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The 4 month Journey to Victory

Posted by: DK Posted date: 16:56 / comment : 0 ,

Boxing, Onyx Boxing
The Left that ended the night early.

This is a post that highlights the ups and downs of my first ever fight preparation for a boxing match organized by Legends Fight Sports ( A professional and well-organized event) that took place at chevrons two weeks back. Two aspiring martial-artists, Fir and DK, took the first step to sign up for the novice boxing match. And so, with their signatures on the dotted line, the daily grind began.
Words cannot describe these incredible journey. If you have a bucket list, competing in a ring should definitely be on your list, it's not just about senseless brawling or street fighting, it's about hardwork dedication and striving for perfection. The sweet science of Boxing, hit and don't get hit.

Preparations for the fight wasn't easy, that's right, nothing comes easy in life, and that's what makes the victory that much sweeter. Training began somewhere in mid-jan, Kandar and Arab, our chief boxing coaches, prepared the programme for us. The first phase was about unlocking that inner-beast within us. It's true when people say that within each and everyone of us, there's a fighter. Think about your life journeys, being born onto this earth, getting into that top school, fighting for grades, getting your future wife, each phase of life itself is a battle. To unlock the beast within us, training started with hard gruelling sparring sessions. Sparring with Kandar? ABSOULUTELY FREAKING SUCKKED, Just imagine fighting against Hulk just that he isn't green. The dude keeps coming at you no matter how hard a punch you land on him. With that, we were all physically and spiritually broken, but we always come back stronger and better. I'm a firm advocate of hard sparring, it should not be done excessively, but enough to make you feel like quitting the sport. The total rounds we sparred through out the whole training camp was around a good 60-70 hard rounds, talk about the major loss of brain cells.. Overall, we survived in one piece, the sparring were planned to bring us out of the comfort zone but never meant to hurt us or make us quit.

Subsequent sessions in the later months included running at Pandan reservoir in the evening under the blistering heat. The run is tougher than what most BMT recruits go through today, you can have our word on that. Physical training sessions were as scientific as it can be, Arab, having a deep understanding and vast experience in S&C, crafted programmes that were specifically designed to build strength and explosiveness for Boxing.

Kandar on the other hand is a pure genius in Boxing training. If you don't believe it, the video below is a testament of how they've helped us improve, enjoy the artwork.

It's not just winning, it's doing it with style.




Types of sparring partners you'll meet at the gym (and yes, we are focusing more on the douche-y ones)

Posted by: DK Posted date: 22:05 / comment : 0 , ,





We've all been there, and done that. Our virgin sparring experience, just like how we took our first baby steps when we were learning to walk. Everything is a brand new experience, a sensory overload, So many things happening at once. You're trying to get a grasp of reality, trying to figure out what's going on, Punches coming from the left from the right, And this being your first sparring session. The only skill you'll master here is the Iron Head Technique. That is, to do nothing but absorb punches.

In your journey towards being a better fighter or just the quest for perfection. You'll meet numerous sparring partners everyday. They'll help you vastly in improving, sharing and imparting of knowledge, or they'll just downright annoy the crap outta you. With that, we proudly present..


SPARRING PARTNERS 101


1.The Skilled Fighter

Nothing really interesting here and we shan't elaborate on it. Basically your instructors and fighters in the gym fall into this category, Tonnes and tonnes of stuff to learnt from them, they'll teach you and spar with you real technically, just like how your first girlfriend taught you the concept of holding hands, guiding you along. Sparring partners like this are the best, you'll learn what kind of shots with hurt you, without actually getting hurt by it. ( Think of it as firing blanks in an army exercise)

2. The Skilled Poser

AHHHHHHHH, this is where things get interesting. The skilled poser, he's got the looks and parts of what a fighter is like in your mind. Silently shadow boxing at one corner, refusing to join the normal classes because he/she thinks they are too good for the class. All hell breaks loose when you spar with them. They will be constantly correcting your 'mistakes' and 'errors' in the midst of barraging you with unnecessarily heavy punches as if it were a championship fight( Mind you even championship fighters dont hit this hard, gotta pace themselves yo!) At some point in time you'll start to realise, HEY! THIS GUY IS JUST USING ME AS A PUNCHING BAG, the advices and coaching are just a ploy to keep you there and not hit back. And when the sparring session starts to get competitive. Our champion poser has already run out of gas and decide to call it a day and head for the showers, leaving you in a heaping pile of angsty mess, not knowing what to do after taking that many cheapshots.

