Abdullah Oduro – Iman Cave – Ufc Fighter Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady Is Unbreakable
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning to be a male and addressing issues that men face is discussed in a video interview. Martial arts is recommended for achieving discipline and bravery, and cutting a fight can lead to loss. The importance of preparing for potential disaster by being mindful of the situation and not letting fear or anxiety hold you to long periods at work. The speaker emphasizes the need to be ready and not letting down before a fight, protecting one's body and protecting one's neck. The importance of learning to be resilient and staying true to one's values is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
You don't lose if you get knocked down.
You lose
if you stay down.
Failure is a part of fortification.
It's getting up and continuing forward is what
makes the man.
Learning how to take those hits,
take the pain,
and push through it.
That is what makes us stronger and more
honorable.
How's everyone doing? I'm Abdullah O'Duro. Yes. I'm
outside. I'm not in the cave, but I
still have the cave vibes talking about male
excellence.
Stay tuned. Every month, we're going to have
action based episodes on a particular subject matter
that deals with male excellence as all of
us want to embody
masculine excellence for the sake of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And with that being the case,
this episode is something special.
It's something that is very, very important to
all of us as we want to understand
what does it mean to be a male
and particular issues that men face.
Oh, lo and behold, as you see who
I was waiting for is draped up
Draped up. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Here he
is, the pride of Palestine,
none other than Abdul Karim
Salwa. How you doing? How you doing? Good.
Brother, brother,
we are gonna be here. You're in for
a treat. We're going to go into his
home gym where he does personal training.
Abdul Kareem Esawadi is an MMA fighter. He's
been doing this for a long time. There's
gonna be a number of stories and insights
that he is going to share with us.
It is very important that you stay tuned
for this beautiful interview. We're going to go
inside his beautiful gym and see what's in
store, inshallah. Let's
go.
Cousin to be here again.
Of course. The blue floor,
The same bag and the shelf,
I see you got the nice pic here.
So what have you what are you doing
right now in fighting? What were your previous
fights and what are your current fights coming
up? So, you know, I'm always looking to
train and learn. I don't look at training
for fights as just, like, a routine that
you do the same every day. I'm always
trying to develop,
like, getting better,
my skills, my techniques, because,
you know, fighting is a world that that
changes as well, and it evolves. So you
have to evolve
with it. Alhamdulillah, I have a really good
setup going on and training 4 to 6
hours a day.
6 days a week, and then they'll have
a day where I just do full recovery.
So I always try to have
some type of competition or fight scheduled, and
that just keeps me sharp. It keeps me
going. Like, I just finished for my fight
in ADXC in Paris a couple weeks ago,
and now I'm fighting in Abu Dhabi, August
3rd for UFC. And it's it's just and
inshallah, after that, I'm healthy and I'm good,
and I'll do the ADXC jujitsu again before
I get my other 3rd UFC fight. So
just trying to stay sharp, stay busy. Interesting
story is when I was younger, even in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I was always getting in
trouble in school just by being, like, you
know, really energetic and rough and always, like,
roughhousing wrestling. You know, even in the Masjid,
we used to love those Friday nights wrestling.
I was never a bully, and I was
never bullied.
But it was it was my father was
very strict on me, and it was one
of the reasons why I wasn't allowed to
do martial arts as a kid is because
I was just so aggressive. Mhmm. And he's
like, if you do martial arts, you're gonna
even be more aggressive. -Mm -Which later turned
out to be the complete opposite. You know,
martial arts actually humbles you and keeps you
disciplined. My dad taught me very well that
to never be a bully with the strength
that you have and to stand up for
others.
So that was actually my excuse of how
to get in fights in school Mhmm. Was
I was always fighting the bullies.
Uh-huh. Every single time I got in trouble
for hitting someone, it was never actually my
fight. I just stood up for someone else,
and, you know, teachers were like, You can't
just do that.
