TRIQUEST MMA Goes to Foshan

Sometimes the smallest pebbles dropped into a sea can cause ripples that reach far and wide. Triquest MMA Hong Kong's Coach Thomas Fan, the HKCMMA Association President and Founding Member, has been making forays into South China gyms to introduce MMA. This past weekend, organized by Mark Houghton, he took a group of students to Foshan's Fo Men Wu Guan, where they practice traditional Chinese kung fu, sanda, and Muay Thai. It is an extremely delicate effort, as traditional schools in China think of visiting schools as challengers, not ambassadors.

After Bernard took a bit of enthusiastic pummeling by the Foshan boys, Coach Thomas and the students gave a short introduction on MMA takedowns, the differences in Thai versus MMA clinches, establishing position on the ground, and basic submissions.

Thomas explained to them that with the explosion of MMA in Asia, and the opportunities growing in China such as Legend FC (of which he is Head Referee), RUFF, and the many MMA competitions springing up, expanding their fighting skills will give them greater opportunities for success. China has a throwing art, Shuai Jiao, and is well-conditioned in Judo, however ground fighting is still seen as somewhat demeaning and dishonorable. The more they are exposed to it, hopefully the less these conditioned beliefs will be retained.

 A very big thanks to Thomas Fan for tirelessly promoting the sport of MMA even in the smallest of corners.

July 16, 2011 - Legend FC 5 at City of Dreams

Legend Fighting Championship based out of Hong Kong just held their fifth show at the City of dreams in Macau. this event showcased the first round of a four-man featherweight tournamaent, the inaugural bantamweight championship belt and and the first defense of the welterweight belt. you can see a full write-up of the event here. TRIQUEST members Henry, Victor and Andy were on hand as ring staff. once again, Thomas Fan was head referee and Roger Chau stepped on the canvas to ref as well. but... why isn't Andy in this picture?

because he was backstage for the entire afternoon and throughout the event as the glove manager. eighteen fighters to supervise tape and glove... that's a big job!

joining Thomas and Roger in the ring as refs were our friend Warren Wang from Taiwan and Khomkrit "Killer Bee" Niimi, a black belt and amateur MMA ref from California.

Roger in action! this was between Fransino Tirta of Indonesia and Wu Chenjie of China for the first round of the four-man featherweight tournament. Fransino is a remarkable bjj player and Wu is known as a ground-and-pounder, so Roger had his hands full with action both on the mat and striking. the fight went the distance and Tirta won the decision.

Thomas refereed the main event, the first defense of the welterweight belt by Rod MacSwain against the now-famous gregarious Korean Bae Myoung Ho. Rod made a go of striking and ring control through the first round, but in the second Bae came on strong with his first takedown and then repeatedly ground-and-pounded the Kiwi until the end of the third.

Bae was the winner by unanimous decision and claimed the welterweight title belt as his own.

he happens to be my favorite fighter in all of Legend, so i was very eager to congratulate him! i am even more eager to see who will be his first opponent in defense of the belt.

after a busy night, Roger, Thomas and Warren took a rest with the Legend ring girls.

and then we all headed to the Hard Rock's Flame Bar for a much-needed beer before the epic afterparty.

June 6, 2011 - Kung Fu Supernova!

i thought we were just going to a random shopping mall to do another random BJJ demonstration. it turned out to be a TVB show called "Kung Fu Supernova" in which contestants show off their skills to be the winner. then several celebrity judges slag them off American Idol-style. one of the judges was MC Jin. the mall was packed! here's a nice article about it in the Daily Apple.


our own long-time member Chung Li entered the competition to show "MMA Style" and asked Thomas to assist him.


after ten lackluster performances of muscled guys doing kung fu kicks and acrobatics, the crowd flipped out when they saw MMA in action. there will be a few rounds of competition before we know if Chung won, but from this picture, it looks like it.

May 31, 2011 - Fight Factory Muay Thai and MMA in Hong Kong

Fight Factory - Arena Muay Thai held a tournament in Star Hall and added three MMA matches to the card - fantastic exposure of the sport to fight fans in Hong Kong. Thomas was head referee for the MMA. Impakt fighter Irshaad Sayed soundly defeated a fighter from China Top Team who took the fight on short notice.


and once again the TRIQUEST guys provided ring safety and security.


our buddy Quinton Arendse of Versus Performance Gym putting on his best 'game face'. Quinton got a nice armbar for his win.


our good friend Soisci "PUMA" Porchetta in her first Muay Thai fight back in HK after training in Thailand and winning a world championship belt.

