Just like any sports, esports takes dedication, commitment, sacrifices, countless hours of training, pure determination and so much more.
So it’s not surprising that sports athletes have so much in common with esports pros.

In conjunction with ONE: Destiny of Champions’ big fight in Axiata Arena on 7 December, 2018, ONE Championship organized an open workout where fans can meet their favourite local MMA fighters.

We caught up with two individuals from the esports community.

Kiri Kaniathran, Group Manager at MBT & CEO at Emarque

(L-R) Kiri with Peter Davies.

As someone who’s been in esports since 2006 with pro team MBT, Kiri also runs his own company which focuses at providing high performance PC systems and liquid cooling solutions for both consumer and industrial use.

He’s also a big fan of the lethal Agilan Thani and this is what Kiri had to say about the champ.

Agilan “Alligator” Thani

(L-R) Kiri with his hero, Agilan Thani.

“Agilan inspires a lot of us youth to come forth and make a name for ourselves despite where we came from. He’s very much like a lot of the esports players you see today, from an enclosed childhood who never got along well in school or often being bullied”.

“I can relate a lot to Agilan when he was asked how he found himself being a ONE Champ. He gave a simple answer but in reality it’s the hard work and little things along the way that positions ourselves in the right path”.

“Both esports and sports allowed people to prove themselves in an unexpected way. Youth like us believed and worked hard in a dream that no one encouraged us or expected to thrive yet here we are today.”

“Agilan has the latest Red Dead Redemption 2 on Playstation 4 and he also plays CS:GO and PUBG. He encouraged us to keep going at esports and believe in what we’re doing because the support and attention esports is getting is great and we should be the ones to lead the way”.

Jihin “Shadowcat” Radzuan

(L-R) Kiri with the lethal Shadowcat.

“Jihin blew our minds today by wearing the pants from one of Overwatch’s popular characters D.VA. And she said she wanted to cosplay as D.VA too and that was really amazing. She likes D.VA because her character is a combination of smart tactics and strength. Jihin would love to play more Overwatch in the coming future” he jokes.

Aaron “Qontra” Chan, Pro Esports Caster

(L-R) Peter Davies with Aaron.

Aaron or Qontra as he is fondly known is a pro caster for League of Legends, PUBG, Arena of Valor, Free Fire Battlegrounds and MPL. And he’s a big fan of veteran fighter Peter Davis.

“MMA fighters like Peter Davis, Agilan Thani and Gianni Subba are such a huge inspiration to me as they have put so much time and dedication in pursuing their Mixed Martial Arts dream. It is a great risk and great reward for those who are bold enough to work hard and chase their dreams”.

“This is relatable to people like myself in the esports industries, especially for players as they are putting themselves in such a great risk in their career lives where only victors will be remembers. For me, these guys taught me to persevere no matter the circumstances and to have great disciplines in life”.

“Agilan Thani picked up martial arts to cope with a tough environment growing up, same goes to many of the people I know who are chasing their esports dreams too. As much as esports is less physical as a sport, I can see certain similarities between the two while esports requires more mental agility and hand-eye coordination”.

“As a caster/commentator for esports, I want each of all these budding talents in Malaysia to rise to the top along with the rest of Southeast Asia to rise one day. Just like how ONE Championship champions the Asian continent for Mixed Martial Arts”.

Peter loves gaming, especially PUBG mobile and racing simulators. Racing allows him to experience the thrill of being a racer minus the risk of crashing and the cost of fixing a real car, he joked.

(L-R): ONE Champs Agilan Thani, Gianni Subba, Jihin Radzuan, and Mohammed Bin Mahmoud.

Don’t forget to catch Agilan, Jihin, Gianni and the rest in action this 7 December, 2018 in ONE Championship Destiny of Champions, Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil. For more info, head over to ONE Championship’s official FB page.

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