3. The Phone Operator

 For some reasons, these people sure love to talk. Don't get us wrong, it certainly makes the gym more lively and fun. But there's always a right thing to do at the right moment. Chatting while sparring surely isn't one of them. Your phone operator sparring partner, while throwing his jab crosses and leg kicks, love to conversate with you after either one of you guys land shots. " Ohhhh so you're in uni now? wha!? you're 21? I thought you're 16! So what are you doing now? How long have you been doing this? What's your name? SERIOUSLY........  leave the chatter and mingling after the sparring session. Soldiers dont chat with their instructors or buddies during a live-firing exercise yea??

4. Mr Lonely Valentine

 Being single isn't bad by any means, some guys go to the club to strut their dance moves and buy girls drinks. Others try on Tinder, and then we have our favourite group of single peeps: Fellow gym goers :)  They're always dressed and groomed their best for training, sometimes you might mistake them for people who have already ended training and are heading down to town for dinner or something, but no! They are here to train. During sparring sessions, everything is all fine until one of the many Onyx eye-candies shows up for training. Like a male peacock trying to impress. Mr lonely valentine tries his best to get the eye-candy's attention, at the expense of your safety. He starts letting out low groans as he kicks or punches you. It gets harder and harder. You ideal sparring session suddenly turn into S##T just like how sparring with the poser would feel like. Please guys. There are many other ways to impress, like approaching the girl after training and initiating a chat ( that would be 99cents for the tip :) )

5. The Xiao Mei Mei

 Or we would like to call them the Chilli padis, we have quite a feel deceivingly good martial artistes in the gym. You might think some of them are 16 or below. But all of them are old enough and some of them are even old enough to be your employer. You're not sure whether to go hard or to even hit them at all. until one of their leg kicks land on you and you realise. S##t just got real. Do not be fooled by them, take them seriously like how you would with a fighter ( technically and not with brute force of course :) )


In our gym there are many wonderful characters and be sure to check out part 2 of our post as we continue discovering unique and special sparring partners. OSSSS

Fighting Fear

Posted by: DK Posted date: 13:12 / comment : 0 , ,

Imagine this, you're gearing up for your first amateur fight, one week out, your coach lets you know who your opponent is going to be. Suddenly, you get this weird queasy feeling in your stomach, it feels so foreign yet so familiar at the same time. You've felt this before, your palms are sweaty, that's right! You fell this feeling before when you were trying to lie to your mum about your grades in Primary school, you felt like this during right before your 10th attempt at the driving test. Yes! You know what you're feeling, you're feeling scared...

Fast forward to 10 minutes, before the fight, you're in the locker, trying to warm up with your coach, hitting those pads with combinations that you've drilled for the past few months. But, no matter how hard you try to warm up, nothing feels right, your body feels cold, you feel as if you can't pull the trigger. Everything is going wrong for you. Your mind is telling you to back out from the fight.



With all that being said. Such tricks that your mind is playing on you and that kind of fear is anything but irrational. Believe it or not. It is normal. With that being said. We dwell into this topic on the psychological aspects of the fight game.

Our favorite example to use regarding this topic, is UFC top 10 Lightweight, Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone, Currently on a 7 fight win streak and a mean IDGAF demeanor. One would think nerves wouldn't be an issue for him. But guess what, in the video below. Even a Professional fighter on a hot winning streak will have nerves. The video depicts a vivid mental process and struggle within the individual.



