Rahman has plan to conquer world
ONE FC.
ESPNSTAR.com profiles Singapore's first MMA fighter Radeem Bin Abdul Rahman as he bids to become champion of the world.
By Marcus ChhanMike Tyson once said: "Everyone has a plan - until they get punched in the face."
For 25-year-old Mixed Martial Artist Radeem Bin Abdul Rahman that proverbial punch to the face has yet to materialise. It is early days, of course, in the career of Singapore's first MMA fighter, but Rahman's plan to become the country's first world champion in the sport is progressing quite smoothly.
Rahman made his professional MMA debut at One FC's Champion vs Champion event in September 2011 - stunning everyone except himself and his team-mates at Evolve MMA with a three minute destruction of Indian Susovan Ghosh in Singapore.
"Basically I just focused on the game plan," Rahman told ESPNSTAR.com.
"I stuck to the game plan. I just went in and did what I had to do. The moment I knew I won I was like ‘It's unbelievable'.
"And then everyone was cheering for me. I was like: ‘Wow, I will never forget this moment.'".
The moment Rahman was talking about came when 7,000 fans inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium reacted with delirious joy to his TKO win over Ghosh in the first round. According to the Singapore fighter, the fans played a part in his victory. Their role began as soon as Rahman stepped into the cage and felt the full force of the boisterous support surrounding him - even before he had aimed a kick at Ghosh.
"I felt excited. I felt pumped up," he said.
"When there's a crowd behind me and cheering for me and motivating me, I don't want to be a disappointment. I want to show them what I can do."
With great support come great expectations, but Rahman insists he does not feel the pressure of being the poster boy for MMA in Singapore - a rapidly growing sport in the country.
"Nah, I don't feel under any pressure at all because for me I am usually focused more on the Martial Arts [perspective]. So I don't really care that ‘Oh man they put high hopes on me.' I look at myself in terms of self-improvement," he said.
"Every day I want to improve bit by bit. In Mixed Martial Arts you have to constantly evolve. You can't just be the same person all the way. And that's why if you want to be a champion you have to do this."
And Rahman has been doing it.
He's dreamed of being a professional since he was 11-years old and set off on the long road to perfecting his fighting technique.
When he was in primary school, his parents fed his love for Martial Arts by taking him to watch local Taekwondo competitions. When that wasn't enough to satisfy his appetite, Rahman had to supplement it by watching DVDs of fights. From this early age, he took to the art of Muay Thai and submerged himself in books and YouTube videos to learn this violent yet graceful craft.
Three years ago he finally found an academy where he could take his basic Muay Thai skills to the next level - Evolve MMA. It was the chance of a lifetime for Rahman, an opportunity to train with Muay Thai world champions. He took it with both fists and has even gone on to test himself against Thai fighters in their own backyard. Quite a gung-ho thing to do, but it's all part of the philosophy Rahman has adopted on self-improvement and rounding the edges of his game.
"Fighting Thai guys was, of course, tough because they grew up in a country that is really established [in Martial Arts] with Muay Thai. And I have just started learning, but because I trained here [at Evolve] with world champions, my defence, my strategy, and my attack was put to good use," Rahman said.
However, a true MMA fighter knows how to fight standing up as well as on the ground and even mix things up a bit with some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, if need be. For some, this sort of all-around dedication might be a turn-off, but for Rahman this is the reason why becoming a professional MMA fighter appealed to him much more than simply becoming an expert at Muay Thai.
He added: "I feel that MMA is exciting. What matters to me is unpredictability. So you never know [what will happen next] even though your opponent is a grappler or he is standing up, you never know if he knows additional background in other martial arts. And that is what makes it exciting."
Rahman's Muay Thai background was on full display during his debut victory over Ghosh in September 2011. His powerful strikes set him up for the TKO win and earned him an early reputation for being aggressive.
"I prefer it that way," he said.
"In the cage I like to be aggressive. I don't know why but it is exciting to be aggressive."
Don't be mistaken though. Rahman is not some brawler from the streets of Singapore who happened to find his way into the Evolve gym and Mixed Martial Arts. He understands perfectly that Martial Arts is about developing the Body, Mind and Spirit.
Body is developed through the physical exercises involved in martial arts training - by all accounts Rahman already was a very fit individual. The type of person who "would go for a 12KM run if there was nothing to do at home".
Training the Mind and Spirit is a slightly more highbrow affair. Meditation may be involved but the idea is to coordinate thinking with movement - this aids the MMA fighter with his footwork and teaches him how to relax and focus on the task at hand.
Even if the goal is to beat your opponent until he surrenders - Rahman says you do not have to be an angry person to be a professional in MMA.
"I disagree with that," he said.
"Usually when I am in the cage, I don't feel pressure, I tell myself ‘okay now I have an opponent this is the challenge for me'. It's like taking an exam. You train so hard and now it is time to put the real work in.
"I tell myself to relax and also that the biggest opponent is myself. I want to see how much I have improved."
The pursuit of personal improvement is a massive part of what makes Rahman tick. He trains six days a week for up five or six hours. He has a notebook where he jots down new moves so he does not forget any of the minor details told to him by his trainers.
"I have a dream to be a world champion just like my instructors [at Evolve]. Every day I see them training even though they are world champions, it is amazing to watch," he said.
"When I go against them [in practice], of course I lose out to them. The positive thing is that let's say I get taken down 10 times, I want to try and minimise this to five or six the next day."
Pushing yourself to the limit in training does have its own perils - something which Rahman experienced late last month. He dislocated a finger two weeks before his scheduled fight at One FC's Rise of Kings, October 6th event. This disappointingly ruled him out of a second appearance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium but it should be seen as just a minor bump in the road of a burgeoning career.
In Mike Tyson's terms it was more of a slight poke in the eye rather than a full-blooded punch to the face.
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