Catching Up With The White Tiger

I write this article with excessive amounts of excitement as I was privileged enough to catch up with one of my absolute favourites, as well as an extremely well known and I have to add, exceptionally fast progressing MMA sensation, Irshaad "White Tiger" Sayed. Before we get into it though, I’d just like to say a big Thank you to the White Tiger for taking the time out to answer all our questions.

 

Sayed, born in Cape Town, fights out of Evolve MMA in Singapore obtained his fight name in Thailand when a promoter called him the "White Tiger" and says that it just stuck with him ever since. Sayed started martial arts at the youthful age of 14, initially getting involved with Muay Thai but soon after he had progressed to compete at a high level in muay thai, says that MMA, was simply a natural progression. He now holds an MMA record of 8-2.

 

Usually when asking athletes in combat sports what their biggest achievement to date is, the most common answer received is having been a part of a specific promotion, or having won specific titles, but Sayed considers his biggest achievement being able to make a living doing something he loves.

 

Sayed made his Debut at EFC Worldwide in March 2014, taking the win over Leo Gloss via RNC, 4min1sec into the fight. Sayed talks us through the fight: "There were some nerves during my 1st EFC fight. I'm always looking for the finish, so for me that fight went according to plan."

 

 

 

So after 2 consecutive fights finishing the same way, only the time is lessened, you’d think a new trend was being started, right? When asked if that was the case (as he went on to submit Charlie Weyer in June 2014, also via RNC, 3min45sec into the first round) and if we could expect to see another RNC submission in round 1 in his next fight (EFC 35, 6th November 2014, Irshaad "White Tiger" Sayed vs. Abdul "Hollywood" Hassan), Sayed said that "It's simply a coincidence that both fights ended in the 1st round with the same submission. I think we all know my game plan against Hassan."

 

Never mind the fact that this show stopper already holds title like the WPMF World Muay Thai Champ, WMC Planet Battle Kickboxing World Champ. WMC I-1 Asia Muay Thai Champ x2 and Ruff MMA China Champ, but when asked about his take on the change from EFC Africa to EFC Worldwide, Sayed said "It's a great step up for EFC. It will certainly raise the level of competition and I'm looking forward to being a world champion".

 

 

 

Sayed considers his parents his role models as he feels they are great guides for him and that he is blessed to have them as his parents. From a martial arts perspective, however, he considers Bruce Lee to be his role model. "Take what works and discard the rest."

 

According to social media, Sayed has been having cardio boxing sessions with students and when asked if this would in any way invoke the re-opening White Tiger Muay Thai Gym, Sayed said "When I returned from training in Thailand I set white tiger Muay Thai in Cape Town. After relocating again to Hong Kong we decided to stop operations as we didn't have any trainers. Since I got back to Cape Town I've been teaching an outdoor class for old students who requested me to teach again."

 

Sayed comes across as a go getter who lets nothing (and no one) stand in his way, so we had to ask if there was any specific reason he returned to continue his fighting career in South Africa. Sayed responded saying that "If there was a well run and a well organised promotion like EFC, earlier, I would've also returned to fight in SA. Without the correct platform to compete I wouldn't have considered coming back to fight."

 

Sayed talks us through a fight night: "I prefer to stay calm before I compete. Before warming up I take a few minutes to myself and clear my head, at this point I'm at peace with the outcome of my fight. Whatever happens, happens. All I can do is give 110%. When I enter the Hex I take charge, it's my space and I dictate what happens."

 

Thankfully, he has steered clear from any injuries thus far and takes good care of himself (we can see ;) haha). He looks forward to a long career and admits that nothing gets done without hard work and sacrifice.

 

We asked Sayed to share two facts with us, 1. Something about being a fighter, that non-fighters would be keen to know. Sayed: I eat horribly for 1 week after I fight. Like you couldn't imagine, haha. 2. Something interesting and random. Sayed: We have 2 chinchillas as pets in Singapore. (I would be lying if I said I didn’t google that to find out what it is, haha! I’ve saved you the trouble, see image below)

 

 

 

Sayed enjoys the outdoors, so when he’s not at the gym training, he’ll be found mountain biking, hiking, wake boarding, skiing or rock climbing. Integrating two things he’s extremely fond, on the 8th of November Sayed will attempt to run up lions head as many times as possible from sunrise to sunset in support of  Direct Aid International, who build water wells and boreholes for needy villages in Africa. People can make a pledge for each successful ascent he makes, directly to the NGO.