But alhamdulillah, as soon as I got into
MMA at the age of 15,
it was the last time I've ever gotten
into a fight with anyone. And that doesn't
mean I stopped being confronted. No, I actually
became even more. When people find out that
you fight, you train, they want to test
it. But, you know, I guess your confidence
levels go up, or you're more disciplined, and
you have a better character.
And you could just smile at someone that's
trying to, you know, say things to you,
trying to get under your skin, you smile,
and you say, you know, if you're not
gonna walk away, I'm gonna walk away, and
that's it. -But in the back of your
mind, you know what you could do. -I
already saw I saw everything.
I saw everything. I saw what I could
do to him, him, and him. And I
was just like I love it, bro. I
love it. But that that's that's what's so
beautiful. And that's why I wanna interject here.
I mean, I wanna make a point is
that parents,
there's nothing wrong with your child being aggressive.
You know, my master said the kids run
around. I said there's a time to play
and there's a time to pray. Go play
and run around. There's nothing wrong with it.
That's how Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala has created
us. The prophet said
he used to jump on him while he
was praying. Right? So there's nothing wrong with
that aggression. It's just how you channel it.
As his father Hafidullah, may Allah preserve him,
knew exactly what to do with his son.
But you notice he spent time with him.
So that aggression that is there is just
how you channel it. And then on top
of that, he was selfless,
being someone we talked about in our earlier
episodes of bravery, And bravery is someone that
it helps people that they may not even
know even, right? That helps and protects them.
There's no AC, no
no fans. We're about to get it in.
And those of you that are watching, young
guys, older guys, with some of these moves,
practice it while we're doing it. Practice it
and have the dialogue with us. And you
join us in this dialogue. And if you
want to, comment. So you're gonna show us
a couple of moves as I think the
first one, as we talked about resilience,
it's getting up after falling down. So
how does one fall? Is there a certain
way to fall when fighting? Yes. So one
of the first things you're usually ever going
to learn when you enter an MMA gym
Mhmm. Is how to fall. Okay. Because everyone's
going to fall. So we call it break
fall, and it's basically bracing your body
to, like, brace the impact
when you fall. And basically, as you're falling,
you don't wanna fall straight back and you're
gonna hurt your head. You wanna pick a
side. So if you're falling more to your
left,
as you fall, you're gonna hit the ground,
and we go
here. And you wanna tuck your chin
into your chest. Because if your head is
loose, it's just gonna bang on the ground,
and that's gonna maybe give you a concussion
or something.
So we're going to
lean on the shoulder on the side, and
we're falling, like, hips down. You want it
to be gradual, not just one time where,
basically, you knock the wind out of your
chest. So you're gonna fall down and brace,
and right there.
Exactly. Just like that. Right back up. Okay.
And you fall and you brace. So prepare
yourself.
There you go. So even when you're falling,
it's okay. Like we said, you're always you're
gonna find, you're
gonna fall. Yeah. Just brace yourself
as much as you can, so you don't
hurt yourself. Yeah. Some common mistakes would be
to, you know, naturally, you're falling to try
to put your hand out, and that's gonna
dislocate your your shoulder or break your elbow.
Okay. Because all that impacts, someone's coming on
top of you. But with that way, it's
gonna be safer to fall.
Mhmm. So it's it's essentially because you gotta
brace yourself
in order to prepare for something that's inevitable.
Yes. Like, when you're facing a challenge, you
have to brace you have to be ready
Yes. At all times. Yes. And even like
you mentioned, mentally, you have to be ready
even when you go out. And that fall
will teach you something, but you still have
to what? Yes. Still have to get back
up. Get back up. Okay? Yes. So how
about getting up? So say say you fall.
Let's say you fall, and then I try
to come and attack. So say I push
you down.
I'm right here. Now the first thing I
wanna do is keep some distance between me
and you. Okay. If you're trying to attack
me Yeah. I want you either very close
to me Uh-huh. Or very far. Not just
in the middle where I can get hit.
