Issue 073

March 2011

Malki Kawa is making a name as one of MMA’s most successful – and plain talking – managers 

LEADING MAN 

Malki Kawa

Manager of top MMA fighters

Malki Kawa is 31, a manager to fighters. Notably he walks and talks, sleeps and breathes the MMA industry, going about his work in the pugnacious manner characterized by his dogs: an American pit bull and a British bulldog. Bully and Tyson, as they are known, love and protect his daughter, Ameerah, who Kawa describes as “my inspiration, the reason I strive to be the best.” But there’s also a deft subtlety to Kawa’s skills. He’s a master negotiator, employing a soft or hard approach as is necessary, which has led to a burgeoning client list.

If Kawa needs to be judged on his fighters, his roster includes Jon Jones, Thiago Alves, Carlos Condit, Kenny Florian, Ben Henderson, Matt Riddle and Karo Parisyan. He has also signed Alex ‘Bruce Leeroy’ Cacardes from The Ultimate Fighter 12, and has a few of the best from Bellator. 

“Jon Jones is the hottest property in MMA right now and he can go as far as he wants,” explains Kawa, originally from Miami. “He’s a great fighter, but a great guy outside the sport. If you want any credential on how to be as an athlete, look at Jon Jones.”  

Kawa’s parents moved to the United States from Jordan, and, a sports lover growing up, Kawa played football, wrestled and boxed. “After school I worked as an agent in the NFL for a lot of athletes in a lot of ways who played the sport – they have agents as opposed to managers – but as I got to know fighters, I moved into MMA. When I applied to the NFL you had to have a business degree or be a lawyer – I only had an ‘AA’ qualification in finance, so I was tested on my credentials, negotiation skills and knowledge of contract law. I passed and started with a big agency helping out with marketing and negotiations, all that stuff, but also began training at the American Top Team [ATT] gym in Miami. There, I was told a lot of guys in MMA needed help. I saw what MMA was lacking and immediately decided to move into it. I was already a UFC fan and the guys at ATT introduced me to a young fighter called Thiago Alves. From there I have never looked back. The more I got to know fighters, the more I liked them. They are wonderful people. I left football completely and joined MMA full time. Forget about football, this is me.” Kawa now looks after “around 60 fighters including up ‘n’ coming guys and those in the UFC. I have help, of course.”

Why the understanding for MMA athletes? “I was always really competitive. I wasn’t the fastest, but I wrestled and boxed, played high-school football. I watched the first UFC when I was in middle school, and I loved boxing as a kid. My parents weren’t so keen on it and I often had to sneak away and see it in bars or in friends’ houses.” 

What Kawa does have in abundance is ‘the gift of the gab’, and a charisma he can turn on. “It’s probably my number-one asset; I don’t know where it came from, it’s natural. I love the banter, the verbal sparring, call it what you like. I don’t like to offend anybody, and I like to keep the mood light even in business meetings that might involve a million bucks. There are times you need to get serious, but if there’s funny things to be said, I’m there. I’m fortunate the talking gene is a part of my makeup. It can get me into trouble or out of trouble.” 

There’s the infamous incident featuring Matt Mitrione sacking Kawa in an post-fight interview. “Look, there was a lot going on in the background, Matt had a few different people acting for him in different capacities. He’s a great fighter, it didn’t work out, there are no hard feelings. What you have to understand,” explains Kawa, “I don’t bullshit the fighters, and I think they respect me for that. I’ll tell them if they suck, if they need to improve, get better. I have to because my job is to make it work for them.” 

A sycophant is something he can’t afford to be in an industry where the leading fighters are immersed in idolatry at times. “I’ve got to be the type of guy who can go into a room and negotiate and rep for them, and talk about them as they are, not what they might be, or they could be: someone people want to be around and admire. Fighters have different attitudes when they are winning or losing. There’s a time to tell them they are a beast, that they’re the best, but there’s also a time to tell them they need more wrestling, that their BJJ needs to be under control…” 

Kawa also needs to have an open, honest relationship with the promotions. “I talk to Joe Silva, the UFC matchmaker, every other day. I need to know if fighters are fit, flat, carrying injuries; and when I first sit down with a fighter I let them know this.” Then, in typical management speak, he offers: “I also have another guy on the way who I haven’t talked about yet who is going to be unreal in the New Year.” We wait with baited breath, and I suspect Malki Kawa will be around for a very long time. “I hope so,” he says. “It’s a very new sport, and it needs careful development in many areas. Where I came from it was different. Managers and sponsors are getting away with things in the MMA industry that they would not do in the pro sports world – at the cost of the fighters. The fighters are the talent and the way I operate is ‘fighters first’. It can’t be any other way.”