Thailand’s premier mixed martial arts organization, DARE Fight Sports has signed a three year broadcasting Partnership with Seven Star Entertainment / Tiger TV, one of China’s leading entertainment companies.

The partnership sees DARE events being broadcast in China on the country’s largest TV network CCTV-5 and on NBC Sports in the United States. The agreement includes programming of both DARE’s past and upcoming events on a television platform that reaches approximately 700 million homes.

DARE’s most recent event was a secret, underground show which took place last September at a venue in Bangkok which was only disclosed to the invitation only audience. In total the promotion, which was founded in 2011, has held five shows to date.

According to DARE founder Jussi Saloranta there are plans in the work for more events in 2014 and the promotion is set to expand outside of Thailand,

“We are very excited about this partnership with Seven Star and having DARE introduced to Chinese and American audiences. In total DARE looks to hold another 3 events in 2013, followed by our first event outside of Thailand next year,” he said

For more information visit: www.darefightsports.com/

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by James Goyder

Denver Cuello will finally get to challenge Xiong Zhao Zhong for his WBC straw weight title in a bout which is set for Dubai on June 28th.

Cuello (33-4-6) has been the mandatory challenger since May 2012 but initially accepted money to step aside and allow Zhong the opportunity to become the first Chinese fighter to win a world title in boxing history.

Zhong (20-4-1) won the belt with a unanimous decision win over Javier Martinez Resendiz in China last November and the fight against Cuello, who hails from Iloilo, will be his first defence.

Cuello has held the WBC silver title  and international title at 105 lbs but this will be his first time fighting for a fully fledged world title. Zhong has spent most of his career competing at 112 and 108 lbs and has never won a fight outside of China.

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by James Goyder

One Songchai Promotions has a major show booked for June 3rd at Rajadamnern Stadium which will be headlined by a lightweight bout between Pakorn Sakyotin and Peneak Sitnumnoi.

Pakorn is coming off a close and controversial defeat at the hands of Diesellek Udonmuang at Lumpinee Stadium earlier this month while Peneak’s last fight in Bangkok saw him beat Petpanomrung Wor Sangprapai in another extremely competitive fight.

The matchup is set for 131 lbs which means Pakorn, who has a tendency to get himself involved in ‘Fight of the Year’ contenders will have to shed a few extra pounds but should be slightly bigger on the night than his Phuket based opponent.

Also on the card will be joint ‘Fighter of the Year’ winner Saengmanee Sor Thienpo who is taking on Phonkrit Cho.Chuankamon in a super flyweight matchup while superfeatherweights Superbank M.Rattanabandit and Singthongnoi Por. Telakun are set to do battle.

Saengmanee will be joined on the card by his 13 coins team mate  Lamnampong Por.Todsapon who will be taking on another top ranked bantamweight in the shape of Chokpreecha Kor.Sakulcher.

The action get underway at 6:30pm

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by James Goyder

The semi finals of Malaysian Invasion took place at the Paradigm Mall in Kuala Lumpur last weekend and after three rounds of action in the Tune Talk sponsored tournament there are only two fighters remaining in each weight class.

The finals are set for Stadium Negara on June 15th and tickets are on sale now for this historic event which will see Malaysian amateur champions crowned for the first time in the country’s history, with a couple of professional fights also rumoured to be in the making.

Around 500 fighters entered this tournament, which is being shown every Wednesday night all across Asia on the Star Sports channel, with the standard getting increasingly higher as the competition progresses.

Among the fighters to be eliminated at the semi final stage were Lim  Zhee Sien who is 6-1-1 as a professional and Teh Kah Wei who is a veteran of three professional fights while finalists to look out for include Keanu Subba, brother of ONE FC flyweight Gianni, flyweight Kenny Yap, who has a 3-1 pro record, and heavyweight Adrian Tham who holds a win over ONE FC featherweight contender Jian Kai Chee.

