MMA fight promotion, Legend Fighting Championship 7 is teed up to hit Macau this weekend, and I’ll once again be photographing the action ringside.

Its an exciting time for the sport – with the UFC making the strides it has in the US with its Fox deal, and continuing to set new standards in production (have you checked out the new opening sequence? Friggin’ awesome!). I look forward to every Legend event, but particularly this one since it has been awhile since the Hong Kong and Macau region has hosted an MMA fighting event.

Here are some of my favorite shots from Legend 6 in October 2011.

Rod MacSwain from New Zealand vs. South Korea’s Lee Yong Jae

China’s Wang Guan and Japan’s Koji Ando

Sam Brown from New Zealand against Liu Wenbo from China

Mongolia’s Jadamba Narantungalag faces off against Australia’s Adrian Pang

Ring Girls

outtakes from fighter portraits

Fight week was busy for me as usual, starting with a day long portrait shoot in Macau with the fighters. On the day of the event, I grabbed some environment shots of the arena a few hours early to document some of the behind-the-scenes and setup. Then, minutes before the fight it was on to our on-location studio to photograph the ring girls (tough job!), and then of course the 9-fight card itself. After the final bell we did some quick edits for press and media photos before catching our late night ferry back to HK. Hard work for me and my assistant but exciting and well worth it when I think from the perspective of documenting an evolving sport in one of the most rapidly growing regions of the world.

Here are some highlights from Legend 5:

Ring Girls Cupid, Gloria, Tiffany and Shannie

The ring a few hours before going live

Behind-the-scenes production

Hong Kong’s Vincent Siu

NZ’s Gareth Ealey throws a nasty elbow to Korea’s “Hungry” Yang

Knee from Yusuke Kawanago just misses Mark Striegl, but lands on the ground

Legend veteran Li Jingliang utilizing the jab versus Alex Niu

Ground and pound between South Korean Jo Nam Jin and Chinese Yao Honggang

I just arrived at the Grand Lisboa Poker Room to shoot the weekend of Macau Millions for PokerStars. I am picking up photography coverage at Day 1G and into Day 2. I was happy to hear that the event has broken through the 1000-player mark, which was not surprising news – just further indication that players in the region love their poker.

Here are some player photos from the Macau Poker Cup in February 2011.

 
Celina Lin, lovely as usual

Bryan Huang in his zone

Earlier this week, Slash made the last stop of his Asia Tour in 2011 at KITEC in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong. Opening was Australia’s Twenty Two Hundred and fronting for Slash’s band was Myles Kennedy. This was the second time I was shooting as official photographer for Slash in Hong Kong – here’s my blog post from his July 2010 show in Hong Kong.

Its embarrassing but I tend to get star struck in the presence of celebrities, particularly rock legends that I grew up listening to. This time around, I tried to play it cool, especially backstage, but I think there is an excitement with being in the presence of rockstars that I’ll probably never really outgrow. As expected, Slash was extremely respectful, shook my hand at the end of the meet-and-greet photoshoot, and said it was good to see me again (I won’t lie, I thought it was pretty cool that he remembered me).

The setlist consisted of a lot of stuff from the last show, with the exceptions of a few songs. Noteworthy: Doctor Alibi, one of my favorite songs from the latest album. Patience, one of my favorite GnR songs of all time. I had to put down my camera and just enjoy that one =)

 
Twenty Two Hundred frontman, Ben Lawoko-Leaney

Slash takes the stage

the fans of Hong Kong

Last week I photographed the highly anticipated Legend Fighting Championship 4 event at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo. It was a night of solid fights put together by Legend, but I particularly appreciated the attention to smaller details (commonly overlooked by many event promoters in the region, IMHO): professionalism from the fighters, efficient refereeing and judging, proper beer and concessions, a MMA-savvy crowd – stuff like that. On top of all that, the venue was at near capacity which I think bodes very well for the sport’s growth in Hong Kong.

During the fights itself, as a photographer, I’ve realized its pretty near impossible to pay complete attention with your face buried into the back of a huge camera. Nevertheless, here are some thoughts on some of the matchups that night.

Mark Eddiva, Philippines vs. Alex Lee, Hong Kong
Lee clearly had the hometown crowd behind him, and he nearly ended the fight in the first round when he dropped Eddiva with knees. But Eddiva recovered and secured a crucifix which allowed him to pound away at Lee’s face (a la Hughes-BJ Penn). Lee escaped, but right into a rear-naked choke. Would’ve been great to see the HK native win, but it was great to see the fans support him anyways.

Wang Sai, China vs. Alex Niu, China
Possibly the most exciting fight of the night, Wang and Niu traded precision striking as both fighters showcased their entire muay-thai repertoire. But Niu got the better of the exchanges and landed full mount several times, on his way to an unanimous decision.

Li Jingliang, China vs. Tony Rossini, Australia
Most of the first round was spent on the ground with Li tucking his chin from Rossini’s rear-naked choke. In the second round, Rossini grabbed another takedown but gave up his neck to a guillotine that Li eventually choked him out with. Although he didn’t tap, I remember catching a glimpse of Rossini’s eyes looking towards the ref before he eventually went out. Thats heart right there.

Yao Honggang, China vs. Mick Mortimer, Australia
Although Mortimer dropped him early, Yao quickly recovered to fight what would be a back and forth battle. This was one of those fights where as a photographer it was hard to keep track of scoring, but judges gave the unanimous decision to Yao.

Yohan Mulia Legowo, Indonesia vs. Jo Nam Jin, South Korea
Jo fought this like his opponent had stole something. Seemingly upset at Legowo for grabbing the tape on his gloves, Jo pranced and taunted before dishing out some serious ground and pound, leading to a rear naked choke in Round 2.

