Youcef Dahmani visited the MMA Clinic to speak to Darren Stewart and Sohaib Ajban – two of the talented fighters at the gym.
The Gym is known to have produced a number of great fighters in the years that it has been running. One of whom is Joe Duffy, who many at the gym aspire to follow. He used to train at the gym and ended up being signed up by the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).
Brad Wheeler the current WFS champion and Karlos Kaminskas Fury, MMA champion, have both earned their titles this year and have already become a focus of pride at the gym.
However there are two fighters who will be representing the gym at KF9 (KILLACAM FIGHT NIGHT). It is the ninth time which this event will be running and Darren Stewart will be fighting in the main event. He will be defending his title as well as looking to extend his professional record to five wins and zero losses.
Stewart’s anxious about his fight but is ready: “I feel prepared and want it to come sooner”. As soon as he starts talking you can see that he is mentally prepared for one of the biggest fights in his career.
Stewart was clear about why he chose to pursue a career in mixed martial arts, “I used to do Taekwondo, got my black belt and then I just thought of a bit of a change, some of my taekwondo team, my school, came over to the MMA Clinic and said that I should try and have a look and try do something different”.
‘Superman punch’
He spoke about how he used to watch MMA on television and how he was quick to get into it, so the next question was if there was anyone that he aspired to be like? He hadn’t really watched the sport for that long so none stuck out in his mind, however after a bit of thought he responded: “I want to be me” and “I want to be unique, [I] don’t want to be the same like other people”.
In MMA there is a signature move called the superman punch, where a fighter dives in with a straight punch, mainly aiming for the head, the name is given as it is a similar position to how Superman is known, flying around with one arm out. Well Known fighters such as Alexander Gustafsson are known to use the technique and Stewart is quickly turning it into his trademark move.
Stewart is confident that he was able to replicate his last fight – when he conquered the Killacam Light Heavyweight title. He explained in some eye-wincing detail the final moments of the fight: “[I] took him down, ground and pound, elbows, [it] was getting a bit too much so I thought I let him up. He got up the wrong way, I kneed him, he dropped, gum shield came flying out and that was it”. It was a perfect knockout, which extended Stewart’s undefeated record to four and O.
The final question was why his nickname is ‘The Dentist’?
It all dates back to his fifth armature fight when he knocked his opponent’s teeth out, and his fellow fighters aptly named him ‘The Dentist’.
Stewart has to wait to find out who is opponent will be, but what he does know is that he’ll be from France and eager to steal his title.
Sohaib Ajban is a semi pro MMA fighter and, just like Darren will be fighting at KF9. He will be hoping to be the new Bantam weight champion.
Ajban, just like many others got into the sport by “just watching it”. After seeing a few fights his decided he wanted to take it up, but not competitively at first – that came later.
When asked if he had any heroes in the MMA world he said exactly the same thing as his pro fighter team mate Stewart. He wants to be his own fighter and not copy anybody else. However his favourite fighter at the moment is Connor McGreggor due to the way he fights and his personality.
‘Growing sport’
When asked about his upcoming fight, Ajban has quite the sense of humour: “I’m going to still be… just another opponent, cause the guy was scared to fight me”.
Ajban believes that MMA is a sport that is still early in it’s popularity as it’s very much a ‘growing sport’.
Ajban just like Stewart is looking to extend his undefeated record of three fights and zero losses. However he is also planning to go professional in the near future once he has gained more experience.