Melvin Yeoh (born 5 January 1981) is a Malaysian

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

and

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

champion. As of April 2012 he is the most successful mixed martial artist in Malaysian history with a professional record of 6–1. He began training in Taekwondo in

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces o ...

at the age of 13 and later took up Muay Thai. As a teenager he was encouraged to participate in martial arts by his grandparents because he got in a lot of fights at school. Yeoh's work as a school teacher took him from

Johor Bahru Johor Bahru (), colloquially referred to as JB, is the capital city of the state of Johor, Malaysia. It is located at the southern end of Peninsular Malaysia,along the north bank of the Straits of Johor, opposite of the city-state Singapore. T ...

where he founded the first MMA camp in the region in 2006.

MMA career

Yeoh decided to enter Mayhem 2 which was organised as the promotion now known as Malaysian Fighting Championship in 2012. Despite only being 145 lbs he beat Sam Chan and Raymond Tiew in the quarter finals and semi finals, Tiew would later go on to fight for

ONE Championship ONE Championship (formerly ONE Fighting Championship) is a Singaporean combat sports promotion. Founded on 14 July 2011 by entrepreneur Chatri Sityodtong and former ESPN Star Sports senior executive Victor Cui, its events have featured mixed ...

. In the final he took on Kazbek Shalbassov but lost in controversial circumstances after the referee gave Shalbassov time to recover from an illegal knee which video replays proved to be legal. Yeoh recovered from the setback to win his next four fights. On 10 December 2011 he stopped Malaysian Muhammad Taufiq Hashim with punches in the first round of their fight at Malaysian Fighting Championship 3. On 10 March 2012 he stopped another Malaysian, Mohd Zakhir, with a head kick 27 seconds into the first round of their fight at Malaysian Fighting Championship 4. This stoppage is proven to be controversial since his opponent can still fight and its only a knockdown. Just two weeks later, on 24 March 2012, Yeoh defeated Singapore's Zulkarnain Mohammad by triangle choke in the first round of their fight at Ultimate MMA - Ultimate Fight Night 7. On 14 April 2012 he took on another fighter from Singapore, Mamat Sparko, at Gods FC. Yeoh weighed 20 lbs less than his opponent but was able to win by triangle choke for the second successive fight in a performance which led some to speculation that he was ready to fight at a higher level. In April 2012 he was strongly linked with

and tipped to appear on their 23 June event at

Stadium Negara Stadium Negara is an indoor arena located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Background Stadium Negara is located about 2 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur City Centre, next to the Stadium Merdeka and Merdeka 118 building. The stadium, which has 10,000 ...

in Kuala Lumpur something which Yeoh said would be a 'dream'. Yeoh was one of four fighters selected for the ONE FC Malaysian Featherweight Tournament and he defeated Raymond Tiew for the second time in his semi final matchup at ONE Fighting Championship: Return of Warriors which was held at

Putra Indoor Stadium Putra Indoor Stadium (Malay: ''Stadium Putra''), currently named as Axiata Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Background The stadium is located in the premise of the National Sports Comp ...

on 23 June and will face Jian Kai Chee in the final. Chee ultimately had to back out of the final due to injuries and was replaced by the eventual winner A.J. Lias Mansor who defeated Yeoh on 15 November 2013 at ONE Fighting Championship: Warrior Spirit, to become the inaugural Malaysian National Featherweight Champion. Melvin Yeoh last seen in One Championship cage in October 2015 when he lost to Saiful Merican. Occasionally competed in some grappling and Muay Thai small show he been focus on building his promotion such as Ultimate Beatdown, Subzero and Johor Jiujitsu open. He also focus on training upcoming prospect such as Jihin "Shadowcat" Radzuan who debuted in One Championship March 9, 2018 and showed promising results by round 2 Triangle choke. Later in July 2018 and Dec 2018, Melvin best prospect make another 2 statements by defeating Indonesian top female contender Jenny Huang, a former title contender.

Mixed martial arts record

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