First class honours student sets aside studies to fight

Muhammad Hazwady
Meet Garie Tang, MMA fighter out of Impact MMA. Fresh from his recent victory over his Malaysian opponent via armbar in the first round on Rebel FC 1 in December of 2013, the 24 year old is already considered one of the best Strawweights (52.1kg) to come out of Singapore. However, he has been competing at a higher flyweight (56.7kg) class in MMA against bigger and heavier guys and have a perfect win record of 3-0 with two wins coming from submissions.
Despite possessing a first class Honours Degree in Hospitality and Tourism, the soft-spoken Garie, decided to put his education credentials aside to fully concentrate on his fighting career. His parents didn’t approve of him fighting but have soon grown accustomed to his passion and even managed his diet, especially on weeks leading up to his fight. He currently works as a trainer and trains full-time at Impact MMA but have expressed interest on venturing into the hospitality and tourism industry in the future.

Garie is also known to be a very exciting fighter winning a couple of accolades in his three year venture as an MMA fighter; Fight of the Night on Ultimate Beatdown 13 – Road To Glory and The Fight Scene Chief editor, Sam Affandy awarded him the submission of the night on Rebel FC 1. Garie also fought in the UK in a Muay Thai fight while studying for his degree. Although he lost that fight, promoters and fighters alike claimed that his fight was the Fight of the Night and a couple of promoters in the UK offered Garie to fight on their upcoming shows. Unfortunately for Garie, he suffered an injury after the fight and by the time he recovered, he couldn’t stay on in UK any longer and had to return to Singapore after completing his degree.
He has also been selected to be part of the national wrestling team after attending the trials, winning the Singapore Combat Championships Freestyle Wrestling gold medal on the September of 2013 and also won two local No Gi Brazllian Jiu Jitsu tournaments.
Already considered as the favourite to win the Ultimate Beatdown flyweight tournament this March after advancing to the semi finals, Garie has already gained significant attention from this region with fighters from Singapore, Malaysia and even Australia calling him out, notably James “Jumanji” Najim, an Abu Dhabi trials champion and National Jiujitsu champion from Australian Top Team who would like to fight him on the upcoming Rebel FC 2.
Garie who is currently training with Singapore’s first ever UFC fighter Royston Wee and many more bright local talents in Impact MMA combined with his excellent Martial Arts credentials that he has achieved in a short period of time, is most certain to have a very high chance to equally succeed or even surpass the success of Royston in MMA.

*Garie would like to thank his manager Kok Kok Kwang for treating the fighters well, his girlfriend Emilia for the kind support and understanding, his Strength & Conditioning coach Raphael Lim from Quantum Fitness, his teammates and coaches from the Wrestling Federation of Singapore and IMPACT MMA.
The article first appeared on The Fight Scene and we republish it here with the author’s permission.