Malaysia’s Ev Ting credits success to Pinoy MMA fighters

Nissi Icasiano

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Malaysia’s Ev Ting credits success to Pinoy MMA fighters
'Filipino fighters have this distinct desire and passion to compete in this sport, which I find it inspirational for me as a non-Filipino fighter,' says Ting

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Although he has defeated a handful of Filipino competitors inside the mixed martial arts (MMA) cage, Malaysian-Kiwi prodigy Ev Ting speaks highly of the dauntless prizefighters who proudly donned the Philippine colors in the sport. 

Ting, a 26-year-old full-blooded Malaysian who grew up in Auckland, New Zealand, has crossed paths with 7 Pinoy stalwarts in his 14-fight career that commenced in April 2011.

“E.T.” has won 6 of his 7 bouts against Filipino contenders, with the only loss coming at the hands of Filipino-American sensation Mark Striegl via first-round technical submission in February 2011.

Filipino-Kiwi Mark Abelardo became Ting’s first victim in July 2011 when he narrowly yielded to the heavy-handed combatant by split decision. 

Under the Legend FC banner in August 2012, Ting claimed a unanimous decision triumph over Rolando Gabriel Dy, who vied twice for Pacific Xtreme Combat’s bantamweight title 3 years later.

After making an impact in his ONE Championship debut against Indonesia’s Yohan Mulia Legowo in June 2014, Ting’s status as a serious threat to Filipinos was raised to a notch higher, knocking out Edward Kelly with a first-round head kick in October 2014 before forcing Cary Bullos to tap with a second-round guillotine choke in March 2015. 

Ting had a vindictive follow-up by defeating former ONE featherweight titleholder Honorio Banario in just 56 seconds with a first-round guillotine choke in October 2015. 

The 5-foot-7 standout of Auckland MMA listed another victim on Friday, January 29 as he scored a huge victory over Eric Kelly, who is widely regarded as the greatest Filipino fighter that the local Philippine MMA scene has produced.

Following several back-and-forth sequences of takedowns and submission attempts, Ting was able to compel Kelly to wave the white flag for the first time in his illustrious professional MMA run with a third-round guillotine choke. 

“Eric Kelly can be a fighter until the day he dies. He is a fighter. It is in his blood. He’s a natural fighter,” Ting said of Kelly. 

Despite the fact that he handed heartbreaking setbacks to Pinoy contingents, Ting is all praise to every Filipino fighters who pour out their burning passion for the sport each time they are inside an MMA cage. 

“Filipino fighters have this distinct desire and passion to compete in this sport, which I find it inspirational for me as a non-Filipino fighter,” he said. “It just so happened that my opponents are Filipinos, but I really have high respect to them.”

Ting, who might receive a rematch with reigning ONE featherweight champion Marat Gafurov this year, admitted that his encounters with Filipino athletes in MMA had a big contribution to his success and to where he is presently. 

“Philippines is now on my shoulders. I may have defeated a lot of Filipino fighters, but it doesn’t end there. I can also represent every Filipino every time I step into the cage,” he ended. – Rappler.com

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