May 22, 2011 - Look who dropped by to train!

during our Saturday no gi/submission/MMA class, Michael Wachter of www.okami-fightgear.com from Germany stopped by to have a roll!

January 28, 2011 - Legend FC 4: Alex Lee's MMA debut

the fourth Legend Fighting Championship was held in Hong Kong on January 28th, and witnessed the advent of "homegrown MMA" as TRIQUEST's own Muay Thai coach Alex Lee became the first Hong Kong-born and trained MMA fighter to enter the ring. but not against model Crissy!


TRIQUEST hosted all of the fighters for their final workout before the event. here's China Top Team - our old friends from previous Legend FCs and Beijing's Art Of War.

at the weigh in, Alex drew roars of applause for his deliberately slow strip down and ice-cold stare down with his opponent, Team Lakay's Mark Eddiva.

Alex gained a sponsorship from Affliction, here's Thomas and Andy pimping the new gear with the Legend FC ring girls.

in his first MMA fight, Alex came out with a bang that got the crowd on their feet. he dominated the first half of the first round with great punching that backed his opponent into the corner, clinching and devastating knees that almost put him down several times. one of those knees caused Alex to slip, and Mark Eddiva was able to gain a superior position on the ground. eventually he caught Alex with a RNC which finished the fight. we were all disappointed, of course, but it's just back in the gym for more BJJ now!

as Head Referee, Thomas was extremely busy as well. here's Adrian Pang with the split decision win over Nam Yiu Chul for the Lightweight Title Belt.

FURY 1 - the FIRST MMA CAGE event in China!

the 21st of May, 2010 heralded in an historic new era of combat entertainment as "FURY 1 - Clash of the Titans" made its debut at the City of Dreams in Macau, the "Las Vegas of China". the first caged fighting event ever to be held in China showcased 9 contests between fighters from Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Thailand, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Scotland, France and the USA. the pace was fast, the fighters were aggressive, the audience was frenzied and only one fight went the distance.

the judges were Henry Fougstedt of South Africa/Macau, Benoit Lotter of France/Hong Kong, and Nathanael Amacker of Switzerland/Taiwan. the referees were Yuji Shimada of Japan, Thomas Fan of UK/Hong Kong and James Chan of UK/Hong Kong. photos of the event can be found on the Triquest Facebook page.

the first match between Sayed Irshaad and Ngoo Ditty was fast, technical and exciting. Irshaad is a Muay Thai fighter who only very recently started some ground training to enter the MMA arena. Ngoo of MMA Phuket knew this and came in with a good gameplan to engage in BJJ. Ngoo obtained some guard and back positions, but Irshaad escaped them all with a calmness usually seen in much more experienced BJJ players, and his excellent combinations finally put him in the dominant position. Irshaad caught Ngoo with an uppercut that backed Ngoo up, then followed it up with a knee which put him on the mat. it was ground and pound until Referee Thomas Fan stopped the fight.

the second fight proved that it was going to be a night of quick finishes. Vaughn Anderson of "Art of War" fame showed superior technical prowess against Ross Lavery of Scotland. Vaughn attempted a couple of great submissions and finally sunk an armbar so deep - from the top - that Ross had to tap with his feet.

the third fight was Artemj Sintenko (a replacement for James Doolan) - who landed at the airport at 5pm - against Takeshi Numajiri. he was very technical with his BJJ, but the trip took a toll on him and the TKO went to Takeshi.

in the fourth fight was local superstar Vuyisile Colossa against Tiger Muay Thai's John Vargas. John came out of his corner supper-aggressive - looking like a pit bull. Vuyisile definitely had some good reach on him in the stand up, and was able to smash his takedown attempts. finally John made a mistake on a single leg attempt and Vuyisile was able to reverse the position to take the back and win by RNC.

the fifth fight showcased Jason Jones of Golden Glory against Minoru Kato, veteran DEEP fighter. the fighters clinched and Jason caught Minoru with a knee to the groin and then landed some mean elbows that opened up a cut in his scalp. Minoru got 5 minutes to recover, but after more blood-slinging around the ring, Jason was given the win by the doctor's stoppage due to the cut.

the sixth fight was the only fight to go the distance. France's Sebastien Garguier was up against Nobuhiro Obiya of DEEP, PRIDE and SHOOTO. Sebastien was dominant in the first round, and Nobuhiro stayed safe enough to come back through the second. the result was a draw, so the two came back for a third round. all three judges scored in favor of Nobuhiro.