Heavyweight
Mohd Narshaiful aka Badang beat Christopher Leow by submission (strikes)
Adrian ‘Tuck Man’ Tham beat Mohd Fitri Abdul Jalil by submission (armbar)

Middleweight
Hafiz Salam Chandran beat Cheang Tak Woei by TKO
Jim Chong beat Irfain Rizain by submission

Welterweight
Chew Chee Chan beat Teh Kah Wei by decision
Ooi Aik Tong beat Rezza Azim by submission (rear naked choke)

Lightweight
Sharma Chandran beat  Chew Chee Hui by submission (triangle choke)
Allen Chong beat Lim  Zhee Sien by decision

Featherweight
Muhammad Ikram beat Mohd Khairul Anwar by TKO
Keanu Subba beat Naimul Amal by submission (rear naked choke)

Bantamweight
Muhammad Aiman beat Bryan Lim by decision
Prabu ‘Superman’ Somanaidu beat Arthur Kah Bowie by decision

Flyweight
Ngeoh Jian Chong beat Julian ‘Johan’ Lee by decision
Kenny Yap beat Muhd Faizal by decision

MIMMA FINALS, June 15, 2013, Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ngeoh Jian Chong vs Kenny Yap (Flyweight)
Prabu ‘Superman’ Somanaidu vs Muhammad (Bantamweight)
Muhammad Ikram vs Keanu Subba (Featherweight)
Allen “Solomon” Chong vs Sharma Chandran (Lightweight)
Ooi Aik Tong vs Chew Chee Chan (Welterweight)
Hafiz Salam Chandran vs Jim Chong (Middleweight)
Mohd Narshaiful aka Badang vs Adrian Tham (Heavyweight)

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Phil Baroni is returning to the Philippines and looking to score a second successive highlight reel KO in Manila. Last time out he blasted through Brazilian Rodrigo Ribeiro and this time around the ‘New York Badass’ wants to do the same thing to Japanese knock out specialist Nobutatsu Suzuki.

Suzuki’s nine wins have all come by way of KO which could be a recipe for fireworks when he steps inside the cage with Baroni at ONE FC: ‘Rise to Power’ which is set for the 20,000 capacity SM Mall of Asia Arena on May 31st.

The tickets are almost sold out with only the top two tiers still on sale and as Baroni prepares to board a flight to the Philippines for the second time he caught up with Combat Asia to talk about the fight in his own inimitable style….

Have you seen any of Nobutatsu Suzuki’s fights and are you confident you can beat him?
I’m very confident I can beat him . I’ve never took a fight I didn’t think I would win. And this fight is no different. I’m going to smash him, I’m having a great training camp and I’ll come ready.

Suzuki’s wins are all KO / TKO, are you hoping to get in a first round slugfest and do you think he will oblige you?
Thats the plan and if he obliges he is going to get knocked out , simple as that.

If you win this fight are you hoping the next one will be for the ONE FC belt?
When I win this fight and i blast this chump like shit through a goose I see my self in line for a championship fight.

How have you found fighting for ONE FC?
I love it. I love everything about the promotion. I’m a a huge fan of ONE FC the rules set, everything about the promotion.

Are you looking forward to fighting in the Philippines again?
I love the Philippines, the fans the women, everything about the place is great. Everyone speaks English, it’s my home away from home in Asia. It’s a city and Im a NYer. What’s not to love about Manila?

Where are you training for this fight, are you planning on spending any time training in Asia?
Yeah when i get to Manila I’ll train at Submission Sports Philippines. I trained there a bit before my last fight and I like the guys at the gym a lot, they have a good crew. Erwin Tagle owns the gym and they’re at a prime new location, I cant wait to check it out and support them.

You’ve fought for both Pride and ONE FC, how do the two promotions compare?
Well first of all they’re both in Asia and a long flight but seriously I love one fc and i think its going to be bigger than pride. ONE FC is focused on all of asia not just one country. there focused on devoloping asian mma. not just japaneese mma and a bunch of cool characters from other countrys to kick there home grown talents ass. I believe in ONE FC and its future in Asian MMA . I believe its going to be far bigger than PRIDE ever was because of its commitment to growing the sport all over Asia and recruiting Asias best talent and not just focused on one country and its fighters as PRIDE did in Japan.

How much of a boost was it beating Rodrigo Ribeiro in your last ONE FC fight?
it was a huge boost, like a shot of tripple strength TRT in each delt ha ha

How do you enjoy fighting under the ONE FC rule set?
i love it, you can call it one fc rule set or i like to call it NYC rules. This is how i grew up fighting on long island and in queens. i think im pretty fucking good at it.

Are there any opponents at 170 lbs you are particualrly looking to fight?
Yeah id love to fight Minowaman again in one fc , same with Sakuari. I think it would be great to fight one of them for the one fc welter weight title. i think they would both be great opponents for a title in ONE FC. Fuck Minowa man was the super hulk champion in pride. sakuari was a shooto champion and he KOed Aoki in Dream, the ONE FC light weight champ. I think both would be great fights that mean something in the Asian MMA scene. But what the fuck do I know , you probly noticed im not Asian

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by James Goyder

Unbeaten Thai welterweight Teerachai Kratingdaenggym retained his PABA 147 lbs title in Bangkok this afternoon but he had to survive a sixth round knockdown to get past determined Uzbek challenger Behzod Nabiev.