So right here, I'm using my legs like
I would use my hands trying to control
your hips and keep a good distance
right here. Just like that. So even if
you move right or left, I'm following you.
Mhmm. But let's say I found the time
to get up, I'm gonna create some distance
first. If I could touch you, that means
you're we're too close. Oh, okay. So Okay.
What I'm gonna do is is get ready
get ready. If you come close, I'm gonna
push you away. Uh-huh. In that time,
with my hand, I'm gonna bring it up
just in case if you come close or
just to protect my face. Uh-huh. And with
my hand on the ground,
I'm going to brace, and then I'm going
to get up. Now, if how you are,
if you're coming that close, then I wouldn't
use that time to get up. Okay. I'd
only get up when I feel like there's
enough space. So in real time, it would
look something like this. We're here, you get
you move back, and I'm here, ready to
strike.
So if I felt like I didn't kick
enough or as I'm getting up you're too
close, I'll just go right back down. Like
if I'm trying to get up and you're
coming, I'll go right back down. Because I
don't wanna give you my back and turn
away, and at the same time, as long
as I could see you, I could still
assess the situation,
and block and move and come back to
here. Or, like, if you get too close,
I can, like, grab the legs or something.
Uh-huh. But I wanna always see you. If
we're fighting, I wanna always see you. I
don't wanna, you know, turn around, give you
my back to get up. Mhmm. Because then
you might grab my waist or go for
a choke, and I won't be able to
see you. The biggest issue right there is
not being able to see the danger that's
coming to you, because,
you know, even with a knockout or a
punch,
it hurts more when you don't see it
coming. At least when I see the punch
coming, I could block, I could bite, I
could brace for it a little bit. Yeah.
You know, I'm talking about even getting hit.
Bracing. Yeah. But as long as you see
the danger coming, it's gonna be easier to
deal with than
not seeing the punch coming. That's interesting because
when you turn away from your problems
It's always gonna come back in, but it's
gonna catch up to you eventually. Like, if
I'm down here, right, and I'm, you know,
I see you coming. Yes.
If I'm first practicing right now, you come
up to me,
is it okay for me to be scared?
Is it normal? Is it natural? It's very
normal to feel scared, but it's how you
deal with it is what makes it good
or bad. Right. I could be so scared
to get hit that it makes me so
focused
and locked in on my opponent that it
makes me avoid every shot. Mhmm. Or it
makes me attack better. Mhmm. I can be
so scared of losing that it makes me
train so hard and be so prepared for
this fight. So it's okay to be scared,
but if I'm scared and I get very
emotional, and it makes me forget on what
to do,
then that's where being scared is not a
good thing. Are there times where, like, you're
hitting on the bag, or you're training with
someone, and you thought you were gonna do
better, like, because the next day, you gotta
come back. You could've just said, man, I'm
dealing with this, man. Like, you lost in
a spar, for example. Have you ever lost
in a spar? 100%. So what goes through
your mind when you lose in that spar
to someone that's a lesser belt or spent
lesser time in the gym or has been
lesser time, hasn't fought as long as you
have? Yeah. At this level, I always whether
something is good or bad, I try to
be very honest and assess the situation
of why this happened. And it's very normal
to feel that way. Okay. And
that's why I love fighting so much because
it's not just easy. It's not made for
everyone.
Not everyone that starts it could continue doing
it. Not everyone can handle
the physical and mental stress that comes with
it. Some people see like Masha'Allah Habib, Islam,
these guys they go out there, they destroy
their points, make it look easy, oh let
me go do MMA.
Well they make it look easy because of
how hard they train,
and
how many bad days they have to go
through and push through. You think Islam and
Habib are winning every round in the gym?
Absolutely not. Every time you have a bad
day at the gym, it's like having a
bad day at work. You have to assess
the situation. Was it my fault? Where did
I do a mistake? Did I not sleep
enough? Did I not eat good? Or
were my hands down? Was I being lazy?
