Exclusive Interview with Champion of Asia

Q: Congratulations, Mansoor! You are the first UAE national who won IFMA Asian Champion Title. How can you evaluate your performance during the Championship on Kish?

Thank you. As for me IFMA Asian Open Championship 2011 was both easy and tough, and I’ll explain why. On the one hand, I haven’t participate in such international competitions for couple of years, so I was expecting that my opponents will be strong and might even be more skilled. So, that was the tough part. On the other hand, I trained hard to prove myself that I can achieve a lot and that my country can be proud of me. Moreover, I had huge support from Dubai Martial Arts Academy that gave me the opportunity to participate in the Championship as well as from muaythai followers of the UAE. Thus, I was inspired and excited enough, and that was the easy part for me.

Q: Stephan Fox, General Secretary of IFMA, called you the “surprise of the Championship” after your final victory. Do you realize that you’ve surprised not only him but everyone? How does it feel to be celebrity?

What can I say? I’m the winner and I’m happy because my victory is the way for everyone in the world to know about the UAE and its power. That’s only the beginning of my career in muaythai, and I’ll do my best to improve my achievements and to bring more wins to my country. I would like to thank my coaches from Dubai Martial Arts Academy – Magomed Suleymanov and Abdulmalik Gadzhiev – to make this victory happen. Without them I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to reach the Final competition and to win there.

Q: In the final competition you won by KO in the 1st Round though you had strong opponent, Yousef Soltani (Iran). Do you expect that in next competitions it will be harder for you to fight because muaythai promoters will be choosing stronger opponents for you?

If you are strong there will always be someone who’s weaker and someone who’s stronger than you. I don’t know what will happen in other competitions because muaythai is unpredictable sport as well as any other kinds of sports. So I’ll just do my best to be prepared for strong competition. I’ll train more, and I will have more practice – thanks to Martial Arts Academy and government support now we have lots of amateur competitions in the UAE between different training clubs – and in the end I’ll go to the ring and will show my skills to win.