Asia-Pacific’s best fighters. A sell out crowd at a packed arena. City of Dreams at the Asian Sin City. Could you ask for more?

Macau played host to Legend for the first time in its 5th installment on the 16th of July. Nine bouts between eighteen fighters took place before the champions for this series were decided – Korea’s Bae Myung Ho took the Welterweight award from Rod MacSwain and Yao Honggang took the Bantamweight division title.

It was hard enough getting there – an indoor passage through the City of Dreams underground walkway meant Time Out took several detours before finally arriving just in time for the event.

First up, Hong Kong representative Vincent Siu was against Sung Ming Yen from Chinese Taipei. Vincent trains at Impakt Gym in Hong Kong, where Time Out had previously engaged in a rigorous training course, and we were told that despite his background in kyokushin karate, it was the first time Vincent would be appearing in a proper mixed martial arts tournament, having recently trained in Brazilian jiujitsu. Vincent didn’t last long in the ring, losing in the first round by submission in 1:49, much to the disappointment of the large Hong Kong populace at the arena.

Most of the fights went to three rounds and finished with decisions. One exception was the fourth fight between Ken Hamamura from Japan and Wang Sai from China. In an even match up, Hamamura buckled in the second round as his leg gave way, allowing Wang to land enough blows to finish the match. Wang was declared the winner by TKO, sadly cutting the intense match up short.

In the most controversial match of the night, Philippines’ Mark Streigl was declared a split decision winner over Japan’s Yusuke Kawanago, to several jeers from the crowd who felt that Yusuke had dominated the match. Mark tried to take Yusuke down several times, knowing Yusuke’s dislike for a ground game. But Yusuke defended himself well and when it did go to the ground didn’t let Mark dominate him on the floor. The third round completely belong to Yusuke, who threw several combo punches and kicks cornering Mark in the process. It seemed like a clear enough decision, but the judges thought otherwise, much to the surprise and several gasps from the crowd.

The seventh fight between South Korea’s Nam Yui Chul and Australia’s Rob Hill was not a contest for the faint-hearted. Unlike the previous bouts which were largely based around trying to win points or going for a submission on the floor, the two went right at it from the start, dealing in punches and kicks, no holds barred. Nam’s deadly blows were too much for Rob Hill, who was left bloodied and wounded as the referee called a halt to the bout with 1:12 remaining in Round 2.

In our MMA and Muay Thai gym feature, we had asked several top trainers around the city who would win between Rod MacSwain and Bae Myung Ho. All the trainers went for Bae Myung Ho, declaring him a clear favourite to snatch the title from the New Zealander. And so it proved to be true – despite an even first round where MacSwain managed to thwart Bae’s attempts to take the game to the ground and landed some counterpunches, Bae won over eventually in the following two rounds – finishing it off with a ground and pound, earning a unanimous decision from the judges. Bae Myung Ho, who had to pull out of Legend 4 due to injury, will hopefully defend his title at Legend 6 in Macau in October.

Fight 1: Sung Ming-Yen (Chinese Taipei) beat Vincent Siu (Hong Kong) by submission.
Fight 2: Yang Hae Jun (South Korea) beat Gareth Earley (New Zealand) by unanimous decision.
Fight 3: Fransino Tirta (Indonesia) beat Wu Chengjie (China) by unanimous decision.
Fight 4: Wang Sai (China) beat Ken Hamamura (Japan) by total knock out.
Fight 5: Mark Streigl (Philippines) beat Yusuke Kawanago (Japan) by split decision.
Fight 6: Li Jingliang (China) beat Alex Niu (China) by unanimous decision.
Fight 7: Nam Yui Chul (South Korea) beat Rob Hill (Australia) by total knockout.
Fight 8: Bantamweight Championship: Yao Honggang (China) beat Jo Nam Jin (South Korea) by unanimous decision
Fight 9: Welterweight Championship: Bae Myung Ho (South Korea) beat Rod MacSwain (New Zealand) by unanimious decision.