More prepared, more ruthless. These words shall perfectly describe the MMA hopefuls who turned up for the last stop for our tryouts at Paradigm Mall last weekend. This time, they came with a bigger mission, not just for the exposure, but also to surpass their opponents and possibly be the next MIMMA Champion. Paradigm Mall witnessed almost 500 participants throughout that 2 days of adrenaline pumping event.
7 states in 7 weeks. A feat some thought to be impossible to achieve. The Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts (MIMMA) tryouts has gone to every nook and corner of the country to unearth MMA prospects. From down South to up North, covering the peninsular and East Malaysia, we have invaded every major city to pursue our ultimate goal in bringing forward the next big name in Malaysian MMA. All in all, almost 1000 participants came to prove that they are worthy to be the next MIMMA Champion. It is awe-inspiring, as the number has tripled from the amount of participants we have during MIMMA season 1. This has also verified the fact that MIMMA is the platform to go to for amateur MMA fighters to show their talents. We take pride of being the only organization to achieve such feat related to amateur MMA.
Throughout our journey to unearth MMA talents, we are grateful that Malaysians have positively accepted our move to develop the MMA scene in Malaysia. Majority of them are very supportive and the feedbacks that we obtained are very constructive. Along with the discovery of new MMA talents, we have also managed to magnify the number of fans for this sport as well as educate the public about what the sport is all about.
Jason Lo stated, “As we know, mixed martial arts is still the fastest growing sport in the world and in Asia, the growth has been tremendous. Right now, Malaysia is the MMA hub for South East Asia. We can see the progress is very rapid with MMA gyms throughout Malaysia providing the best trainers with the best training program. Our ultimate goal is to make Malaysia as the core for the development of MMA is Asia.“
“This is very likely to happen and the potential of MMA to grow to a phenomenal level in Malaysia is immeasurable as we are working hard towards it with the help of Kementerian Belia & Sukan who is always supportive on our efforts. This year, Malaysians will see an enormous rise to the sport and we will surely become the next powerhouse in MMA!” he added.
The tryouts stage is now complete. The committee is working hard to tabulate the scores to select the 112 fighters to go through to the next stage which is the Ladder Match happening on the 17th and 18th of May 2014. This is when fighters will finally be put against each other in a real fight. Stakes are very high and fighters should go in prepared and ready to function at their highest level.
Greater things are yet to come. As we move through the stages, the action will only get better. Expect to see the rise of fighters, driven by passion, battling it out in the MIMMA cage. You do not want to miss out on the action!
