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World Warzone Championship (WWC), a combat sports tournament held on 6 and 7 December at the N9 Arena in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, pitted a roster of martial artists from five Asian countries.

The main event on Sunday (7 December) saw Yusuf Azmi, the founder of a local consumer and human rights watchdog organisation, competing against Indonesian fighter Yunus Martin.

Clips of their match have since gone viral, with Yusuf launching a strong and fierce start in the first round, until he dialed things up to 11 and got winded early in the second round.

In the third round, Yusuf was visibly fatigued and could barely keep his step. Yunus took advantage of his opponent’s exhaustion until Yusuf’s team “threw the towel”, prompting the referee to end the match.

Indonesia’s Yunus was declared the winner through Technical Knockout (TKO) and named champion of the WWC.

Viral altercation during a WWC promotional event

On 31 October, an altercation between Yusuf and Yunus went viral on social media during a promotional event ahead of the fight. The argument sparked lively conversations online.

Malaysian Muay Thai athlete Johan “Jojo” Ghazali commented on the incident, describing it as “gimik sampah” (trashy gimmick), and warned that such behaviour only does a disservice to combat sports in the country.

In response, Yusuf uploaded a video claiming that Yunus had disrespected him by allegedly urinating on a Persatuan Pengguna Semboyan Malaysia (a non-government organisation in which he serves as chairman) t-shirt.

Watch the gimmick altercation here:

The WWC did not have prior government approval even though they had already set match dates

While the WWC tournament was going through its promotion phases, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) announced that it did not receive approval from the government.

Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh explained that any sport event, especially ones that involve international participants, must obtain approval from the Sports Commissioner’s Office of Malaysia in line with the Sports Development Act 1997 (Act 576).

According to a Malay Mail report dated 8 November, Yusuf, who is also the tournament’s organiser, later submitted an official letter to the Sports Commissioner for registration purposes in hopes that the event would be approved before it began on 6 December.

A junior category was also scrapped from the WWC event after a new circular from KBS prohibited anyone under the age of 15 to participate in combat sports competitions.

READ MORE: Combat Sports Tournament Not Approved By Government, Venue And Fight Dates Already Set

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