AMMAN — Every morning, Jordanian MMA fighter Nart Abida
wakes up for his morning exercise to help prepare him for a day of personal
training sessions. Later at night, Abida comes home from a long day of work for
a second round workouts before bed.
اضافة اعلان
The athlete, who holds a BA in tourism management from the
Hashemite University, has managed to turn what was once nothing more than hobby
into a career path and a source of income.
In an interview with Jordan News, Abida said: I like individual, challenging sports that
not many can play, in order for me to stand out in and excel.”
According to Abida, injuries play a big part in disparaging
prospective MMA fighters.
“Sometimes, athletes can end a fight without any injuries or
minimum injuries,” he explained. “Whereas sometimes, a fighter may sustain
major injuries resulting from knockouts, which may take the fighter around six
months to recover from, as well as concussions, broken bones, and many more
which may or may not require surgery,” the strongman explained.
Like most of his peers, Abida lamented the impact of
COVID-19 on athletes, especially amid lockdowns and the closure of gyms over
the past one-and-a-half years.
But these challenges
were nothing more than minor setbacks to Abida and his team.
“COVID-19 didn’t stop
us from fighting. We even had a championship that lasted over the span of six
months, during the time of COVID-19,” the fighter recalled.
According to Abida, being an MMA fighter is a way of life.
He said that the sport shifted his mentality, making him more self-disciplined
and organized.
“MMA doesn’t require a fighter to have a tough personality
as a person in general, only to be tough while sparring,” Abida said, adding:
“The fighter’s character differs when he’s inside the cage from when he’s
outside it.”
Abida says that what sets each fighter apart is their style
in the cage.
“What makes me different is my tenacity. I try not to stick
to one thing, I try different techniques in every fight,” he said.
Commenting on his role models, Abida remarked: “There are
many fighters in Jordan who inspire me, such as Hashem Arkhagha, Nawras Abzakh,
Jarrah Alsilawi and Jalal Da’ja, They are all Jordanians who compete on an
international level and are on my team.”
Abida is expected to fight internationally on June 18th in
Abu Dhabi. He is currently training with coach Taymour Narmouq and coach Ali
Alta’mari on team Gladiator.
According to the young fighter, the upcoming tournament
could be a turning point in his MMA career.
“This will be my first fight international fight. It will
push me to the next level,” he said.
Abida denied the notion that
MMA has declined in popularity
in Jordan.
“On the contrary, when the sport first came to the Middle
East from Europe, it came to Amman. Amman is known as the capital of MMA in the
Middle East,” he stressed.
His most memorable moment so far was when he fought in the
AFL (
Arab Fight League) championship and won first place. “I (went through)
five fights in six months. Every three weeks there was a fight. Thank God I won
first place, it was the happiest moment of my athletic career”.
“I advise the people who want to start this sport to always
be persistent, never quit training and to have a strong will because anything
is possible and they can achieve what they want through continuous training.”
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