Ten Sabahan MMA fighters make quarters
Published on: Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Ten Sabahan mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters made it to the quarter-finals of Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts (MIMMA) Season Four at Paradigm Mall, Petaling Jaya, last weekend.The fighters are Saifudin Adnan in Lightweight division, Joel Nickolson Lawrence (Bantamweight), Erexy Menual Madi (Lightweight), Lennon Ginibun (Flyweight), Tham Yaw Kent (Heavyweight), Lesley Dulamit (Bantamweight), Mohd Hasbullah Sanmin (Flyweight), Hafizul Hakim (Featherweight), Liew Ming Lun John Quency (Bantamweight) and Eddey Kalai (Flyweight).Initially, 28 fighters from Sabah had qualified for the ladder matches who were chosen out of about 1,500 hopefuls during the tryouts of the fourth season of MIMMA held since early this year.ADVERTISEMENT Of the ten qualifiers, Hafizul and Eddey were last season's finalists and they are on the right track to redeem themselves in this year's grand finals. They had shown much improvement and driven with the determination to extend their journey in the competition, both fighters knocked out their opponents in the ladder matches.Hafizul even dominated his opponent Terry Ng Sek Fong from Kuala Lumpur, ending the fight in an impressive 31 seconds while Eddey knocked out Hazman Noah (KL) to move to the next phase of the competition.Saifudin also won over Wong Teck Yu from Johor via technical knockout after some hard ground and pound action. Joel signed a victory over William Lim Chin Hong from Penang through unanimous decision while Erexy gained his win over Amir Arif Nor Azduan via submission (rear naked choke).ADVERTISEMENT Lennon defeated Ng Chin Jie from Penang through submission (Americana from scarf hold) while Tham bested Dhanaprabu Vijayan from KL via unanimous decision.Both Lesley and Mohd Hasbullah triumphed over their opponents, Cheot Yao Zong (Penang) and Fikhrul Izzat (Penang), respectively through submissions.
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John Quency subdued Wan Raziq Matin from Selangor via a reverse armbar. The MIMMA quarter-finals are scheduled for May 28-29. MIMMA is mooted by Jason Lo and the Minister of Youth and Sports, Khairy Jamaluddin with the objective of developing the MMA scene in Malaysia by focusing on the grassroots level to create a stronger base for the sport locally.This fighting championship is for all Malaysian citizens aged 18 years old and above and divided into seven weight classes – flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight. Aspired to be the biggest amateur MMA fighting championship in Asia, MIMMA will also be featuring the largest prize money ever for a local tournament.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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For the record, Sabah has produced three MIMMA champions, namely Adrian Tham and Allen Chong who won the heavyweight and lightweight title, respectively, in MIMMA Season One and Darren Low, the reigning heavyweight champion since Season Two.For more information and update on MIMMA4, visit www.malaysianinvasion.com.