 

 

 

Final words from the White Tiger

 

"I would like to thank all my training partners at Evolve and my partners that helped me in Cape Town. Thank you to GNC, polar ice cream and SimSport for all the support"

 

 

 

To keep up to date, check out his website at: Irshaad Sayed

PFC 4 Results and Review

This was the first PFC Promotions FN I attended and I had the privilege of covering the event with live tweets for MMA Africa, as all the action happened. I have to admit that it was such an organized and well planned event!! As you know, or may not know, with every FN, promoters have to deal with fighters who pull out either within weeks leading up to FN, at the weigh in or worst case scenario, on the day! I’m ecstatic to say, knowing what happens behind the scenes that the entire promotion team handled any obstacles thrown their way, in the most graceful manner… Well done to the PFC team on a spectacular event!!

The night saw some exciting fights with 3 different modes: boxing, K1 and MMA. I found a lot of the fights to be rather entertaining, whether it was the striking, what was at stake, or the tremendous amounts of heart these athletes had. There were 2 specific fights that had made waves on Saturday night...

Bout 9- K1: Rafael Wozniak (Thaiholics) vs Jasper Basson (Tricore) was definitely FOTN for me. Both fighters came out strong and hard but with total control. This bout saw Rafael chasing Jasper around the ring with combo’s until he landed a body hook, sending Jasper to the canvas with an 8 count but he recovered and got back in. Rafael dropped some solid leg kicks and landed another body hook, dropping Jasper again. The best part of this bout, was that every time Jasper dropped to the canvas, he refused to stay down. This kind of heart deserves recognition. In R4, Rafael goes hard with a flurry of punches, dropping Jasper to the canvas with another 8 count. Jasper just about made it back up, but the ref called it.

 

Bout 11- Boxing: Dillon Yule (PFA) vs Tapiwe Hagler (Master Energies) was rather interesting for me. This was a solid fight, with both athletes showcasing exactly how hard they’d worked. What made this fight outstanding was that in R2, I literally saw what appeared to be Dillon’s right hand/ wrist being injured. He threw a right, his wrist bent over forward and his glove looked as if it had folded up in his fist. Immediately he hit the canvas, moaning about it, but within seconds he was back in and continued until the last bell only being able to throw punches with his left hand, with the odd punch being thrown with his right hand which was clearly injured. After what probably felt like the longest fight of his life, Dillon defeated Tapiwe, with only 1 hand for half the fight!!

The final results for each bout, as announced on FN are below:

Bout 1- Boxing: Jean Claude Dixon (Pro Fitness) took the win over Daniel Pontack (Extreme)

Bout 2- Boxing: Ivan Milankovics (Extreme) took the win over Liam Varley (Pro Fitness)

Bout 3- JP de Villiers (Brice Gym) took the win over Shaylin Nagel (Extreme)

Bout 4- Kurt Stanley (Brice Gym) took the win over Tom Varley (Pro Fitness) via KO in round 1

Bout 5- Boxing: Lunga Sitemba (Brice Gym) took the win over Emile Kalekoda (Pound for Pound)

Bout 6- K1: Emile Brits (Tricore) took the win over Junaid Abel

Bout 7- MMA: Gary Joshua (Top Gym) took the win over Shadley (Dean Scotts MMA) via Triangle in round 1

Bout 8- K1:Adrian Baird (Pro Fitness) took the win over Aaron Sher (Bulldogs)

Bout 9- K1: Rafael Wozniak (Thaiholics) took the win over Jasper Basson (Tricore) via KO in round 4

Bout 10- Boxing: Dom Beakaert (PFA) took the win over Andrea Hill (Independent)

Bout 11- Boxing: Dillon Yule (PFA) took the win over Tapiwe Hagler (Master Energies)

Bout 12- K1: Adrian van Wyk (Tricore) took the win over Didier Muamba (Pro Fitness) via Ref Stoppage in round 4

Bout 13- K1: Carlo Schippers (Tricore) takes the win over Michael Johnson (Impakt) for the PFC Welterweight Champion Title

Bout 14- K1: Endi Pegado (Tricore) takes the win over Shane Braaf (Independent) for the PFC Lightweight Champion Title

Pictures courtesy of RazzWorks Digital Photography

Does Fallon Fox Really Have An Unfair Advantage?

