“Singapore is very expensive. If I stayed in a hotel for a week I’d be broke.”
Bashir Ahmad is a brutally honest man. There was little room for cliché when the first-ever Pakistan-born American mixed martial artist (MMA) explained why he chose to live in a mosque in Paya Lebar, Singapore for two weeks leading up to his ONE Fighting Championship (ONE FC) debut this Friday.
Ahmad, who will face Thailand’s Shannon Wiratchai in a featherweight contest, nonetheless confessed to a “religious side” to his decision.
“I wanted somewhere to focus, to be away from distractions and not think about what’s on TV or the Internet,” said the 30-year-old Muslim. “At the mosque, there’s also more incentive to attend to my spiritual side.”
As Ahmad talked Yahoo! Singapore through his early life as an outsider in America and his eventual return to Pakistan, it became clear that his relationship with this “spiritual side” is a complex one.
The self-professed “black sheep” of a “religious and clean-cut” family, Ahmad moved to the United States when he was three. He was the resident troublemaker for much of his youth, until “the army cleaned that up for him”.
In 2002, Ahmad joined the US National Guard, as part of their sponsorship of the political science degree he later earned at George Mason University in Virginia. The brawny, 1.7-metre-tall combat medic was soon deployed in Iraq – where he found himself fighting more than just the enemy.
“Insurgents were attacking us from a mosque,” recounted Ahmad. “We blew it up, everyone started cheering and something inside me realised: they’re not cheering because they got the place from where we were being fired upon, they’re cheering because of the symbolic aspect of it.”
His internal conflict wasn’t limited to religion. “There is something very unnerving about seeing people who look like me get killed and everyone is cheering about it,” Ahmad said. “If you took off my uniform and put me in Iraqi clothes, my platoon-mates would immediately see me as a scumbag.”
It was in this state of “angst and negative emotions” that he started on martial arts. Sleepless at night, he would hit the gym at his base and work on a speed bag for hours at a time. This “obsession” often produced bloodied knuckles, but also proved “therapeutic” in “taking him away from where he was at that time.”
When his tour of duty ended in 2005, Ahmad returned to the U.S. and picked up Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) and Muay thai. He began to visit Thailand regularly, training and living out of a monastery at the invitation of a Buddhist monk.
“Buddhism became a part of the way I view the world,” said Ahmad. “Along with the Thai way of approaching life by learning to smile at situations.”
The Thai fighters, unable to pronounce his name, christened him “Somchai”, or “real man”. But it wasn’t until his return to Pakistan in 2010 that the man in Ahmad, steeped in life’s experience, truly emerged to seize his destiny.
The prodigal son returns
Today, Ahmad is best known for single-handedly setting up the MMA scene in Pakistan, including fight promotion PAK MMA and the Synergy gym where he trains and teaches at.
Not that it gives him immunity on the often-hostile streets of Pakistan. Ahmad, who is also studying for a master’s degree in exercise science, recalls being confronted by a group of men wielding tire irons.
“I tried to calm them down,” he laughed. “In the end, the people in the marketplace who were watching set on those guys and beat the crap out of them.”
The “politics and problems” of the Asian nation form a large part of Ahmad’s vision for MMA in Pakistan.
“To train guys off the street, not only as champions, but to be able to read, write, speak English and become overall better people,” said Ahmad. “That would be my highest accomplishment.”
For now, his efforts are focused on his upcoming ONE FC fight. Visa issues prevented Ahmad from having a BJJ instructor to spar with in Pakistan, so he flew to Singapore to train with the coaches at Impact gym in Shenton Way. Coupled with his first time living in a mosque, conditions might seem less than optimal, but Ahmad is fueled by a cause larger than his own.
“If I can do something positive that can make people in Pakistan even smile and be proud of something… I’ll use that energy,” he said.
No matter the result, just stepping out into the Singapore Indoor Stadium will represent a crucial milestone for both the fighter and the country where he and his family came from.
“One of the main reasons I came to Pakistan was to do something for the better,” said Ahmad, who is married to a Pakistani-Canadian wife. “I hope to use any sort of exposure I get to continue with that same mission.”
Despite his achievements developing MMA in Pakistan, Ahmad shied away from having his name associated with its national legacy, instead preferring to be judged on a personal level. When asked what he would most like to be remembered for, he simply said: “I’d rather be a decent fighter and a great person as opposed to a great fighter and okay person.”
Tickets for ONE FC: Kings Champions are now on sale. The event will also be broadcast live on Star Sports Asia and livestreamed at www.onefc.livesport.tv.
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