Was I being too cocky? I could go
on and on and on of why you
could have a good or bad performance at
the gym. But the most important thing is
to not let that,
like, tell you who you are. Mhmm. You
just gotta shake it off and work on
whatever issue Mhmm. You found was the problem.
Alright. So what's the next move we have
for us, Jake? Alright. So,
something very common outside of fighting. We call
it the neighborhood choke. When someone's just like,
you're wrestling and they grab the head and
they they start squeezing and they think that
they have a choke or a squeeze or
something Okay. Which
you'll never see a actual fighter do that
move because there's there's nothing that that move
could actually do to the person you're trying
to hold. Holy. Okay. We have a guillotine
choke and a rear naked choke, but those
are actual,
blood chokes where you you cut the oxygen
coming to the brain. Uh-huh. But, you know,
this this does nothing to you other than
maybe give you a stinger where you can't
look. So let's say you just grab my
neck Can I get you? Wrestling and you
have that very common. Now, first thing you
have to do in fighting is no matter
what situation you get in, whether it's a
good or bad one, you have to relax
Okay. So you can use your brain. If
I'm just freaking out over here Mhmm. Most
likely, I wouldn't react the right way. Right.
So first thing I have to know is
that okay I'm safe. Mhmm. I'm not gonna
get choked out because you're not cutting off
the blood supply. This is just gonna hurt
my neck. But if I rip quickly, we
can get this over with pretty quick. Okay.
I'm just gonna grab your hips right here.
Alright. When you're grabbing my head, I'm going
to put my leg
right behind your far leg right there, and
then I'm going to turn
to the side and fall to the ground
right here. Now
let's turn to the camera
here. Now
if I landed and you still have that
grip,
what I could do with this forearm
is put it put put pressure on the
face. Uh-huh. And if you don't let go,
I'm just going to push down
until I get my head out.
So the more stubborn
you will be
with squeezing my head, the more pressure
is gonna go down as I do the
cross face.
Okay. So it's very easy, very basic, you
know, like we said. This is how it's
gonna look in real time.
Right here.
And
then up right here, I put my forearm
on the face. Let's start to push push
push
to get my my head out. Okay.
Nice. Nice. Nice.
That's very common. That's very common.
It get you in a headlock, especially in
the match that the kids playing around? Also,
one thing we say in jujitsu
is the easiest defense
is to not get caught in the beginning.
So like just before getting your head cut,
just always keep your head away and try
to hand fight and not get caught. That's
just something like, you know,
don't fall down, but if you fall down,
you break full. Same thing with submission.
Don't get caught in a submission, but if
you do, you have to react quick before
the, you know, it gets deeper. So it's
so beautiful how combat sports
is so it's so in synchrony with life
in general. And then we're talking about a
man because the roughness and toughness that is
required in order to get somewhere. You don't
have the cauliflower here, Shay? I got a
little. I try to take care of them.
Try to take care of them. You know,
that's just a sign and it's stripes to
show, okay, I've been there, done that. So
there's a lot of trial that I've that
I've been through. Right? What's another move do
you have? So we can show I show
you the basic jab cross Okay. Which are
straight punches. So the jab would be your
straight lead hand, which in my stance right
now would be my left. Mhmm. So that's
a straight jab. And the cross would be
the straight backhand,
which is my right hand right now. So
jab, cross. So if you were to throw
that, you throw jab left hand first and
then cross right there. And then you wanna
generate the power using your hips, legs, and
shoulders. We're not throwing hand punches, we're throwing
punches using our full body. So jab,
cross. Yes. You wanna keep your knuckles facing
straight to your opponent.
Boom. Boom. Just like that.
Boom. Boom. Because we see very common in
the street, people throwing, like, over hands and
just wild punches.
It's faster
and more accurate to just come straight
down. So even if you were to throw
an overhand
at the same time, I could reach your
face faster throwing the straight punches
than that. Those are so easy to defend.
You just go under the punch, and it
could leave you off balance
so much. Whereas when I throw a tight
jab cross,
then even if I miss, I'm not falling
off balance,
if that makes sense.
