Issue 025
May 2007
By Adam Steel
It’s a well-known fact that most fighters graduate from the ‘school of hard knocks’. UFC contender Quinton Jackson sold drugs and beat up junkies on the mean streets of Memphis. Former boxer Michael Gomez was born on the back seat of a crashed car in Ireland before descending into a life of petty crime. But most fighters aren’t Abdul Mohamed, for the Cage Rage lightweight champion had to dodge more bullets than an LA cop during his upbringing in war-torn Afghanistan.
The 32-year-old wrestler was raised in the northern Panjshir Valley, a rugged, mountainous stronghold of resistance that repelled Russian and Taliban invaders over years of fierce conflict. Life in the region, which translates as ‘Five Lions’, meant picking up a gun and fighting for survival.
“I lost ten members of my family. My uncle - he was 22, cousin, niece and nephew,” he told Fighters Only. “One of my brothers still has a big scar on his stomach from a shrapnel wound. If people die at 50 in Afghanistan that’s a good, long life, they are happy. That’s what it’s like over there.”
“I’ve been shot at loads of times, 10 times I nearly died. I put my head up one time and 100 bullets or something hit a sandbag next to me. Another time I ran across the street and the helicopter I’d been in was hit directly by a missile - all that was left was the engine.
“I’ve seen dead people, carried injured people. There are old tanks all over the streets in Afghanistan, with children playing on them. I’ve got five sisters and four brothers and they are all still over there with my parents, apart from my brother Nor who is in the UK. It’s getting better now but I’d had enough of war and wanted peace.”
Abdul, an Afghan freestyle wrestling champion as a teenager, has found both since coming to England for a fresh start in 1999 - war in the cage and peace in his personal life. After arriving in London, he relocated to Middlesbrough, a gritty, working class North East town where people don’t take too kindly to having sand kicked in their faces.
Without a word of English, he worked in a Stockton pizza shop for £14 a night before becoming a nightclub bouncer. It was then that he stumbled into MMA - a move that proved a natural calling - and he now lives in central Middlesbrough with girlfriend Kelly and one-year-old son Rhys.
“I met two brothers called Johnny and Richie Dale at a wrestling class,” said Abdul. “They used to train in grappling and submissions and I asked them what it was. They said it’s ultimate fighting and gave me a video to watch. I was too strong for them in training and they said all of the wrestlers do well in it. I watched the video - it was Dan Severn and Royce Gracie and a Russian judo guy - and I liked it.”
”Then I went to one of Paul Hamilton’s Thai boxing shows in Darlington and there was one MMA fight on it and I thought: ‘I can do better that’. So I started training jiu-jitsu in 2000 for two, two-and-a-half years, just grappling, not aiming for a fight. Then I started fighting in 2003 for the challenge. My first fight was in Nottingham and I won it and beat good guys within the space of a year.”
“Going into the cage doesn’t honestly bother me after what I’ve been through. I never feel frightened or afraid. I’m from Afghanistan and now I’m from Middlesbrough.”
Abdul, a 5ft 8in slab of solid muscle with superlative ground skills, is the boss of the British lightweight scene as well, compiling a 13-4-2 professional record on the way to the Cage Rage belt. His six-fight winning streak came to an end last September however, when Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro slapped a decisive kimura on him in his challenge for the Brazilian’s Cage Rage world title.
Abdul felt his disjointed training regime, weaved around long hours working as a taxi driver, caught up with him on the night. “I was really disappointed,” he said. “I lost the fight because of the way I’m training here. I do bits and pieces everywhere - grappling in one gym, boxing in another and Thai boxing somewhere else.
“The Brazilians have the full package, they train with world class fighters around them. But I did okay. I was beating him up standing but it went to the ground and it was the first time in my career I’ve been submitted. It happened, but it was good experience. He is in the top ten pound for pound in the world. He is a good fighter and I respect him and he showed respect for me as well.
“These things happen and you learn from your mistakes. But Shaolin trains with world-class fighters, sometimes I text people to go training and they don’t turn up - I end up training by myself. I go to boxing and they show me a boxing style, I go to Thai boxing and they show me another system. This is a different game.”
Despite the defeat, Abdul remains confident that he can become the best 70kg fighter in the world - provided he gets the right preparation. He is due to face former Ultimate Fighter 3 contender Ross Pointon in a non-title welterweight match at Wembley on April 21st, but like any conquering force he feels ready to expand his empire and take over
new territories.
The UFC, Cage Rage and International Fight League are all chasing his signature, but he has decided to join the IFL for the 2008 season. “I want to be the best - right at the top, that’s my aim. I don’t want to be fighting in the UK forever. If I wanted to do that I could fight every week,” he said. “I’m ready to fight internationally. All I need for four weeks before a fight is to train with the top fighters. I don’t want to learn anything new, I just want to train hard with them and to fight and that’s it.”
“I trained up in Sunderland with Ian Freeman for a couple of months, but I’ve got this far by myself really. I’ve beaten Jean Silva, who trains with all of the top fighters like Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva at Chute Boxe.
“But if I fight all of my life in the UK I’ll only stay at one level. I’ve got another 40 per cent to come, I’m still at 50, 60 to be honest. I know when I’m training hard with the top fighters I can do much better than I’ve showed in my 19 fights. I need to keep improving to beat the world-class fighters, but I’ve had offers from the UFC, Cage Rage and IFL. They all want me, but I’ve decided to go with the IFL as I believe they have the most to offer me.”
A fighting man with a fighting plan, it would be unwise to bet against Abdul Mohamed’s dreams becoming reality.
