Khabib in UFC will fuel growth in Middle East
Muslim role model in the sport will appeal to an already jiu-jitsu-mad region
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An Australian surfer who lost his left arm and right hand in a 2014 shark attack won his first World Para Snowboard World Cup gold medal in the 2018-19 series-opener at Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates, on Wednesday.
Sean Pollard, 27, from Bunbury, Western Australia, has been competing in the six-stage series for the past three seasons since the incident, but finally completed his remarkable recovery from near-death to winner this week, a feat made even more incredible given that there’s no snow where he’s from.
“It’s been a crazy journey these last few years,” he told Gulf News. “I’ve been lucky to have snowboarding as a therapy to my recovery and the community around para-snowboarding has really helped me with my disability.”
Pollard was out surfing on his own near the remote town of Esperance in south west Australia in October 2014 when he was attacked by two great whites, losing both limbs while trying to defend himself.
“It was pretty serious, I had to get a lot of blood transfusions and was flown to Perth by air ambulance.
“It was a remote beach, I was out by myself, there were a few other people on the beach and I managed to make it into the shallows and then they helped me out of the water, it probably happened about 100 metres out and then I managed to catch a wave in.
“You don’t really think about it too much,” he said of what was going through his mind during the attack. “Your survival instincts just kick in and you operate on survival mode to try and get away from the situation.
Challenges
“There were a lot of challenges living with a split hook prosthetic, it was really hard, every little thing I could do was a stepping stone to the next thing and going to the Winter Paralympics in South Korea in March was the top of the pyramid (he finished fifth in the banked slalom), and now I’m getting better by winning gold here in Dubai as well.”
Surfing was off the agenda after the incident, not out of fear, but rather the inability to push off the board to stand. “I make one wave out of 20 where I don’t fall over so it’s quite challenging. It wasn’t really working out so I thought I’d give snowboarding a try. I went to Canada on a trip and met a parasnowboarding coach who told me all about the sport and I got into it when I went back to Australia.
“It’s all pretty similar, surfing and snowboarding, I’d never snowboarded until after the shark attack, so it’s been quite a fast learning curve for me because I had those skills before.”
His only problem now is finding snow to train on.
“There are no snow resorts in Western Australia so we have to travel to the east coast to Victoria and New South Wales. We train a bit over the winter in Australia, so we go to the snowfields for a couple of months, then over the Northern Hemisphere winter we are away a month at a time, so 7-8 months of the year we are out on the road.
“It’s been really good this season to come out and get gold, hopefully I can make it through the next four years and keep progressing and if I’m still good enough, hopefully, I can get to the next Paralympics and take home the silverware. This season though I’m hoping for more good results to take home the Crystal Globe,” he said of the series title.
Ski Dubai is hosting four events in total from Asian Para Snowboarding to World Snowboarding this week, November 6-8, to World and Asian Para Alpine skiing next week from November 12-15. ■
Having a Muslim role model in UFC for the first time in Khabib Nurmagomedov will help fuel the growth of UFC Gyms across the Middle East even more, according to officials.
The Russian became an overnight sensation for beating Conor McGregor in UFC 229 in Las Vegas last month, and although Khabib soured the victory by jumping out of the octagon to confront members of McGregor’s camp, many saw it as justified for the way McGregor had provoked Khabib before the fight.
Despite the indiscretion and the fact he isn’t even from this region, the Dagestani fighter won a legion of fans in the Middle East, and now UFC Gyms are expecting that to translate into more gyms and members regionally.
“We were at our tipping point anyway, but having someone like Khabib just validates it, and shows that the brand is going to be explosive in this region,” said UFC Gym President Adam Sedlack.
The first UFC Gym in the UAE opened in Business Bay in 2016, and now there are three more in JBR, Oman and Bahrain, with two more set to open in Egypt and Kuwait.
“One of the most important regions for us was the Middle East and when you look at fan base we knew it was going to be incredible, but we also knew conditioning-wise, there was a huge amount of opportunity too.
“To have someone like him step up and separate himself to become arguably the best in the sport right now, he turns into that brand ambassador and what happens is kids get motivated, inspired can relate and connect, and think: ‘if he can do I can do it’.
“If a kid is going to school right now and isn’t in shape and sees someone like Khabib do an incredible feat, he or she can say I want to train like him, now that child can come here and we can have our village of coaches take that child and help him become the best version of himself.”
It’s all pretty similar, surfing and snowboarding, I’d never snowboarded until after the shark attack, so it’s been quite a fast learning curve for me.” Sean Pollard » Australian snowboarder
Good foundation
UFC Gyms already have a multitude of members across the UAE, but are now planning expansion into more communities using a range of different gym models and sizes to suit different markets.
“We’ve created a good foundation with some incredible people and are ready to leverage them into leadership positions across the region, so I think you’ll see UFC Gym become the biggest fitness brand in this region over the next 5-10 years,” added Sedlack.
“We could have hundreds very easily,” said UFC Gym chief executive and chairman Mark Mastrov of the facilities, which would suit this market given the UAE’s burgeoning interest in jiu-jitsu, thanks to the endorsement of the sport by the country’s rulers.
Khabib even visited the UAE after his fight last month to meet fans, while UFC Gym Middle East recently launched a region-wide jiu-jitsu youth programme, part of which will offer slots to five underprivileged but deserving kids.
“There’s no doubt Khabib has made a huge difference and created more attention,” added Mastrov. “It doesn’t hurt at all. We’ve been here a long time before, and he and others like him will continue to emerge because there are amazing athletes in this region.”