Caption: Mohd Saufi Jaman (left) in action during his fight at the Rampage MMA Championship held in Penampang, Sabah on Sunday. Picture: Courtesy of Nate Younis Ahmed.
Ak Fauzi Pg Salleh
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
LOCAL mixed martial art (MMA) fighter Mohd Saufi Jaman made a winning debut at the Rampage MMA Championship held in Penampang, Sabah on Sunday.
Fighting under the banner of the ADN MMA club, Saufi defeated Lu Yi from D30 Miri Sarawak with a knock-out in the 3rd round via ground and pound to get his amateur MMA record off to a flying start.
In an interview with the BruSports recently, the 26 year-old said that he is hoping to make it professional in MMA one day.
"I feel extremely relieved and happy to get the win, it makes the hard months of training easier. However I know I have a long way to go to improve so I cannot stop yet,” he said.
“This for me is a way out of poverty so I am training really hard and one day soon hopefully go pro,” added Saufi, who works at a car wash cleaning cars during the day.
ADN MMA club’s coach Nate Younis Ahmed is impressed with Saufi’s attitude and dedication in training.
“As a coach I am very proud of Saufi… he has a hard life, works all day at a carwash in the hot sun then goes straight to gym to train five times a week,” said Nate
“When he’s not at the gym he will run 5 to 8km and he followed that up with 100 push-ups, sit-ups, lunges and pull ups.
“MMA is not an easy sport, there are a lot of learning as well as the demands of being in peak physical condition… despite the challenges and his long tiring working hours, Saufi does all this without ever complaining or giving up,” he added.
“Right now we are trying to save some money to send him for a proper training camp in Thailand… as we all can imagine it is quite tough on a small salary but one way or another we will make it happen for him (Saufi).
“Saufi's dream is to go pro and we have set a target of next year for him provided we can complete eight more fights within this year and attend training camps in other countries to give him more rounded experience,” concluded Nate.