For the first two rounds Teerachai controlled the action firing away with jabs which consistently connected with the face of Nabiev. The Uzbek fighter responded by changing his strategy and started to press forwards and close the range which neutralized the straight punches of the champion and made for some closer rounds.

Teerachai was clearly much less comfortable working on the inside than he had been staying behind the jab but still held his own in rounds which contained more clinching than clean punches, until he was floored with a wild left hook in the sixth which left him flat on his back on the floor.

The punch appeared to take Teerachai by surprise as the fighters were moving away from each other when it landed. Initially it looked like he could be out cold but he got to his feet and seemed to have have regained his senses sufficiently once the fight restarted to stay out of trouble until the end of the round.

It could have been a turning point in the fight but Nabiev was unable to consolidate on his good work in the sixth as Teerachai picked him apart with the jab and started to find a home for the straight right follow up. Another wild left hook from the Uzbek landed clean in the seventh but this time the champion wore it well.

Rounds eight and nine followed the same pattern with Nabiev holding his own whenever he managed to close Teerachai down and go to work on the inside but finding himself constantly on the receiving end of jabs and crosses when the Thai fighter was able to maintain the range.

In round ten Nabiev was wobbled for the first time in the fight when a one-two combination from Teerachai sent him stumbling back but he never looked like going down and again succeeded in neutralizing the Thai fighters straight punches by pressing forwards and instigating close range exchanges.

In the 11th Nabiev went looking for another knockdown with more wild hooks but this time  Teerachai saw them coming and countered with a solid straight right hand. The Uzbek probably knew he was behind and started charging forwards in the final round, more often than not ending up in his opponent’s arms.

Nabiev was gesticulating to the referee and roaring with frustration, perhaps feeling that Teerachai was being allowed to get away with grabbing him too frequently, but he let his emotions get the better of him by blatantly throwing a punch on the break, leading to a point deduction which effectively ended what little chance he might have had of winning a decision.

The judges scored the fight 116-112, 115-110 and 116-112 to Teerachai who retains his PABA 147 bs title and moves up to 20-0 while Nabiev drops to 21-5-1 after suffering his third straight loss. The Thai fighter, who was knocked down for the first time in his boxing career, has plenty to work on if he wants to go from being a regional champion to challenging for an actual world title but his perfect professional record remains intact.

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An inspirational video put together by Evolve MMA. With World Champions in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, Boxing, Wrestling, Submission Grappling, and more, the Evolve Fight Team is Asia’s most decorated professional fight team.

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By James Goyder

Three weight Lumpinee champion Saketdao Petphayathai will fight on American soil for the second time tomorrow morning (Thai time) when he defends his WBC super lightweight belt against top rated Japanese fighter Tetsuya Yamato.

Saketdao won the belt by stopping American Kevin Ross in the third round of their bout in Los Angeles in 2011 and returns to the US to defend it for the second time. He will be one of four Thai fighters on the card at M-One Reborn in California.

There will be another WBC belt on the line when Jomhod Eminentair takes on Romie Adanza. The Thai fighter is a former Channel 7 champion and a veteran of Lumpinee and Rajadamnern Stadium who has around ten times as many fights as his American adversary.

Saketdao trains at the famous Kiatpetch gym in Bangkok and his team mate Tarongdej Petchpayathai will also be in action at M-One. He is taking on England’s Charlie Peters, who made a name for himself competing in Phuket, in a fight which will have an MTAA title at stake.

The final Thai on the card is Superbon Lukjaomaesaiwaree who will be going up against Craig Jose. The Scottish fighter is best known for putting in a fearless display in a losing effort against the notoriously hard hitting Saiyok Pumpanmuang in Leicester last year.

While the stadiums in Bangkok remain the ultimate proving ground successful Thai fighters now have access to overseas fighting opportunities in a way which their predecessors never did due to the rising international popularity of Muay Thai.

In March former Olympic gold medal winning boxer Somluck Kamsing travelled to the US to compete in Muay Thai while Contender Asia winner Yodsaenklai Fairtex fought in Las Vegas earlier this year and will be returning for another bout in July.

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