Star fighting fit after flu

Mixed martial arts ace Hamza Kooheji is ready to step into the cage and notch another victory to his belt as he takes on one of the toughest challenges of his fighting career … after beating a nasty bout of influenza, writes Mai Al Khatib-Camille.

Deemed Bahrain’s brightest MMA prospect, Kooheji proved his merit in September’s opening ‘Brave: The Beginning’ promotion when he finished off his opponent Mohamed Mashally midway through the second round with a north-south choke submission.

Now it’s up to Kooheji not to choke as he takes on an undefeated Jeremy Pacatiw (5-0-0) on Friday at Khalifa Sports City as part of the line-up for Brave 2: The Dynasty. The 23-year-old Bantamweight from Juffair, who has notched four victories and suffered one loss in his fledgling career to date, said: “I fought twice in Bahrain, once during Brave and the other during Desert Force 11, and there is no better feeling than winning while representing my kingdom at home. “I have been in shape since August having gone through two training camps without a break so I am going to step into that ring confident of getting another win for Bahrain.

“During my last fight, most of the members from my family came out to watch and showed me love and support. Now I would like to see everyone in Bahrain coming out to show their support for MMA.

“This has always been my dream and I want to prove that Bahrainis can have a successful fighting career. It is nice to see how the MMA scene in Bahrain is booming and it’s an honour to be part of it.”

Kooheji first took up the sport at the age of 19 under the tutelage of coach Mohamed Shahid, the current CEO of KHK MMA and President of Brave CF. He explained: “At the time, I wanted to do it as a hobby but then I started taking it more seriously and today, here I am!”

Before 12 months was up Kooheji had made his professional debut in India’s Super Fight League and made history after earning his first victory at an international MMA competition over Mihail Mihailovic.

A character-defining knockout loss to Jordanian Izzeddine Al Derbani made him even more determined to succeed and he went on to defeat Ghaleb Al Harahsheh and Abdul Malek Al Mardhi in subsequent battles.

His competitive spirit gained him a spot on KHK MMA’s team, making him the first professional Bahraini fighter to join. Kooheji said: “It was an honour to be the first Bahraini fighter on the KHK MMA pro-team.

Although I fought in big promotions such as the Super Fight League in India and the Middle Eastern promotion Desert Force, the KHK team has helped me develop even more.” He has been training hard for the big day and although he is an excellent grappler with high level submission game, he still has to face Filipino Pacatiw, who is part of Team Lakay, where apparently the best grapplers are bred.

Kooheji said: “Since October I was training twice-a-day, taking only Friday off to relax and regain my power. Repetition is key in combat
sports training.

Aside from that, fighters need to learn and perfect different disciplines to become an MMA fighter. “My coaches try to make it a bit fun by changing the schedule every week, but there is no hiding from hard work.

If you want to develop, you have to live the grind! “I also trained in Dagestan, Russia. That’s how I got my flu but that doesn’t stop me.” The question is who will be more vocal, the local fans or the loud fightloving Filipino expats?