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Babalu vs. Manhoef to Headline One FC’s Third Event in March

(No matter how many times his trainers warned him against it, Melvin was convinced that he would become the first person to pull off the Statue of Liberty play in mixed martial arts competition.)

Exciting news today comes compliments of upstart Asian promotion One Fighting Championship. In addition to signing a ten year television partnership with ESPN Star Sports, One FC announced at a press conference this morning that their third event will be headlined by Strikeforce veterans Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Melvin Manhoef squaring off in a light heavyweight contest.

After a successful debut event back in September of 2011, One FC signed a huge partnership deal with over 15 smaller promotions and 23 gyms and announced plans to put on 3 different shows in 3 different countries in 2012. The second show, titled “Battle of Heroes,” will transpire on February 11th from Jakarta, Indonesia, and features a heavyweight tilt between Bob Sapp and Rolles Gracie as well as a headlining lightweight bout pairing Pancrase one-timer Felipe Enomoto against 5-2 K-1 veteran Ole Larson.

One FC 3, which is set to go down on March 31st from the Singapore Indoor Stadium, will also feature Japanese leglock master Masakazu Imanari facing off against undefeated prospect Kevin Belingon, Eduard Folayang, Zorobabel Moreira, and Eddie Ng taking on unnamed opponents, and Singapore’s own Nicole Chua making her MMA debut. It’s nice to see a small promotion gaining some momentum, no?

We last saw Babalu suffer a first round KO loss to Dan Henderson back in their December 2010 rematch; apparently the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion has been recovering over the past year from a brutal snowboarding accident that happened shortly thereafter. Who would’ve guessed? Fun fact: Babalu was the focus of a 2009 music video from Massachusetts based heavy metal kings Shadows Fall.

Manhoef has not fought a MMA match since falling to a first round submission (go figure) at the hands of Tim Kennedy at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson in March of 2011, and has dropped 5 of his last 7 mixed martial arts contests. His luck in the kickboxing world has not been much better; Manhoef last competed just three days ago at It’s Showtime 2012 in Leeuwarden, where he dropped a unanimous decision to 7th ranked heavyweight contender Tyrone Sprong. You can find that video after the jump, courtesy of IronForgesIron.

(No matter how many times his trainers warned him against it, Melvin was convinced that he would become the first person to pull off the Statue of Liberty play in mixed martial arts competition.)

We last saw Babalu suffer a first round KO loss to Dan Henderson back in their December 2010 rematch; apparently the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion has spent the past year recovering from a brutal snowboarding accident that happened shortly thereafter. Who would’ve guessed? Fun fact: Babalu was the focus of a 2009 music video from Massachusetts based heavy metal kings Shadows Fall.

Manhoef has not fought a MMA match since falling to a first round submission (go figure) at the hands of Tim Kennedy at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson in March of 2011, and has dropped 5 of his last 7 mixed martial arts contests. His luck in the kickboxing world has not been much better; Manhoef last competed just three days ago at It’s Showtime 2012 in Leeuwarden, where he dropped a unanimous decision to 7th ranked heavyweight contender Tyrone Spong. You can find that video after the jump, courtesy of IronForgesIron.

Manhoef/Spong

In other fight booking news, TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson, who is coming off a unanimous decision win over Yves Edwards at the TUF 14 Finale, is set to take on 67 fight veteran Dennis Hallman at UFC on Fox 3 on May 5th. Hallman, who, after missing weight for his UFC 140 fight with John Makdessi and forcing the bout to be held at a catchweight, was able to score a first round submission over the Canadian to keep his Zuffa future safe for the time being. We would go into the incident that originally put Hallman on thin ice, but no one really wants to relive that.

What say you, Potato Nation, who takes these?

-J. Jones

This Poster is Probably the Only Time You’ll See the Words ‘Prestigious’ and ‘Bob Sapp’ Next to One Another

Now this…makes us nervous. Many of you probably remember the inaugural ONE FC: Champion vs. Champion event that took place back in early September, which featured a plethora of previously unheard of talent in addition to a ton of great fights. Shortly thereafter, CEO and owner Victor Cui announced that his promotion had big plans for 2012, which included adding over 23 gyms and 15 promotions to their partnership and scheduling three events in three different countries. Though it wouldn’t do much to detract from the UFC’s ever-expanding market, many of us looked at ONE FC as the spark that could possibly reignite the Asian MMA scene, a flame that had long been quelled since the demise of PRIDE.

