This article first appeared in the Jul/Aug 2011 issue of World Gaming magazine.
Mixed martial arts, or MMA as it is commonly known, is arguably the world’s fastest growing sport. As fight fans grow tired of the corruption and the boring undercards of boxing, MMA is bringing a fast-paced, action-packed product to their fans. Now it is Macau’s turn to see some of the live MMA excitement.
The Grand Hyatt at City of Dreams has signed a four series contract with local Asian fight promoters Legend Fighting Championship. Co-founders Chris Pollack and Mike Haskamp have brought us four huge nights of fighting over the next 12 months, where we’ll see some of the best fighters in the region going head to head in this exciting sport. We here at World Gaming are huge MMA fans and we are very excited to see the sport coming to Macau.
Saturday 16 July will see Legend 5 explode into action and there are some excellent fights on the card. The night’s feature fight is between New Zealand’s Rodney “Hot Rod” MacSwain who will be defending his welterweight title against South Korean challenger Bae Myong Ho. MacSwain fighting out of Strike Force Auckland has an impressive 12-3-0 (win-loss-draw) record and is looking to make a big impact on the world stage. Bae the “Wolverine” has 11 victories to his name and this will be the biggest fight of his career. Not only is the title up for grabs, but also international recognition.
The other fight receiving a lot of attention is between Yao Honggang, China’s very own bantamweight, who will be taking on South Korean, Jo Nam Jin in another title fight. Get ready to cheer on Yao “The Master” who is currently the undefeated local. Let’s hope that this traditional Chinese wrestler can repeat his performance against Michael Mortimer from Legend 4 earlier this year.
Get your tickets directly from www.cityofdreamsmacau.com, www.macau.com, www.cityline.com or at HMV outlets. There will be a huge after party at Cubic at City of Dreams, so make a night of it and party it up with the fighters and ring girls after the event.