" Warming up you arms are heavy legs are heavy, you're warming up, nothing's going right. This doesn't happen in training, what's going on!? I'm scared.." - Cerrone


In this next video, UFC fighters discuss the rationale of their fears before a fight.



There's a fear in everything except getting punched in the face. Hence this brings us to the final point. It's normal to be nervous, it's just a way humans are. But you have to remember one thing. This feeling is created within your own mind. If you have created this feeling, that means you can stop it yourself.

THE SOLUTION TO MINIMIZING THE IMPACT OF FEAR

 In every aspect of competition, being combat sports, or traditional sports like soccer,basketball, or even preparing for a singing competition. Fear sets in not because we are afraid to get hurt ( you dont get punched in a singing competition). What we fear most is failing, letting people down, letting your friends and family who believed in you down. When we quantify fear. We realized the very essence and source of it. FEAR OF FAILURE...

when we are able to rationalize our fear. here comes the part of being able to administer the treatment

1. EMBRACE YOUR FEAR
The more you try to push that feeling away, the harder it hits you, accept the fact that you're going to be nervous and that it is normal and part of the process. You'll realise by embracing that uncomfortable feeling and simply not fighting it, Your mind would be in a calmer state.

2. PREPARE AND PUT IN YOUR 100% DURING PRACTICE
Most people start to get nervous when the actual day comes as they feel inadequately prepared. By gaining confidence and having hard sessions in practice. You psych yourself up by believing that there's nothing harder than your training program. When the real day comes, even when the going gets tough, you're more than ready to get the tough in you going.

3.BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
Most people fear too much on what their opponent can do that they totally forget what they themselves can bring onto the table. Remember, your opponent is human too, unless you're fighting a grizzly bear, theres no point in fearing for your life. Afterall,  he fears you too. So tell yourself that and be prepared to bring a can of Whoopa** when the time comes.


With all that being said. the human mind is a complex entity. And if you're going to take up competitive martial arts. Fear is going to be a part of the game, there's no escaping from it. Embrace and accept the process.



The obvious solution to effective weight loss that you might have easily overlooked

Posted by: Soonkueh Posted date: 18:43 / comment : 0 , , ,

It's the new year, 2015, new resolutions, new goals, you have a sudden surge of motivation and drive to set out and achieve higher goals. Zoukout 2014 has just ended and you didn't attend because you weren't confident of your body. Just like Zoukout 2010,2011,2012,2013, you tell yourself, I will be ready for next year's event with that beach-tested Kratos (God of War, for those of you who didn't catch the reference) body.

But we all know, it's easier said that done. If you could have done the right thing, you would have achieved your dream body years ago. There must be something wrong with your game plan. So, let's break it down on what you've done so far to move towards your goal.

No.1- You signed up for lessons at Onyx MMA

This is one of the best choice you have made in your life! All you have to do, is get your lazy bum out of the bed, make the trip down to the gym, and everything else is handled by the coaches over there. The training program here has been tested and proven effective for achieving healthy weight loss (More on that in our future post).

You're a month into training at Onyx religiously, healthy weight loss shown on the scale, but your body is nowhere near to the Channing Tatum poster that you have pinned in your room for motivation. So there must be something wrong with what you're doing. (No prizes for guessing the correct answer)

NO.2- DIET DIET DIET DIET DIET DIET DIET

There are many different school of thoughts as to achieving effective weight-loss. But there is nothing more paramount then following this rule.

To achieve effective weight loss, the following is the universal rule to stick by.

Weight loss is 30% EXERCISE 70% DIET

Yes it's that important. You can have a stellar workout programme but have a half-baked diet plan, it's not gonna take you anywhere. If you simply do not have the time, knowledge or discipline to follow a strict diet plan, look no further, salvation is here.

Introducing Food Aesthetics Singapore



One of the pioneer companies to come up with healthy meal plans for people on the go. You might have heard of such concepts from the States, UFC fighters having their  nutrition and meals planned out and delivered right to their doorstep.

