New Kids on the Block: Evolve MMA Makes a Name for Itself at ONE FC
ONE Fighting Championships, a new MMA promotion claiming to be "Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event," held its inaugural show last Saturday in Singapore. The event was streamed live on sherdog.com, and it did not disappoint. While the event featured some names recognizable to western MMA fans, such as UFC veterans Phil Baroni and Yoshiyuki Yoshida, it was made up mostly of lesser known fighters, some of whom where making their professional debut. Despite a lack of big name fighters the matches were very entertaining, and many unknown fighters got some valuable exposure from the live stream.
One team in particular had their fighters' skills on display at ONE FC. Six fighters from the Singapore based Evolve MMA were featured on the card, and all but one were victorious. Evolve MMA, formed less than three years ago, has an impressive stable of fighters and trainers, but many of them-with the exception of Shinya Aoki and Rafael dos Anjos-have not yet broken into the mainstream. Thanks to last Saturday's showing, however, Evolve MMA has taken a large step forward in becoming recognized as one of the top gyms in the world, on the same level as American Top Team, Jackson's MMA, or Nova Uniao.
English born fighter Eddie Ng might have had the most impressive performance of the night. This was only Eddie's fourth fight and he was coming off of a loss, but that did not seem to have him nervous or discouraged as he took on Chinese fighter Yuan Chun Bo. Ng shot for a beautiful double leg early to put his opponent on the mat. Yuan then attempted a guillotine, followed by what looked like a very tight armbar from guard. Eddie was able to pull his arm out of trouble, take a step back, and deliver some ferocious ground and pound which put his adversary to sleep in only 45 seconds. The crowd appreciated the win, erupting into applause as Ng raised his hands triumphantly into the air to celebrate.
Another young fighter who looked extremely impressive was Radeem Rahman, Singapore's very first professional MMA fighter who was making his debut at ONE FC. Rahman's opponent was karate champion Susovan Ghosh of India, who was also making his pro MMA debut. Rahman stalked Gosh from the opening bell, unintimidated by his opponent's karate pedegree. The Singaporian dropped his opponent early with a straight right, hurting him. From that moment on Gosh tried frantically to bring the fight to the ground, but Rahman was having none of it. He defended the takedown attempts and served up a cocktail of knees, straight punches, and elbows until Gosh fell to the canvas and was finished with some brutal ground and pound by the now undefeated Radeem Rahman.
Two Brazilian jiu jitsu world champions from Evolve, both natives of Brazil, also fought on the card. The first was Leandro Issa, a 2nd degree black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu and the most experienced MMA fighter from Evolve to fight that night. Issa won a hard fought decision against undefeated Korean fighter Soo Chul Kim. Issa, not surprisingly, showed some beautiful groundwork but was unable to submit the crafty Korean. He also appeared much stronger in the clinch against the fence than his adversary. In regards to his striking, however, Issa looked a lot less impressive. While he was the more aggressive fighter, he fought very flat footed and tended to walk toward his opponent instead of using proper footwork. His punches were also looping and poorly executed, although he did land some nice kicks. All in all, Issa performed well but has some work to do on his standup. Lucky for him he trains at gym with some of the best striking coaches available anywhere. So expect to see an improvement in his striking in future fights.
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The other Brazilian jiu jitsu world champion to fight on the card was Zorobabel "Zoro" Moreira, who took on Ultimate Fighter veteran Andy Wang. Zoro looked better on the feet than did Issa. He used a long jab and lead hooks to keep Wang at bay and was able to pick him off with some nice round kicks and long knees. He even attempted some high front kicks alla Anderson Silva. Zoro also displayed good use of the Thai clinch, delivering some solid knee and elbow strikes from that position. The fight did not even hit the ground until the second round, when Wang shot on Zoro after the Brazilian threw a high round kick. Although a BJJ black belt himself, Wang opted not to remain on the ground for long with the world champion, and quickly stood back up. He would not remain on his feet for long, however, as Zoro hit him with some hard elbows causing him to collapse to the canvas. Zoro them attacked with a flurry of strikes. Wang, offering no defence, turtled up and took hard shots until the referee intervened, giving Zoro an impressive win.
The fifth big winner from Evolve was Yodsanan Sityodtong of Thailand, the former WBA world boxing champion, who holds a record of 58-3-1 with 47 KOs in the sweet science. His opponent was professional muay Thai fighter Daniel Mashamaite from South Africa, who has held national and international championships in that art. Because of his background in muay Thai, one might assume that even though his boxing skills are far inferior to his opponent's, Mashamaite would at least have an advantage when it came to kicks, knees, and clinch work. Unfortunately for Mashamaite, Yodsanan is also an experienced muay Thai fighter who has had over 50 professional fights in that discipline, and it showed during the match, as Yodsanan out struck Mashamaite with all eight limbs of muay Thai. In fact, it was a KO by knee, not a punch, that ended the fight. Spectators also got a glimpse of Yodsanan's ground game, which appeared a little amateurish. The Thai took the fight to the ground from a clinch early in the fight, but got reversed immediately.
Just as Issa will have the opportunity to improve his striking with the help of the amazing staff at Evolve, Yodsanan will without a doubt improve his ground skills for his upcoming fights. The quality of instruction at Evolve is unbelievable. According to its website, " the Evolve Instructor Team is Asia's largest and most experienced team. Evolve MMA is the only academy in Asia with World Champions in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, Boxing, and No-Gi Grappling." In addition to Yodsanan, Issa, and Zorro Moreira, who all teach classes at Evolve, their instructional team boasts such legendary names as Roberto "Gordo" Correa and Attachai Fairtex. Gordo is a 5th degree BJJ black belt under Carlos Gracie Jr., is mentor to BJJ world champions such as Antonio Braga Neto, and is a former BJJ world champion himself. He is also credited with revolutionizing the half-guard position in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Attachai is a multiple time world muay Thai and Lumpinee stadium champion. He holds a professional mauy Thai record of 180-20, with wins over some of the biggest names in the sport such as Buakaw Por. Pramuk and Yodsenklai Fairtex.
With a team that has so many world champion instructors on its staff, it is no surprise that it is producing skilled young prospects like Ng and Rahman. Keep an eye out for these and other talented fighters coming out of the Singapore based fight team in the near future. Also look for specialists like Yodsanan and Issa to improve quickly on their weak areas and to become ranked very soon. It is only a matter of time now until Evolve becomes one of the more recognizable MMA gyms, not just in Asia, but in the world.
By Matt King
ProFighting-fans.com MMA Staff Writer