With much thought and consideration, I think it's time to get some interaction. With WMMA being quite close to my heart, I've decided to write about something current and concerning. There’s been quite a bit of hype in the world of MMA about Fallon Fox and whether or not she has an unfair advantage over other female MMA fighters.

Fallon Fox, born Boyd Burton on November 29, 1975 is the first openly transgender athlete in MMA history. Medical experts point out that “male to female transsexuals have significantly less muscle strength and bone density, and higher fat mass, than males."

Medical examinations aside, Fallon is of “average” female height and weight and feels she does not have an advantage over other female fighters.

In every MMA fight, athletes are generally matched up according to their weight and their record in terms of experience. In some instances, their opponent may have a height advantage, or a reach advantage and they have to deal with that. And that's what they do, they deal with it.

This brings us back to the question: Does Fallon Fox have an unfair advantage over other female athletes in MMA? Does she? Does she really?

This is a pretty debatable topic and could get ugly, so I’m running with this post at the risk of receiving some criticism. I don’t think that Fallon has an unfair advantage. As an athlete in the Martial Arts industry, I’ve learnt that it’s not about who your opponent is. The athlete and their camp are going to emphasise training certain disciplines and techniques in preparation for a fight, but at the end of the day it’s not about who your opponent is.

Think about it, if you were going to base accepting a fight on whom your opponent would be (granted that they’re on the same level of experience and weight as you), do you really think that would make for a successful career?

What are your thoughts and opinions on Fallon, as a transgender female in WMMA?

 

Pain Is Weakness Leaving The Body

I would make up some lame excuse as to why I haven’t posted anything in a while, but that’s just not me. It’s fairly difficult to remain positive all the time, not impossible, just difficult… These past few days were quite rough, lots going through my mind, lots happening, etc. but no need to worry, this post comes with lots of excitement and a sort of “back on track” feel, opposing the last few days’ feelings.

I don’t know if you’re at all familiar with the feeling, but when you wake up on a Saturday morning feeling motivated, you know it’s going to be an amazing day filled with positivity! Having your training session pre-planned, following through and sticking it out through every single burn...

Getting to lunge number 219 and reminding yourself, you’re only on set number two, you’ve crunched your way to rock solid (but crazy burning) abs and still have just over 200 more squats to go before you’ve completed your warm up…  

Just in case you’re wondering if I can still walk after all that, yes… because it’s mind over matter. I was going to keep this blog out of public sight (despite the fact that there are already people out there who know about it and check back every now and again for more posts- you stalk me, I stalk you ;) haha), however, as all artists and writers have a muse (a spirit or source that inspires an artist), I do too.

You know that ONE person you can rely on for anything, at anytime, regardless of what the situation may be? That person who motivates you at all the right times, who picks you up after a major fall, who inspires you when you’re at a low, who’s changed your life for the better, just by being a part of it… Thank You!

Train Hard, Fight Easy

I'm never entirely sure how often I'm suppose to post, but I guess when I have a thought I'd like to share, and I have the free time, sounds just about right.

To be honest, I've been studying, but majority of that is over.... Just one more paper to go, but that's only scheduled for next Thursday so for now I'll just sip on my green tea and write about how important it is to train hard, in order to fight easy.
Often times in the gym, you'll hear the coach mention that its better to fall, bleed, cry, sweat and make mistakes during training, in order to have a good, clean fight... I won't say that I've never believed it, but I will say that I've never really taken it to the heart... Until I actually sat down and thought about it.

It only makes sense, that at some point (usually the beginning or middle) of your FC, you're going to go all out, have full on sparring sessions, possibly even get beaten up... But the important part, is getting back up, figuring things out and knowing how to counter when it happens again.

I know I just made that sound so easy, but take it from me, its not. I remember a during FC before my last fight, where I just broke down in tears... I sat on the side of the ring and cried my eyes out, and all my trainer had to say was "Dry your tears and get back in the ring!". Well, it was more harsh than that, but when it comes to your best friend being your trainer, its tough-love!

I'm really grateful to have learned the lessons I have and I can honestly say that it's great learning from your own mistakes and being able to work out your own solutions to these mistakes, to ensure they don't happen again...