For busy individuals, this is really a godsend. Just like Onyx managing your training programme, you have Food Aesthetics managing your diet for you, and that is not even the best part about Food Aesthetics; with FA, food can be extremely tasty and appetising yet healthy at the same time (Yes we are not kidding you, it's true). FA DELIVERS THE FOOD TO YOU TOO.


Food Aesthetics recently held an event at Onyx MMA where they prepared samples of their dishes, engineered by their nutritionist where all the macro-nutrients are carefully calculated and calibered to make sure you get your daily needs to lose weight and still be able to perform at the gym.


Couscous Tuna Rolls
Of the various sample dishes offered, we loved the grilled chicken breast, quinoa and tuna roll. It is a known fact that most of us hate eating chicken breast (though it is the healthiest), comparing it's texture and taste to that of cardboard. Surprisingly Food Aesthetics has managed to make an unpopular dish, tasty. The flavours were there, and we could taste the freshness of it. It definitely makes it easier for one to diet with the help of their dishes, because, Taste is king.

The flavour, the taste, with killer looks.

So do give Food Aesthetics a try. It's everything we have wished for, and now. Eating clean can be made tasty and less torturous for our soul. Imagine this, you're training, you slug yourself to come for the 1130 boxing class, and after sweating buckets, you're hungry as hell, and wished for some food. You go to the counter, and BOOM! FA's nicely packed lunch bentos are there, hot, smoking, and ready for you.

Give it a try, you won't regret it. For more info, please visit http://www.foodaesthetic.com/ or go to their FB page at https://www.facebook.com/FoodAesthetic

For all the curious Onyxsters, fret not, we'll work something out with them to get a good deal for you!

Why should you opt for Muay Thai as your striking discipline in MMA?

Posted by: Soonkueh Posted date: 13:23 / comment : 0 , , ,

Dos Anjos giving Nate Diaz a beating of a lesson, (Photo from USA Today)

If you've watched yesterday's UFC on FOX 13, you might have caught this one-sided fight between Rafael Dos Anjos and Nate Diaz. Nate is well known in the sport for being notorious with his words and actions, but also known to walk the walk within the Octagon.

If you've watched the fight, you would have easily guess the determining factor in which Dos Anjos was able to dish out the brutal beating. If you haven't, here's a short highlight clip:


The leg kicks that Dos Anjos rained throughout the fight was the key deciding factor. Leg kicks; the proper, hard ones that don't go "piak", are extremely painful, and worse, slows you down. Dos Anjos easily dropped what? 20 or 30 leg kicks on Diaz, the rest was history.

From a theoretical point of view, it echoes the fact that Muay Thai remains the most effective striking art for MMA. It saddens me on the number of MMA fighters that do not invest time in dwelling deeper into Muay Thai, while those who did, reaped huge benefits (think Anderson Silva, Matt Browne). 

But learning from the Dos Anjos and Diaz fight, Nate's proper and real mistake was standing in a side stance against a Muay Thai kicker, and worse, a low-kicker. The reason why the Muay Thai stance is mostly squared, is to give proper balance to shin-blocking left, right. The side stance that Nate was standing on then, reveals his right thigh for kicking, which Dos Anjos properly did. I hope this becomes a case study for MMA fighters. When the right combination of striking ability, matches up with the right combination of striking inabilities, the results can be devastating. 

But I must humbly admit that, MMA is not a Muay Thai fight. Muay Thai is but a tool/weapon for utilisation. Matt Browne may be an excellent Muay Thai fighter, but he gets pounded on quite abit as well. Anderson Silva who was once thought to be invincible, beaten by a broken shin; the irony.

So, come. Let's do some kicks and then roll on the mats.

UFC & Reebok Sponsorship Deal - The Ripples

Posted by: Soonkueh Posted date: 13:07 / comment : 0 , , ,


Sneak preview of what might be the UFC-Reebok future
A couple of days ago, at a highly anticipated press conference, the UFC announced an important and somewhat secretive 6-year contract with Reebok to outfit all UFC fighters and events. The word that was frequently seen in reports was the "uniform" that the fighters have to don whilst on the fight event, as well as event week. Erm, does that mean we don't get to see our favourite brands and designs?