Yeah. So you're staying tight, you're staying firm
and ready. Staying tight with your body, stay
firm, and you just go right right down
the middle. Where they say, you might hear
a coach say tighten up your punches or
go right down the middle, which means like
don't be afraid if you see a lot
of danger coming from the side, just beat
him to it.
Yes. And that's important too because like you
mentioned in the headlock, it's maintaining your composure.
Yes. You gotta keep your frame. Yes. You
gotta stay focused. In the middle of the
fire, in the middle of the fight,
you gotta be calm
but also ready to fire at any time.
You know, you see some fighters that get
in there very hard, and you see some
that get in there like they're getting ready
to sleep.
They're just relaxed in their mind,
but they're ready to fire and throw punches
at any moment that's needed. So give me
an example
of, if you don't mind,
and we can cut this Yeah. Your first
loss, what
mistake did you make, bro? My first loss
was possibly, like, one of my biggest lessons.
Okay. You know, I was, I was young.
I was on a 4 fight winning streak.
This is, like, when I started MMA. Everything
was happening very quick, and I fought someone
that I really
was, like,
maybe 3 times better than him.
Everyone I fought until that fight -Okay. -Was
considered better than me. And I don't know
if I got a little bit cocky or
I just got I was, like, in such
a hurry
to beat him
that I just, like, dug a hole and
trapped myself in it. And
I lost that fight,
and it was
very depressing. It was so depressing, like, I
never even thought
or knew that, you know, I could recover
from it. Like, Alhamdulillah,
Alhamdulillah,
I never ever was even close to even
thinking suicidal thoughts, like, that wasn't even something
that ever crossed my mind.
But at some point, I was like, people
that
commit suicide because of depression,
I kinda understand why they would do. Like,
it wasn't ever crossing my mind but I
was like, I kinda get where they're coming
from because
I just felt
I was I got really famous really quick
when I was young. And that fight,
everyone watched it. Like, I'd go to the
masjids, people would talk about it. I'd go
to school, people would talk about it. Everywhere
I went, people would talk about it and
ask me questions. People thought I even sold
the fight off and got paid
because of how much they didn't expect me
to lose that fight. And it's beautiful how
you said, I understand what people that commit.
I understand where what
what world they were in. I see it,
but I choose not to go. So did
you have people around you that were, like,
in your corner,
literally in in metaphorically, like So so that's
what helped me really bounce back was my
dad was always in my corner. He was,
with me in the fights, training camp at
the fights, and then I was just I
was just feeling so
upset. And, alhamdulillah, my dad's also an imam.
So he's an imam, and he's also an
MMA trainer.
So, you know, I would sometimes I just
tell him, like, well, dad, you know, why?
Like, why? Why? You know, like, why did
I lose? Like, I did everything.
I trained. So and I'm a better Muslim
than that guy. I'm a better fighter. Like,
you know, I said everything. I was like,
so why did Allah choose me to lose?
Like, why why me not why didn't he
lose? You know? And then my dad started
telling me, like, Okay, calm down, don't say
anything
that, you know, this is a little dangerous.
Now you're on the lines
of, like, you know, saying things. I don't
know. So he humbled me real quick, got
me to calm down.
Then he said,
you're a fighter, right?
You fight. You fight. That doesn't mean you're
winning every every second of every day. It
means you fight. So, whether you have an
opponent and you beat him, you won the
fight. If you lost, then you have to
fight back. And if it's not that same
opponent, you fight back within yourself, like Shaitan.
That that the shaitan and the loss itself,
and and now you're being tested. And that's
really it. You know, he always told me,
like, even when I won big fights, you
know, we'd celebrate, we'd be so happy. He's
like, by the way, this could still be
a test. It's still part of that test.
