First Emirati fighter ready to rumble

Abu Dhabi: For one man, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) has been his home for the last 12 years.

Hassan Al Rumaithi's (1-1-0) time in the ADCC has seen him evolve from a judoka to the first professional Emirati Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter.

"I think that if a fighter makes it to the ring then he is already a winner, no matter the result," says Al Rumaithi, who will make his UAE MMA debut tonight at the Abu Dhabi Fighting Champiuonship (ADFC) preliminary fights.

He started at the age of 14 and went on to get his judo black belt and compete in judo and ju-jitsu competitions as well as participating in triathlons.

It wasn't until last year that Al Rumaithi began working on MMA. "I've liked kickboxing for a long time but I never practiced it; some days I would go to the ADCC when I don't have training sessions and start hitting the bags," he tells Gulf News.

"One day one of the head coaches saw me and came over and said that my technique is good but a bit rough and needs some work to fine tune it," says Al Rumaithi.

"He told me that they want to put together a UAE MMA team and they want me to be a part of it. They would get some of the best MMA trainers in the world."

Hassan is currently under the tutelage of Cesário Bezerra, former boxing coach of UFC Middleweight champion Anderson ‘the Spider' Silva. The ADCC signed him up after UFC 112.

"I've been working with Cesário for the last month and it's been really tough, but I've loved it. What he can do for me in one month would usually take four or six months to accomplish."

"With this kind of support you will see a huge number of fighters coming out of the UAE very soon, but it is still too soon for any champions," says the 26 year old.

Hassan won his first professional MMA fight, by triangle choke in an impressive 19 seconds. He lost his second fight to a kickboxing veteran.

"The loss didn't get me down, it didn't break me, because of how well I did in my first fight. And all my coaches supported me."

"Its good to know what it feel like to lose, you think about your mistakes and learn from them," says Al Rumaithi.

Hassan's dream is to make it into the UFC and he doesn't think that it's too far away, "I think three or four more wins and I will attract their attention."

"I'm not nervous about this fight, or my opponent, but there is a huge amount of pressure on me because I'm the first Emirati in MMA and it's in my home. But everyone from my coaches to my friends have been helping me relax. I'm not in this for money or fame, I love this sport and I just want to put on a good show for the fans," he says.