Bashir Ahmad, MMA Pioneer in Pakistan and founder of PAKMMA was victorious in his ONEFC Debut at ONEFC 8 in Singapore on April 5th. Bashir Ahmad came back from a nasty cut above his eye to win a unanimous decision win over his game Thai opponent Shannon “OneShin” Wiratchai.
More news and backstage info to come soon!
A typical Sunday evening in Karachi usually witnesses people going out with friends or relatives, chilling in their homes, watching TV or worrying about what Monday might bring. But on 15 July 2012, it was a different Sunday evening. Karachi witnessed its first ever Mixed Martial Arts event held at THIRD GENERATION MIXED MARTIAL ARTS (3G-MMA) near Nipa Chowrangi. It was titled “3G -SMOKER” and showcased fighters mainly from 3gMMA and ACT-ONE MUAY THAI. Also, there were fighters who train independently or are trained in traditional style of Martial Arts like Karate and Taekwondo.
The show started with the demonstration of Martial Arts Skills performed by Sir. Nadeem and his students then founder and head trainer at 3G-MMA Ovais Shah performed spectacular skills by breaking ice blocks with elbow strikes and kicks and my favorite; breaking a tile with his thumb.
Hammad vs. Irtesam
The demo got the crowd warmed up for an exhibition grappling match between Irtesam and Hammad. These two brothers who are 14 and 12 respectively are deaf by birth but love mixed martial arts and especially grappling. They both showed great skills that left the crowd in awe. The match was of two three minute rounds; one with more submissions wins the fight. Hammad won that match 2-0.
Qasim vs. Khizer
For the main card, the rules were simple, 3 x 3 minute rounds with no elbows or knees allowed in any position. The first fight was between Qasim of 3G-MMA and Khizer who is a Black Belt in Bando-Karate. This was a one side affair from the word go Qasim was the aggressor who repeatedly landed devastating blows and referee stopped the fight in the first round.
Ali Usmani vs. Asif
Next up was a fight between Ali Usmani of 3G-MMA and Asif of ACT-ONE. This was a see-saw battle it was ASIF who drew first blood with a couple of right hands that dazed Ali but Ali came back and took the fight to the ground, landed a few strikes before securing a rare-naked choke. There was a bit of a controversy as after the fight, Ali in the heat of the moment celebrated with some obscene gestures that left Asif’s corner protesting. So for the sake of the sport the decision was reversed to a No-Contest.
Shahid vs. Ebad
Third fight of the main card was a Muay Thai Fight between Shahid of 3gMMA and Ebad of ACT-ONE. It was a good fight to watch as Ebad was trying to push the pace as Shahid was keeping things technical. Shahid started landing some good counter strikes that started to take a toll on Ebad and eventually the fight was stopped by the referee. Shahid won by a TKO.
Hassan vs. Fayyaz
Next fight was another Muay Thai fight between Hassan of 3GMMA and Fayyaz of ACT-ONE. This was a battle of attrition as both guys matched well against each other. Both guys landed good technical strikes, Hassan used his reach where as Fayyaz tried to get inside and do his thing. The fight went the distance and Judges Sir. Nadeem and Sir. Gohar Gul along with the referee Ovais Shah called it a majority draw.
Daniyal vs Vohra
This was the fight of the night. Daniyal of 3gMMA and Vohra of ACT-ONE locked horns for an MMA fight. They both seemed well versed in striking and kept things technical but when the fight got to the ground vohra seemed to be in command and applied 3 guillotine chokes in 2 rounds of fighting but was not able to finish Daniyal. Daniyal survived this ordeal for 2 rounds, Vohra was carrying an illness coming into this fight which took its toll on him and his corner stopped the fight in the start of the third round. The heart both fighters showed is commendable.
Hamza vs. Abid
Next fight was an MMA open weight fight between Hamza of ACT-ONE and Abid who is trained in Karate. The fight only lasted one round which saw Abid trying to use his reach and size against a smaller and lighter opponent but as the fight went to the ground hamza secured a deep triangle choke and Abid tapped eventually.
Akif vs. Imran
The main event was between Akif of 3gMMA and Imran who is a trained boxer. The fight started with both fighters respecting each other’s power. It was evident that Akif was using his kicks a little more against Imran who is predominantly a boxer. In the first round both fighters landed a few strikes; Akif tried to take the fight to the ground but Imran stubbed every takedown attempt. As the second started Imran was looking to be more aggressive, when they engaged Akif clipped him with a right hand as Imran tried to move away Akif landed a devastating kick right on Imran’s chin and left him knocked out cold.
This event was the first of its kind in Karachi and the credit goes to Ovais Shah and his team for organizing such great event.