If the above poster for ONE FC’s second event, entitled Battle of Heroes, says anything, it’s that PRIDE is back. Unfortunately, it might not the epic, blood soaked glory PRIDE that we were all hoping for, but rather, the ridiculous, freak show fight filled PRIDE that we both loved and silently resented for all those years.

Featuring none other than perennial punching bag Bob Sapp pasted atop its logo, it’s safe to say that this poster has surpassed Lindsay Lohan’s Playboy photos as the most disappointing thing we have seen in quite some time. No, we are not providing a link to Ms. Lohan’s photos. They’re really not worth your time anyway.

Now, we understand that ONE FC is in the early stages of its life, and that bringing in wider audiences is the number one goal of any promotion; you have to get your name out there, one way or another, and bringing in someone like Bob Sapp is surefire way to get you some attention. But Bob Sapp does not bring the kind of attention that a young organization may necessarily want. The man is a black hole (no pun intended) in the MMA universe, a publicity stunt of a fighter if there ever was one. Let us not forget that this is the man who once fought a Japanese cartoon character.

Worst of all, Sapp is scheduled to face Rolles Gracie. Yeah, the same Rolles Gracie who disgraced his family’s name in one of the most pathetic octagon appearances of all time back at UFC 109. So, not only do we get Bob Sapp, but now we have to sit through a match in which he won’t even be dispatched via some satisfying form of KO or TKO? To quote Will Ferrell, “WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!”

Battle of Heroes is set to go down February 11th in Jakarta, Indonesia.

What do you think of this, Potato Nation? Bad idea, or worst idea?

-Danga

One FC Announces Major Collaboration, Three Events in Three Countries in 2012

In what may be the biggest game changer in Asian MMA history, Singapore based upstart promotion One FC has recently announced a major partnership with over 15 smaller promotions spanning from Australia to India. One FC, who you might remember held a rather successful inaugural event back in September, released a list of the organizations they had gained exclusive partnerships with in a recent statement:

URCC (Philippines), Cage Fighting Championship (Australia), ROAD Fighting Championship (Korea), DARE Championship (Thailand), Team Lakay Wushu (Philippines), Tiger Muay Thai and MMA (Thailand), Tigers Gym (India), Evolve Mixed Martial Arts (Singapore), Legacy Gym (Thailand), Tough MMA (Taiwan), Synergy Jiu-Jitsu (Indonesia), Juggernaut FC (Singapore), Fightworks Asia (Singapore), PAK MMA (Pakistan), Team Force (Korea), MuayFit (Malaysia), Leverage MMA (Malaysia)

Aside from this list, CEO/Owner Victor Cui announced that they would be adding 23 more gyms and promotions to their network in the following weeks in an effort to “unify Asian MMA and to build the sport that we all love dearly.” Cui continued:

URCC (Philippines), Cage Fighting Championship (Australia), ROAD Fighting Championship (Korea), DARE Championship (Thailand), Team Lakay Wushu (Philippines), Tiger Muay Thai and MMA (Thailand), Tigers Gym (India), Evolve Mixed Martial Arts (Singapore), Legacy Gym (Thailand), Tough MMA (Taiwan), Synergy Jiu-Jitsu (Indonesia), Juggernaut FC (Singapore), Fightworks Asia (Singapore), PAK MMA (Pakistan), Team Force (Korea), MuayFit (Malaysia), Leverage MMA (Malaysia)

With today’s announcement, many of the top MMA organizations and gyms in Asia have joined hands. These strong partnerships will help to accelerate the development of Asian fighters and the sport of MMA in the region. Asian fighters need platforms to gain invaluable experience and to showcase their skills to the world.

Damn, playa. DW would be proud.

Since the fallout of Pride, there is little denying that the opportunities for Asian mixed martial artists have shrank considerably. Under this new deal, any fighter signed under One FC will be able to compete under 5 different smaller banners (Cage Fighting Championships, Road FC, URCC and Dare Championships) for the opportunity to be called up to OneFC based on their performances, in turn allowing One FC to promote upwards of 30 events in 2012.

And, proving the theory that people on that side of the world simply work more efficiently than us, One FC has already announced three events to transpire across three countries in 2012. Though no fights have been announced, the first event will take place on February 11th in Kelapa Gading Sports Mall in Jakarta, Indonesia. The second, at the 12,000 capacity Singapore Indoor Stadium on March 31st. The third, will be the first ever major MMA event held in Malaysia, and will go down at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur on April 27th.