the seventh fight was the heavyweight fight of the night between Dion Starling from Golden Glory and Peter Graham. Dion made quick work of Peter and submitted him quickly.

the eighth fight was the main card K-1 rules fight between Ramazan Ramazanov and a Macau Thai boxer who was a last minute replacement for Seigei Vasylier. Ramazan was extremely dominant against the last-minute stand-in, and got the win.

the final fight was the much awaited match between France's Antony Rea (of CFC, PFC, fightFORCE and Bodog) and Yoshiki Takahashi (veteran of Sengoku, Bodog, K-1, Pride and Pancrase). Antony clearly had a reach advantage, but Takahashi didn't appear to be afraid of it. he took a few kicks, and unfortunately one landed in his groin area and he went down hard. he took the full five minutes to recover. when he got back up, he gamely faced Antony and a few exchanges took place, but Takahashi broke his toe and was unable to stand or continue.

it was and exciting event, and i can't wait to see more fighters get the chance to fight in a cage here!

UFC 112 this coming Sunday

UFC 112 - billed as "Invincible" - looks to live up to it. there will be not just one, but TWO titles up for grabs: Middleweight and Lightweight. a spectacular Welterweight fight makes it a show not to be missed. it's the first event to be held in the Middle East, in the Jiujitsu Mecca of Abu Dhabi, whose Sheiks have supported the immense growth and popularity of Brazilian Jiujitsu and most recently the growth of MMA in China through the Art Of War events. so, if you don't stay up too late on Saturday night at Fong Ji May or make the decision for "just one more" in Wanchai, then plan on joining us to watch the show aired live.

Thomas' homeboy Paul Taylor will be one of the first fights on the card. he's been in the UFC for about 3 years, and his record has been 3 wins and 4 losses, with all but one of those fights going to decision. this time around, he's matched up with John Gunderson who is much lighter and shorter, and fighting in only his second time in the Octagon. so it looks good for Paul, right? don't be so quick to root for homeslice. Gunderson's got an impressive record of 22-7-0 with 5 KOs and 15 submissions. it will be an interesting fight given these two guys' stylistic differences. i'm not calling this one. at least not until i see them enter the ring.

Renzo Gracie. Matt Hughes. how do you even begin to assess the coolness of this fight? Renzo travels to Abu Dhabi 10 times a year, yet amazingly this is the first time in the UFC (he was fighting in Pride when the Fertita brothers first approached him after they bought the organization so he couldn't join). Hughes has been fighting in UFC since UFC 22. neither of these guys asked for the match up, so UFC has definitely got a magic recipe for success. personally, i like to see Hughes spanked at every available opportunity, but i don't discount his supreme abilities. still... i'll go on record... WAR RENZO!!!

the Prodigy is back in the ring! BJ Penn defends his Lightweight title against Frankie Edgar. how'd this guy get a shot at the title? well, he's beat guys like Tyson Griffin, Hermes Franca and Sean Sherk. and in last December's finale of TUFF 10, he RNCed Matt Veach. but BJ Penn hasn't lost a Lightweight fight in 10 years! i don't really see him giving that belt away now, but anything's possible in MMath. BJ Penn, win by some totally awesome jiujitsu technique.

for the Middleweight championship, Demian Maia finally gets a shot to take the belt from Anderson Silva. the Spider has 10 wins in the Octagon and is billed as the pound-for-pound best fighter. he is currently tied for the most title defenses, and only one of those went to a decision. if he wins the next fight, he will make a new record for the longest title holder. Demien Maia has won 4 "submission of the night" awards in the UFC, won the Abu Dhabi submission championship in 2007, fights with Wandy's camp and has only lost one fight in his professional career. he's had some very impressive fights, but the Spider's list of defeated opponents reads like a high-paid hitman: from Shooto to Pride to Cage Rage to UFC, he's downed the likes of Carlos Newton, Dan Henderson, Thales Leites, Rich Franklin and Forrest Griffin. the Middleweight division has seen some great match ups and tremendous talent, and this fight will hopefully bring more excitement. i would really like to see both of them stand up for a while but Demian will be sure to be careful. he might do better to try his ground game. but this is Anderson Silva we're talking about. he's a phenom. and after this fight, i think he'll remain on that level. Silva by KO, 2nd round.