Fighters who call Asia home
French mixed martial artist arnaud lepont is just one of many foreign fighters calling asia home.
FRENCH mixed martial arts champion Arnaud “TheGame” Lepont wasn’t kidding when he told Yahoo! Malaysia recently that he wanted a Malaysian citizenship. He told me the same thing when we met at MuayFit in Petaling Jaya.
“It’s not a joke,” he says. “You print it, please.”
Lepont has been living and working in Malaysia for about a year-and-a-half now, and loves it.
“I fight in One FC (ONE Fighting Championship), and they put the French flag next to my name,” says Lepont. “But my hometown is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Look at how (model, actor and fellow mixed martial arts fighter) Peter Davis puts the Malaysian flag on his shoulders. I would love to do that too, but I’m afraid people would criticise me and say I’m not Malaysian. Give me citizenship and I swear I would give up my French passport.”
In just under two years, One FC has grown to become a powerhouse mixed martial arts promotion, and the spotlight is now on South-East Asia as the centre of growth in Asia. With its base in Singapore, One FC started holding events in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, before going to the Philippines. This year it has plans to hold events in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Macau and China.
The hotspot for mixed martial arts was once Japan, home of shoot wrestling, Pride FC and Dream FC. A little later, the US Ultimate Fighting Championship took over as the world’s most popular mixed martial arts promotion. In 2011, One FC rolled onto the scene, and very soon it was clear that something interesting was happening in South-East Asia.
In Singapore, Evolve Mixed Martial Arts is drawing famous international fighters to its camp. Fighters who are preparing for their matches often head to Thailand for their training. And locally, MuayFit is building up its roster of international fighters with names such as Filipino champion Eric “The Natural” Kelly and Lepont.
Another French mixed martial arts fighter Cedric Jouvet and his wife, Karelle Pradat, also a fighter, came here in December last year, to help Lepont prepare for his fight. They fell in love with the way of life here and decided to stay when offered teaching jobs at MuayFit.
“In terms of training, there’s not much difference between Europe and Asia. There are just less professional fighters here,” says Jouvet. “The main thing is, my wife and I get to share our passion with whomever wants to learn mixed martial arts,” he says. “And we get to learn about a new culture as well.”
Paul Teo, the owner of MuayFit, says he has been seeking out foreign fighters for his camp since January last year. He says he attended the first One FC event in September 2011 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, upon the invitation of One FC CEO Victor Cui.
Belgian fighter Samir Mrabet came to Malaysia two years ago as a commercial officer for the Belgian embassy and found that “Asia was the only place with a future for me.” He opened Monarchy Mixed Martial Arts gym in Kuala Lumpur last year and also fought in the Malaysian Fighting Championship organised by MuayFit.
“There has been a recent influx of foreign mixed martial artists into the scene in Asia to train and coach,” says Cui via email. “One FC is the greatest incentive for these fighters to come here to train as they now get an opportunity to compete in a world-class international event right here in Asia.”
From bank to cage
Anyone who has seen Lepont in action knows that he loves playing the court jester. His antics include walking, or rather crawling, to the cage in chains and a Hannibal Lecter mask, and taunting Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki with a mock book titled Beating Aoki For Dummies. At One FC: Destiny Of Warriors at Stadium Negara last year, he even found time to make funny faces at the camera, while being pinned by his opponent.
His red mohawk is unmistakable. And you’d never guess that Lepont once had a successful career as an accountant with Credit Lyonnais, one of the largest banks in France. He left that well-paying job to beat up guys in a cage. He was 25 at the time, and winning fights in France.
“I had enough money, so I thought if cage fighting didn’t work out, I could always go back to a bank job,” he says.
It wasn’t exactly an uncalculated risk, as he had plans in mind. Later, he moved to Vietnam and then Thailand where he thought he could improve his stand-up game with some muay thai training. But an unexpected turn of events soon had him heading for Malaysia. He had opened a gym in Vietnam but the business deal went bad.
“I lost everything, lost all my money,” says Lepont. “But thank God, before I left Vietnam, I met the most amazing woman. She is now my wife and the mother of my son. She’s from Hanoi. She helped me clear up all my problems and get back to Vietnam. She also helped me in Thailand and decided to follow me here to Malaysia.”
At the time, MuayFit was recruiting fighters, and when freelance combat sports writer James Goyder was asked if he knew anyone, Lepont’s name came up. The next thing Lepont knew, he was in Malaysia training with the MuayFit fight team.
Goyder, who has written for Phnom Penh Post, Taipei Times, The Guardian, The Observer and other publications, said of Lepont: “Arnaud’s single greatest asset is his heart ... he doesn’t know when to quit and that means you can never write him off in a fight. He’s also a very charismatic individual. The sport needs characters and Arnaud is a real character.”
The son of a painter, Lepont trained at the Free Fight Academy in Paris under Mathieu Nicourt. He lost his mother when he was a teenager, and he credits his father and martial arts for keeping him out of trouble in those years. He started learning karate when he was only five.
He has no regrets about leaving a highpaying bank job for a passion that pays just enough for him and his family.
“It’s the life I’ve always wanted to have,” says Lepont. “That’s why I’m happy to wake up at 6am every day, because it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I cannot complain about anything.”
With his six-fight winning streak broken by his defeat to Aoki at One FC 6 last year, Lepont will want to win his next fight against Hong Kong fighter Eddie “The Magician” Ng at One FC: Kings and Champions on April 5.
“I’m sorry but I don’t think Eddie Ng is as good as Shinya Aoki on the ground,” says Lepont. “I’m ready for anything. But I’ll be trying to knock him out.”
He says he doesn’t miss France at all, although he misses some long-time friends there. His life is here now, and he has become a “pretty chill guy nowadays”, missing his wife and one-and-a-half-year old son, Ethan, who are currently in Vietnam.
“Every time I fight, win or lose, (my wife) would ask me to retire,” says Lepont. “She says every time I step into the cage, she feels like she’s dying inside.
“But every time I step into the cage, I feel alive. But if in the future, my son asks me to retire, I will.”
One FC: Kings And Champions will take place on April 5 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. For tickets and more info, go to www.onefc.com.