On June 16th at Synergy MMA Academy (www.club-synergy.com) amateurs from around DHA, Lahore and possibly from outside of Lahore will be converging to test their skills in a friendly non-competitive atmosphere where safety and experience are the first priority.
Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Kickboxing and MMA fights are on all the card.
If your interested in taking part or even coming to watch please contact 0334-413-7706
Registration is 250 PKR. All entrants will receive a certificate.
This is the official path to Pak Fight Club and where you can get your professional career started.
From the 1st to the 3rd of June 2012, One Fighting Championship held the ONE Asia Summit at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino in Singapore. Industry leaders from across Asia, (over 150 from 20 some countries), were flown in for the three day meeting to discuss the growth of the sport in Asia, and network with other industry leaders who many knew only over the internet.
Representatives from Pakistan, Bashir Ahmad and Zain Shah of PAKMMA and Pak Fight Club respectively, were in attendance at the summit.
The first day of the summit was mostly people arriving at the hotel and getting settled in. In the evening, a cocktail party was held where the attendees got together to break the ice and get to know one another. Throughout the entire summit, business cards were being exchanged at every moment. The cocktail party, as well as the rest of the summit, was MC’d by History Channel’s “Human Weapon” host, Jason Chambers.
Day Two of the summit lasted from 9 am to 5 pm, during which time experts and guests from across the industry, ranging from gym owners, sponsors and promotion leaders, gave talks on various subjects regarding business matters related to MMA. They also discussed how to build the sport in Asia and how to get people to work together for a shared goal of creating a proper infrastructure for MMA.
After the presentations, the entire group of attendees went out for dinner at a private dining hall. The relaxed atmosphere gave the ONEFC network the opportunity to grow even more tightly bound as a team, and as posted on PAKMMA twitter, it “Became less like a network, and more like a family.”
The final day consisted of one more panel discussion, before the attendees were broken up into two groups to have more informal discussions on creating opportunities for gyms and fighters and on creating an amateur circuit. After this, there was lunch and a final wrap up by ONEFC CEO Victor Cui.
So that was the cut and dry synopsis of the summit for you PAKMMA fans out there. Now I will get a little more informal and tell you a more personal account of the experience and give a shout out to the great people I met at the summit.
First and foremost, big thanks to Victor Cui for making this happen. The summit was all expenses paid and was held at the nicest hotel in Singapore. I would have stayed at a homeless shelter if that were the requirement to make this sport grow, so to be taken care of so well means a lot.
The people at the summit were great and were all very passionate and supportive of what we are doing in Pakistan. Everyone understood the trials and tribulations we face, and we as a community I believe have earned their respect. For that, I thank you guys and the entire ONEFC network. Although I (Bashir Ahmad) may be the face and pioneer of all this, without you I am just one weird dude who decided to leave America to start MMA in Pakistan.
For all you people reading who want to get filled in on how this started, you can start by reading this.
“How did you end up in Pakistan?”
Then you can contact me and add a story about us on your website! ; )
MMA Pakistan is to be attending the ONE ASIA MMA Summit in Singapore, the largest Asian MMA summit in history next week June 1-3 at the Marina bay Sands Resort and Casino. The summit will be attended by over 200 of the most important people in Asian MMA which includes Mixed Martial Arts Pakistan founder and ONE FC fighter, Bashir Ahmad.
Attendees also include Victor Cui (CEO and Owner of ONE Fighting Championship), Bubbles Aguilar (Co-Founder of the URCC), Yodchatri Sityodtong (CEO of Evolve MMA), Matt Hume (Chief Official and Head Referee for ONE FC), Alec Lim (Country Manager for Carl’s Jr.), Gary Lim (CEO of ThatMMAShop), to name a few. Follow PAK MMA on Twitter via the hashtag #OneasiaMMA.
Results from this weekends Pak Fight Club.
Bashir Ahmads defeats M.Arshad via Rear Naked Choke Round 1
Waqar Umar defeats Abdur Rehman via Armbar Round 2
Owais Shah defeats Uloomi Karim via spinning backfist knockout Round 2
Hassan Khan defeats Haaris Farooq via KO from punches Round 1
Ahmed Ali defeats Bilal ZaZa via TKO Round 1
M.Imran defeats Jamil Jamil by Armbar second round
Afnan Iftikhar draws with Kamran Iqbal 3 rounds
M.Shahid defeats Waris Ali Armbar
Snobar Rana draws with Khalil 3 rounds
Faizan Khan draws with Abdur Rehman 3 rounds
Written by PAKMMA President Bashir Ahmad
On April 7th in Chandigarh, Punjab India, Super Fight League held it’s second event. Due to our long relationship with Tiger’s Gym India, MMA Pakistan was able to attend the event cage side and catch all the action before the fights, during the fights and after the fights, as well catch all the goings on behind the scenes.