You know how when you lost, you were
tested? Yeah. This win could also be a
test so use it use it to the
for the good. And alhamdulillah, you know, I
still have my mom. I still have my
dad. They're always here to, like, just humble
me and keep me in check no matter
what, but that that lesson that my dad
father gave me was to always
fight back no matter what like I mean
you could be in rock bottom.
Just fight back,
rise up, and always try to find a
way. Tougher things that you go through in
life and then you're like
complaining isn't gonna do anything.
Let me just fight back and that's where
I start to think what are the steps
that I'm gonna do to fight back.
What's another move that you got for us?
So if we're striking right now and we
did the jab cross, another move would be
right now, let's say let's utilize our legs.
Okay. We're gonna do a roundhouse kick. The
roundhouse kick could be to the leg, to
the body, or to the head, but for
just making it a little simple, we're going
to kick the leg. When we're kicking, we're
rotating our hips all the way and the
point of contact I'm doing with is the
shin. So I'm kicking with the shin
right there on the thigh, just right above
the knee. Right there.
So kick right here and then you'll kick
me also right there. Right there, you wanna
turn your hips a little bit more, that's
where you generate your power from. So we
go one kick here
and one kick there, and we kick, and
we kick, and sometimes we'll do this for
conditioning our legs because as you could feel,
it's getting a little tender, and we just
start to go hard and hard, and we
kick, and at the same time when you're
kicking, you wanna keep your hand up.
That's one thing which is your technique,
And number 2 is the tactic of when
you throw the kick. We don't just throw
a naked kick alone in front of our
opponent, we set it up. So right now
let's say we're throwing the jab, just that
punch to set it up, and then we
throw the kick. So you can throw the
left jab that we took and then the
kick. Uh-huh. So here, jab
and kick,
jab and kick,
jab and kick.
This way, you'll have your opponent
either you hit him in the face and
his head goes up a little bit or
he just focuses on blocking the punch. And
in that time, that's where you kick. Okay.
So you wanna switch it up. You don't
wanna focus too much up and then too
much down.
You wanna switch it up on your opponent
and hide that into your stance. You want
everything you're doing whether it's shooting a takedown,
throwing a punch, or a kick, all coming
from the same stance. Mhmm. Just like that.
You don't wanna get too low every time
you wanna shoot for a take down. You
don't wanna get too high every time you're
throwing a punch because then just by doing
that, he'll understand and know what to expect
from you. Yeah. And that's what's beautiful as
well because, SubhanAllah, as you mentioned, I'm coming
with the jab up top, but then the
kick at the bottom. Yes. And life will
come at you up top, and it'll come
at you at the bottom. You have to
be ready, and you won't know how to
be ready unless you've trained
or failed and faced those situations. Many, many
times. Many, many times. Many, many times before.
Last move you got for us. Last move.
Let's go. So now we could go down
on the ground for a basic rear naked
choke. Okay. This is such an effective
move because
you have full control
over your opponent before the choke happens. So
right here, this is what we call seat
belt or more like backpack.
Wherever you go right, left, up, down, I'm
just gonna be very tight to you. So
it's a seat belt because
I have 1
and 2 and I'm just tight. No matter
what you do or react, I'm here. And
then when I'm ready to go for the
choke or I see the opening,
I go with this hand right here. I
wanna cup your shoulder. I wanna grab your
shoulder right here. And my elbow should be,
like, right under your chin.
If you're right here, it's easier to peel
off the hand. Mhmm. So I'm gonna come
from right here, go all the way, and
cup the shoulder. Cause I have this hand
under. Mhmm. I let go of that and
it goes behind your head and I grab
my bicep. Mhmm. And it just comes right
here and I
squeeze gradually until
we get the tap or the sleep. Okay.
So right here.
Mhmm.
Now you're you're fighting. You could be fighting.
So why I put this hand over my
choking hand Uh-huh. Is because you're gonna try
to peel my hands. And you're gonna peel
the hand that's on top, and that's where
my choking hand goes here. If I put
my choking hand first and you start to
peel it, then it's gonna be me fighting
your strength and most likely not gonna be
able to get the choke. So I hide
my choking hand with this hand in the
bottom. So when you try to peel it,
I go in right away. Now this one's
easy to take out. And I, you know,
I like to whisper in their ears like,
you know, go to sleep or something before.
