I stared doing Judo/ Sambo and after that I came to Malaysia when I was 16."

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Ben Askren might have maintained his perfect mixed martial arts (MMA) record and defended the Bellator welterweight belt with the 10th consecutive win of his career over Douglas Lima recently, but it was a performance which didn't win him many fans and provoked a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Afterward, the former two-time NCAA division one champion and US Olympian wrestler was blunt with the audience, telling them that if they didn't want to see the ground game they should go and watch boxing. Ariel Helwani also accused him of being boring and was greeted with equally short shrift.

However, while Askren remains defiant, he is also looking to work on some of the weaker aspects of his game and word coming out of Singapore is that he is expected to spend an extended period of time training at Evolve MMA, possibly with a view to working on finishing fights after a run of six straight decision wins.

Askren's wrestling is world class and he has been working on his striking with Duke Roufus and holds a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). However, he remains primarily a wrestler and it is this base which he has relied upon for all of his recent wins.

If he wants to improve on his striking and submissions there is no better place to do it than Evolve MMA, which is home to no fewer than nine BJJ black belts and some of the most renowned Muay Thai trainers in the world including Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn, Attachai Fairtex, Orono Wor Petchpun and Lamnamoon Sor Sumalee.

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Eduard Folayang is the most popular fighter in the Philippines and one of the fastest rising stars in all of South East Asia but he suffered a surprise setback when he was beaten for only the second time in his career by Ole Laursen at ONE FC 'War of the Lions' last month.

It was as controversial as it was surprising, most felt before that Folayang's superior fitness would make the difference while many who watched the fight believed that the Filipino had done enough to deserve to be on the right end of a split decision after 15 minutes of all out action.

It was a difficult fight to score, although Folayang fans will point to the much more visible damage done to Laursen's face at the end as evidence that their man should have won. You can judge for yourselves:

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