Having attended many different MMA events, from local shows in Pakistan, local shows in the USA, to well known professional events like Ultimate Warrior Challenge and The Ultimate Fighting Championship I have seen the full spectrum in terms of quality of production.
Super Fight League was definitely up there and it was fascinating to see things being set up.
I got to the arena a few hours before the show began and took a look around. The show was being held in a circus ground, so unlike what some reports are stating it was not an arena. This made it all the more impressive because essentially everything that you saw at SFL 2 was built on a dirt plot. There was an army of people working at all times and backstage was a buzz of activity with separate rooms for the VVIPS like Sanjay Dutt and Raj Kundra, a separate room for the dancers, a kitchen, production rooms, warm up areas etc. It was all very well organized and running smoothly due to the fact that the entire production team had years of experience in Bollywood. I watched as the dancers practiced their moves, a Hindu priest sat on the floor with the production manager doing a ritual to bless the event, and sweepers with typical South Asian brooms swept the carpets relentlessly.
Cage side, hours before the event the lights and camera crews were rehearsing the show. Raj Kundra was on stage practicing his lines and Sanjay Dutt was just hanging out somewhere. That guy only appears when he needs to and has a team of 20 security personnel at all times to make sure he does not get mobbed. As I walked through everything I went up to cage, and got a close look at it and the cage is not as big as it looks on screen. It’s a regular professional size cage and I am quite sure that the reason it looks so big is because the camera work. Maybe they are using a wide angle lens or something, but the cage is definitely not abnormally big as some people have stated.
The show began on time with a concert, which was interesting. Not really my thing as I am not into Bollywood and had no idea who was famous and whatnot. Nonetheless I had heard many of the songs here in Pakistan and I am assuming they are major hits so that made the time pass.
Another things to note. While many people have criticized the “Come for the concert stay for the fights” I actually noticed the opposite. People were coming in after the concert and the arena began to fill up more once the fights started.
The fights themselves were very good and I think the Indians impressed more on this card than they did on the last one. Bharat Khandare with his power and brutal slams and Anup and Ranjeet with their aggression and professional poise. All three fighters had finishes and have definitely put themselves on the radar as fighters to watch. It was personally very satisfying to watch Bharat’s fight as I have trained with him before and I consider him a friend. A very nice guy and a very humble guy from a poor background, he comes a family of sweepers which in South Asian society is near the bottom of the hierarchy. I wish him the best in his career and hope the opportunity that SFL has given him will help him change the life of his family. That being said, I cannot wait to have Pakistani fighters meet the challenge and make a name for themselves by defeating this guy in the cage 
.
An interesting thing that I noticed is that the biggest cheers from the Indian crowd came when someone took the other down or when there was a reversal of position and someone ended. Obviously the loudest of these cheers came when it was the Indian fighter getting the advantageous position. But it really shows the importance and understanding that the crowd has for wrestling. In that respect the Indian fans are more educated and sophisticated about this facet of the game than other places which have more developed MMA scenes. We’re not talking about MMA fans here but average joes who have never seen MMA being enthralled MORE with the ground game than the striking.
The main event had the ending that we all wanted and expected with Duffee knocking Grove out within the first minute but like Dos Santos vs Vleasquez on Fox, it came a little too early to satisfy everyone’s wants to see a heavy weight war. But that’s something that happens in the game and it’s great to see a knockout but sometimes we want a little bit more of a build up. But hey, like I said, it happens.
That’s a basic summary of the event. The after party also happened to be quite awesome. TV and movie stars were hanging out and enjoying taking about the fights and many of the fighters got their interviews taken for TV.
Overall it was a great experience and a big thanks to my friends at Team Tigers who took care of me throughout. Expect some more posts about the event and going into details about SFL and the PAKMMA’s visit to India in general. For those of you who missed the show you can watch it on youtube.com/sfl
If your more interested in just seeing the results Here you go.
Todd Duffee defeats Neil Grove by KO, Round 1
Colleen Schneider defeats Cherie Buck by TKO, Round 2
Ricky Singh defeats Salika Senanayake by TKO, Round 1
Anup Kumar defeats Dilanga Rathnaveera by Submission, (Rear Naked Choke, Round 2)
Alexander Shlemenko defeats Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO, Round 1
Bharat Khandare defeats Soro Ismael by TKO, Round 1
Pierre Daguzan defeats Chaitanya Gavali (29-28)
Ryan Healy defeats Paul Kelly (30-27)
We are very, very pleased to announce that two Pakistani fighters will be fighting on the Super Fight League card at Chandigarh, India on April 7th. The two fighters are Uloomi Karim of Team Fight Fortress in Islamabad and Waqar Umar of Team Shaheen in Lahore. Both fighters are amongst the most experienced and most well rounded fighters on the Pakistani MMA circuit.
