The much anticipated finale of The Contender Asia was held in Singapore Indoor Stadium on April 12.  Me and my family flew all the way to Singapore just to watch this event and give support to our favorite muay thai fighter, Yodsanklai Fairtex.  

There were two preliminary bouts before the main program.  In the first fight, U.S. Wang of the Singapore Muay Thai team (and 2007 SEA Games bronze Medalist) went against Sukari Flash of Indonesia.  The Singaporean won by 2nd round KO.  The second fight was a women’s muay thai match between Brenda Chin (Singapore Muay Thai team and also 2007 SEA Games bronze medalist) and a Thai fighter (who has such a long name, I didn’t bother taking note of).  Again, the singaporean prevailed.

The Main Program

The entire stadium went wild when the line up of the fighters was announced.  One by one, the Contenders went down the aisle with their respective country’s flag: Soren Monkon Tong of Australia, Sean Wright of Scotland, Zig Zach of Singapore, Zidov Dominic of Switzerland/Croatia, Rafik Bakkouri of France, Dzabar Askerov of UAE, John Wayne Parr of Australia and Yodsanklai Fairtex of Thailad. 

1.  Soren Mongkon Tong Vs. Sean Wright-this is for the WMC Intercontinental Championship.   Sean Wright used his hand speed and strong punches to stagger Soren in the early rounds of the fight.  Soren used his height advantage and greater reach in countering Sean.   Soren landed several elbows and knees on Sean that by the 4th and 5th round, Sean is on the defensive.   Soren won by unanimous decision and is declared the new WMC Intercontinental Champion.   

2.  Zig Zach vs. Zidov Dominic-this is a rematch done to erase questions posed by viewers of the show whether Zach could have won their match if he didn’t sustain an injury (his shoulders popped out of its socket).   During their wai kru, Zach did his bow and arrow finish twice but Zidov would just pretend to catch it and break the arrows in half.  Zach then approached Zidov and made a sword slashing and thrusting gesture on Zidov.  This is the same wai kru move that Zidov did during his fight with JWP. 

Zach once again proved that he is a very technical fighter.  He could easily connect his punches and techniques and immediately disengage before Zidov can make a counter.    Zach landed a low blow on Zidov’s groin but was considered by the referee as a knockdown.   The referee counted only up to 6 or 7 when the ball rang.  So technically, Zidov was saved by the bell. 

In the 5th round, Zach landed an elbow that bloodied Zidov.  The referee stopped the fight at least twice to have the ring doctor check the bloodflow.  The doctor decided that Zidov as unfit to continue fighting thereby giving Zach a TKO victory.  This elicited the crowds to boo the decision.   After the fight, Zidov indirectly asked for a rematch.  Because of the heckling of the crowd, Stephan Fox went up the ring and explained why the fight was stopped and announced that there will be a rematch between the two fighters in August, for the 2nd season of The Contender Asia.

3. Rafik Bakkouri vs. Dzhabar Askerov-this is for the WMC European Championship belt.   In the show, the two fighters had an altercation that elevated to a fist fight.   This match was described as a grudge match between the two.  Because of Rafik’s cocky character in the show, everybody in the crowd booed him, except for the few Francophones in the stadium who are rooting for him.  The fight is very close as they are of equal skills.  I think Rafik landed more kicks but Dzhabar was better with his knees and elbows.  In the end, Dzabar Askerov won via unanimous decision.  When Dzhabar was given the opportunity to speak, he said, “I forgive Rafik this time”.   

 The Main Event-The Contender Asia Finals

John Wayne Parr vs. Yodsanklai Fairtex-  this is for the Championship of The Contender Asia.   The crowd went wild and ecstatic when the two fighters entered the ring.  But all of the Singapore Stadium fell silent when the match started. 

Yodsanklai clearly took the first round as he landed more kicks and even scored a knocked down when he landed a right hook punch that sent JWP down on the canvas.  JWP was again knocked down  in the second round.   At the end of the 2nd round, JWP already has a cut on the corner of his left eyebrow, this early, one can see that the only way for JWP to win is to knockout Yodsanklai. The pace of the 3rd and 4th round somewhat slowed down. JWP tried to fight back by slugging it out and do a barrage of punches, some of which landed on Yodsanklai’s face.  But when JWP stopped, Yodsanklai just mocked him as if to say, is that all you can do?   It seems that JWP’s strategy is to fight at punching distance to maximize his punching power.  He would continually come forward at Yodsanklai and crowd him out to negate the Thai’s powerful kicks.   But Yodsanklai can match JWP punching power but JWP can’t match Yodsanklai’s fast and powerful kicks. 

It would be interesting to note that Dzhabar, Pitu and Zidov are all on JWP’s corner while Rafik is the only Contender finalist who is in Yodsanklai’s corner.

Everybody was on their feet when the 5th and final round came.  JWP tried to score an upset by endlessly attacking Yodsanklai with his punches.  But Yodsanklai would just evade or counter punch.    JWP connected a strong elbow that I thought Yodsanklai will hit the canvas. 

When the closing bell rang, it is clear who is The Contender Asia Finals Champion: Yodsanklai Fairtex!!!  The judges’ scores:  50-45; 50-44; 50-47, Yodsanklai winning by unanimous decision. 

 

Side note:

Yodsanklai Fairtex is my family’s favorite muay thai fighter (my wife is also into muay thai.  My daughter, RP, considers Yodsanklai as a friend because he would often ask for her whenever I train at Fairtex).  After the fight, the spectators all gathered around Yodsanklai for an autograph and some photo ops.   We brought the tarpaulin banner we specially made that shows our family picture together with Yodsanklai.   RP was spreading out this banner and repeteadly would yell, “Yodsanklai, Yodsanklai”, she was about 5 to 6 meters from the Contender Champion, separated by several people.  When Yodsanklai saw my daughter, he shouted “Baabbyyy”.  Then said, “Come” and gestured for RP to approach him.    The security and crew parted the audience to allow RP to approach Yodsanklai. This made some of the audience to whisper “Maybe Yodsanklai is his uncle”. 

We were able to take a picture of that precious moment. 

I will post pictures of The Contender Asia Finals when I’ve already downloaded them from my cameras.