With the DREAM promotion currently hovering between “sporadic” and “possibly going under”, it is great to see that there is hope for the face of Asian MMA, and with a CEO as ambitious as Cui, it seems the sky is the limit for One FC.

-Danga

ONE FC: Champion vs Champion — Impressions From the First Event

Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo. PicProps: onefc.com

OK, first: if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:

Eduard Folayang vs A Sol Kwon
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Phil Baroni
Mitch Chilson vs Eric Kelly
Gregor Gracie vs Seok Mo Kim
Andy Wang vs Zorobabel Moreira

Under card

Eddie Ng vs Yuan Chun Bo
Radeem Rahman vs Susovan Ghosh
Vuyisile Colossa vs Ma Xing Yu
Daniel Mashamaite vs Yodsanan Sityodong
Soo Chul Kim vs Leandro Issa

Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk. Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.

Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo. PicProps: onefc.com

OK, first: if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:

Eduard Folayang vs A Sol Kwon
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Phil Baroni
Mitch Chilson vs Eric Kelly
Gregor Gracie vs Seok Mo Kim
Andy Wang vs Zorobabel Moreira

Under card

Eddie Ng vs Yuan Chun Bo
Radeem Rahman vs Susovan Ghosh
Vuyisile Colossa vs Ma Xing Yu
Daniel Mashamaite vs Yodsanan Sityodong
Soo Chul Kim vs Leandro Issa

Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk. Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.

Much the excitement for the event came from the comparisons to PRIDE. According to ONE’s website, they utilize “a combination rule set of global MMA best practices, blending Asian and non-Asian rules”, meaning no restriction to elbow, knee, or kicking attacks on a grounded opponent. We didn’t see any at the first event, and I’m still not entirely clear on how the fighters were instructed.

They didn’t get Lenne Hardt (AKA The Crazy Screaming PRIDE Lady), but they did get Yuji Shimada (AKA “I don’t care, kill him. Do you want to win?”) in to referee.

It does seem that ONE is shooting for high production values as PRIDE did, but there were no grand displays. No elaborate entrances, although there was an amusingly eclectic mix of music chosen for walkouts, which led to the revelation that Bas Rutten digs Lady Gaga and Johnny Cash. The crowd was relatively sparse in the 12,000 capacity stadium, but they were an enthusiastic bunch.

And with good reason: the card was full of good action throughout.

For the grappling fans: Kelly vs Chilson, BJJ aces vs South Koreans named “Kim”. Both Gregor Gracie and Leandro Issa outpointed Kims, and there was jits popping out all over the place. Gracie’s opponent Seok Mo Kim had outstanding submission defense, escaping a triangle and surviving multiple arm triangle chokes from Gracie, who is going to be catching hell from family for failing to finish a fight in which he scored and maintained mount for minutes at a time. Kelly took home a $5K bonus for sub of the night for sleeping Chilson with a standing RNC.

For the KO junkie: Sityodong vs Mashamaite, Ng vs Bo, Colossa vs Yu, Rahman vs Ghosh. Both Ng and Bo are generally favorites of livebloggers everywhere. Beats the hell out of Magomed Sultanakhmedov, Georgi Karakhanyan, and Jadamba Narantungalag, is all I’m saying.

For the “PRIDE mismatch to make the home team look like a ninja” fan: Rahman vs Ghosh. Raheem Rahman picked up the $5K knockout of the night bonus after plowing through his opponent in the first.

For the sadist: Moreira vs Wang. Not a gory fight, but painful nonetheless. Yuji Shimada has seen some world-class ass whoopings in his lifetime, so don’t expect him to stop a fight unless someone’s ear falls off. If a fighter wants to continue to soak up punishment in the second round, Shimada is willing let him. And the fighter does. So Shimada does.

Fight of the night: Folayang vs Kwon. Supposedly a mismatch on paper, this was a fast-paced, even contested fight with lots of fun kick technique and some wild exchanges. Go watch it.

Notes to Victor Cui (ONE CEO): Can you hook up with HDNET? That would be great, then we can watch these in high def, and rewind when Folayang and Kwon are moving to damn fast for us to follow. Also, a little pyrotechnics never hurt nobody.*

All in all a fun event, albeit short of rivaling PRIDE’s inaugural event or UFC’s current dominance. If the first broadcast is any indication, ONE FC will be the leader in MMA in the eastern hemisphere in short order. I know I’ll tune in again.

[RX]

*Not intended to be a factual statement.