Kim Hoon, South Korea vs. Rod MacSwain, New Zealand
With the Welterweight Belt on the line, Kim dropped MacSwain early, but allowed the Kiwi to come back and dominate the remainder of the fight. The fight was a story of heavy hands coupled with strong defense on the ground. MacSwain won the unanimous decision and the Welterweight Title.

Nam Yui Chul, South Korea vs. Adrian Pang, Australia
A rematch of Legend 1′s main event (involving a controversial point deduction and draw decision), Nam and Pang promised to be a good one. The bad intentions were written all over each fighter’s demeanor before the fight even started. Somewhat surprisingly though, both fighters maintained discipline with their strikes from what was clear respect for each other. As the fight went on Pang seemed to be getting the better of the standing exchanges and growing in confidence. Nam, sensing he might have been behind in the score cards, began to flurry with more desperation, but in the end Pang won the split decision and held on to his Lightweight Title.

Anyone that knows me probably knows that I am MMA superfan, and I watch the UFC religiously. It always makes me laugh a little when I think about it, because those that know me also know that I couldn’t wouldn’t hurt a fly. Anyways, the reason for the blog post is that Legend Fighting Championship is returning to Hong Kong with Legend 4 on January 27. You may have seen posters around the MTR featuring photos by yours truly =)

So as a photographer, of course this is great because I get to shoot another awesome event that I love to watch. As a fan, its great because to me its an indication of consistent mixed-martial arts promotion here in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong seems to have a long history of muay-thai and kickboxing events, I’ve recently noticed more and more MMA events in areas outside of Japan, like Singapore, Macao and Hong Kong. Unfortunately, these events has been plagued with cancellations – most infamously the Fury event last October and most recently the Deep event earlier this month.

Legend on the other hand seem to be doing a good job at attracting a bigger and bigger crowd in each subsequent event. I also look at their deals struck with Affliction Clothing and US pay-per-view as notable milestones. They however have not been impervious to fighter injury, with welterweight belt contender Rod MacSwain, replacing Bae Myung Ho who hurt his shoulder in training. Nevertheless, very much looking forward to shooting Legend 4 at AsiaWorld-Expo!
 
Here are some shots from Legend 3, held last September 2010.

Helloooooo ring girls

I just got back to Hong Kong from Macau, where the Macau Poker Cup Championship (MPCC) at the Grand Lisboa wrapped up over the weekend. There were events throughout the week, including the 6-Handed High Rollers and the invitation-only Tournament of Champions. Amidst all of the action, crucial Asia Player of the Year points were up for grabs as Team Asia Pros Raymond Wu and Bryan Huang raced for leaderboard standings.

I was focused on shooting the main event, which included about 250 players competing over 4 days. Having setup a MacBook and netbook by the bloggers table, I was editing on the fly and uploading player photos to two displays in the poker room.

Hats off again to the PokerStars Macau team for organizing another successful event. You can also see some of my images on the PokerStars blog.

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Photographers-a-plenty at the kickoff festivities

Asia Player of the Year, Bryan Huang and Team Pro Raymond Wu signs an autograph

Women in full force

Jeff Lisandro and Joe Hachem

Tony Dunst

PokerStars’ Fred Leung

Julian Hasse takes down Kelly Flynn at the Main Event Final Table

I’ll be heading over this week to the Grand Lisboa to shoot the Macau Poker Cup Championship (MPCC) hosted by PokerStars Macau. I’ll be displaying player portraits on display screens at the front of the tournament poker room, so if you are in town come check it out or drop by to say hi.

Last Saturday, the 4th Annual Hong Kong Comedy Festival concluded with American Christopher M winning the Chinese competition and hometown Hong Kong local Andrew Chu winning the English competition.

This was the third year in a row that I’ve covered the festival, and during that time its been a privilege not only to document the growing local comedy scene, but also to hang out with some of the funniest dudes in Hong Kong.

Congrats also to GB Labrador (from the Philippines), Chris Musni, Rifat Karlova (from Turkey) and Matina Leung for winning 2nd and 3rd place for the English and Chinese Finals respectively.

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Last minute notes scribbled backstage

The Godfather of Hong Kong standup, Jami Gong

Shecky Wong, HK International Comedy Festival headliner

People’s Liberation Improv perform A Nightmare On Elgin Street

Daniel Chong

Smita Venkat

Steven Ng

Tama Churchouse

Ladies love Ryan Hynek

GB Labrador

15-year old phenom Connor Savage

2010 Chinese competition winner Christopher M

2010 English competition winner Andrew Chu

The English preliminary rounds of the 4th Annual HK International Comedy Competition wrapped up last weekend at the TakeOut Comedy Club in the Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. I went to my first Hong Kong Comedy Festival event 2 years ago, and its been great to see the list of comedians grow and competition get stronger.

Before every round of the competition, there is always a sense of nerves in the green room as club owner Jami Gong goes over the rules and comics finish last minute prep. But they all brought their “A” game for the prelims. Good luck to all the remaining comedians for the finals this weekend!

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Noel Gascon just flew in from Manila (and boy are his arms tired)

Vivek Mahbubani’s one man show

TakeOut veteran Kay Ross

Kiwi comedian (and musician) Nick Rado

Relative newcomer Tonia Yim

Earl Young, USA

Ambidextrous Chinese and English comic, Matina Leung

Shady Mahesh scopes out the competition

Competition judges

Canadian ventriloquist, Michael Harrison

Bring on the finals!