At first glance, it seems so. This sponsorship deal effectively means that all UFC representatives would now be wearing Reebok gear albeit some amount of customisation. I don't know about others, but at second glance, Reebok...? They will need some serious serious design power house to make them cool again.


My last memories of a cool Reebok remained at the Pumps era. Since then, I've admittedly walked into a Reebok factory outlet hoping that they've magically become cooler. But as far as I can remember, they remained largely boring and I remained largely, unexcited.

But now comes UFC, with all of its glory, gory, lights, actions, and cool factor. Before this sponsorship deal, the UFC sponsors were made up of a few prominent brands (think Muscle Pharm, Hayabusa, Affliction etc), and some not very prominent brands (think Dynamic Fasteners). But regardless, the UFC opened up a niche-but-not-really-niche avenue for sponsors to get their brand in, rumoured to be at a relatively low cost too. Suffice to say, prior to the Reebok-UFC deal, MMA sponsors were actually getting a bang for their buck.

I'm not going to over analyse the situation and give you charts and bars of data and money signs. Instead, let's look at the more localised problems.

Apparels (especially T-shirts) Sponsors

Seriously, almost all UFC fighters walks out with a T-shirt sponsor. You might be familiar with some of them such as Hayabusa, Torque, Affliction, Bad Boy, Venum, Dethrone, etc. Some of these brands have also ventured into MMA/Boxing gears of their own, and have reaped moolahs. I know for a fact that in Singapore, Hayabusa gloves sells at a premium over the Thai brands.

Now imagine, no more walk-out tees from your favourite fighter's brand. It will now, be replaced by a Reebok tee. Where will your loyalty lie now? The fighter or the brand?


Do a simple search on Google, and it's not hard to find a consolidated response page from the current T-shirt brands. Some were obviously unhappy, but others chose to stick by the fighters. But to be honest, having your greatest source of exposure (PPV events, press conferences, training videos, etc) removed can't be good at all right? If it was up to me, I think i'd spend my remaining contractual period left milking out what's left before Jul 2015, and after that sell a bunch of those leftovers as memorabilia.


Retailers/Vendors

In Singapore, there are a couple of online retailers that have profited from the rise of MMA popularity. These retailers were able to either obtain distributorship, or stock these MMA apparels at wholesale prices from the usual brands. Now that the landscape is changing, I honestly don't think that Reebok would distribute these MMA shirts out for these online retailers.

INSTEAD, think World of Sports, Royal Sporting House selling MMA gears and tees!

I'm no retailer, and these are just my thoughts, but I would think that the Reebok deal would hurt the revenues of these retailers by a significant amount; so much so, that I think a new strategy might be necessary to keep these businesses afloat.

Again, I am no retailer, but if we look back at say, sneakers. There is actually a viable and sustainable market doing niche product lines. Let's imagine, a shopfront that sells exclusively, MMA stuffs. I don't mean gears or apparels, but STUFFS; posters, gloves, figurines, t-shirts, shorts, etc. I promise, i will be a regular customer there. Better if you're able to obtain exclusive franchise of UFC merchandise from Dana White! Worth considering if you have a couple of million inside your bedside drawer.

So? Your point being?

Most of the time, change seem like an adversity to people, and the Reebok-UFC deal is a huge change. I'd dare say that the top guns at UFC must have had done their number crunching. For starters, a layman like me would be very interested to see our RSH and Sportslink selling MMA merchandise. Naturally, it signifies an increased outreach.

But it irks me to see that all UFC athletes would be "One-Brand". In the NBA, the players all wear the same team uniform. But hey, at least they have different shoes, and because of this, it laid out the possibility of big brands like Nike, Adidas, to think hard about their design. When the uniform is uniform, people do pay attention to the supple differences (shoes in the case of basketball, or soccer).

But last i heard, MMA fighters are bare footed. Maybe start designing ankle guards?

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