They will be fighting Anup Kumar and Bharat Kandare respectively. Both Indian fighters are making their professional debut but both have a wealth of experience on the local circuit.
Uloomi and Waqar both have one professional fight each, having fought in the local promotion, Pak Fight Club.
More detailed news to come including training pics and interviews with the fighters as well as a more detailed breakdown of where these fights can go!
Details can be viewed at www.superfightleague.com
In local MMA news, Pak Fight Club 2, which will be held on April 14th at Punjab Stadium has just announced the official fight card.
Fight card be viewed on our facebook page www.facebook.com/pakmma
February 11th,2012 marked the second event by ONE FC, “Battle of Heroes”, promotion for the event was on par as usual as the promotion had some big names fighting on the card such as Pride and K-1 veteran Bob “The Beast” Sapp, BJJ Black belt and 2007 Abu Dhabi Silver medalist Rolles Gracie, Ole Laursen, Russian prospect Rustam Khabilov and many more. The event was held at The BritAma Arena, Jakarta, Indonesia and was attended by over 4000 spectators. Although this time the main card was PPV only, the guys over at ONE FC were generous enough to stream a live broadcast of the preliminary fights on their facebook page and on their Ustream channel.
After watching the first event, ONE FC made it clear that they would not compromise on the talent and the quality of the fighters and they did not disappoint, the prelim was stacked with great fights and the event proved it, in fact in my opinion the prelims had slightly better fights than the main card due to the number of finishes and the exciting style of fights that took place.
From the first preliminary to the last, every fight was exciting and had me on the edge of my seat, be it Peter Davis’ come from behind triangle choke, Irshaad Sayed’s body shot that dropped and finished his opponent in less than 2 minutes or the classic striker vs grappler match between Alex Silva and Geje Eustaquio.
On to the main card, which kicked off with the highly anticipated Super Heavyweight bout between Bob Sapp and Rolles Gracie, the fight ended quickly with Gracie taking down Sapp and forcing him to tap to punches being thrown from the mount.
The second fight was between Gustavo Falciroli and Soo Chul Kim which ironically saw Kim trying to take the BJJ Black belt to the ground which only ended up in him giving up his back which was expertly taken by Falciroli and then being submitted by a Rear Naked Choke by the jiujitsu expert early in the first round.
Next was Rodrigo Ribeiro vs. Rustam Khabilov, this fight was very technical, showcasing the grappling skills of both the fighters as Ribeiro mostly worked the guard trying to get a submission whereas Khabilov displayed excellent submission defence and stayed out of trouble, in the end getting the nod from the judges towards a unanimous decision victory.
Next up was a featherweight match between Bae Young Kwon vs. Honorio Banario, the fighters spent the first minute feeling each other out which suddenly changed when Kwon threw a long range jab and followed by a 1-2 combo, slipped, got a body lock, took the back and finished the fight with a rear naked choke, Kwon demonstrated slick movement and excellent grappling skills that gave him the win.
The main event featured two well known fighters who have fought all over the world, Ole Laursen and Felipe Enemoto , the first round was a back and forth battle, which saw Ole swinging for the fences throwing every shot with bad intentions whereas Felipe kept his composure and stayed technical, both fighters were exchanging punches with Laursen throwing the heavier shots once knocking down Felipe mid in the first round, later in the round we got to see the grappling skills of both fighters when Felipe attempted a guillotine which was very deep and I almost felt that he would have gotten the submission, but Ole proved me wrong as he not just escaped but ended up taking Felipe’s back and tried to sink in a rear naked choke but the Swiss demonstrated his own skill set of submission defence and kept Ole busy which then saw the end of the round. In the second round we saw a much more calm and composed Ole who stayed technical and kept the fight standing, even though Felipe was getting the better of the boxing exchange due to his superior reach advantage, Laursen kept attacking the legs which were going unchecked and was doing heavy damage, with 2 minutes left in the fight Felipe threw a combination which ended with a head kick that connected with Ole’s head, dropping and dazing him, Felipe seized the opportunity and swarmed on Laursen not giving him an inch throwing heavy hands which made Ole give up his back and without wasting a second Felipe sinked in a choke which saw the end of the fight and the event.
All in all ONE FC did not fail to deliver quality fights which were very exciting and show cased the level of talent that Asia has in terms of MMA. Next up is ONE FC 3 on the 31st of March, which I am personally very excited about, as it features the return of MMA and UFC veteran, former Strikeforce Light heavyweight Champion Renato “Babalu” Sobral who is my favorite fighter and he goes up against Dutch Muay Thai wrecking machine Melvin Manhoef who has fought in big organizations like Strikeforce, Dream, K-1 and much more.