Okay. Let me ask you. Why are your
feet here? What's up with that? So this
this way, because we said the like the
the backpack, I get to control
everywhere you go. I'm with you. Whether you
go right or left. So even if I
roll you over like this I'll still be
behind you wherever you go. If you stand
up, if you turn around, I'll be behind
you. And any moment
that you're trying to get up or you're
actually up, any moment I can always get
the chokes. But you will never want to
put your hands on the mat because that
means there's nothing to protect your neck. Right
here, you always wanna protect your neck for
you, use your hands. But if you put
your hands down, then I'm going for the
neck. I know that it's open. I got
a question. People are probably wondering, is this
the hole that
that Khabib got caught in?
Yes. That's the one. The rear naked choke.
Yeah. Right here. Choke. So how do you
Yeah. You have the had it right here,
but they were they were more on the
side. Uh-huh. And the Habib was behind him
more on top. Okay. But, you know, this
is just the basic one from here. And
you you get if you get that chill,
you could land it from anywhere. So actually
if you ask me
what is,
from all of MMA, what is one move
that I would want to practice for also
self defense? Right. It would be this because
if I want to diffuse a situation,
I can do it safely, like, without actually
damaging someone
permanently Mhmm. Just by choking them out. Like,
if, let's say, there's a robber in the
store, someone that's trying to attack me Mhmm.
And I don't wanna shoot him. I don't
wanna stab him. I don't wanna punch him.
I don't wanna break anything.
You can just get him in this choke
hold
and sleep him,
just have him on the side, and that's
it. Like, choke him out unconscious.
He'll wake up, like, 20 seconds later just
confused,
But he'll he'll be okay to go on
with his days. So
how long have you been in this been
doing MMA?
So my first professional MMA fight was in
2012.
So 14 years
right now. 14 years. Actually, 12 years. 14
years. Okay. 12 years. So so what message
would you give to the young men out
there, the men out there in regards to,
and the moms, man,
is combat sports something important
in regards to resilience? Like
failure,
is it something that is important in regards
to failure? Like, someone gets into it, what
will they learn from it when it comes
to improving them self in life? And that's
that's a great question because
no matter
where what stage you are in life,
whether you're
5 years old
or you're you're, like, 50, 40, martial arts
will always help you at whatever stage you're
at. If you're a young kid, it's gonna
help you develop that character, that discipline, and
that confidence. That's very important
to a young man
to grow up and have that. You don't
have to be a professional fighter. It doesn't
it doesn't have to be your career to
do this. You don't even have to compete,
but just learning martial arts and going into
a gym will always be better for you
because
a lot of times,
nothing is gonna be harder outside of this
room. So whenever life
knocks you down, whenever you have a problem
in life, you will just go back to
the basics of how you recover from that
problem and how you deal with it. It
reminds me of Usain Bolt, the beautiful statement.
I trained 4 years
for 9 seconds. Yes.
You know, that preparation.
And that's the that's what I really wanna
end on is just
the fact that I don't think we understand
like how he trains and how any fighter
you see how they train,
they train months on in for a small
moment.
And then if you lose at that moment,
getting back up is not easy. Yeah. And
we talked about that earlier. And how you
mentioned entering that realm of those that have
done things that are detrimental to them. So
keep in mind the importance of being resilient
as a man. Know that you're going to
fail. You're gonna make mistakes. You may feel
embarrassed.
People may try to embarrass you, but getting
up will only make you stronger. The Treaty
of Hudaybiyyah was after the loss at the
battle of Uhud.
Many times in life of the prophet we've
seen. So,
for your time. Of course. And let us
come to your gym, man. Of course. Thanks
a lot. Plain to see you again.
Pride of Palestine. Look him up on Instagram.
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