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Magomed Suleymanov is the Main Coach of Dubai Martial Arts Academy. Recently we’ve had a chance to find a gap in his busy schedule and talk to him about the latest highlights related to martial arts in the UAE.

Q: You are the main coach of Dubai Martial Arts Academy. However, you didn’t attend the latest series of War on the Shore project. What was the reason for that?

That happened due to unforeseen circumstances. I was out of the country and I planned to be here 2-3 days prior to War on the Shore-3. However, the flight was posponded and I arrived to Dubai only after the event was carried out. It’s a pity that I wasn’t able to be there myself and support fighters, but I had an opportunity to watch all fights. I want to congratulate all participants and I’m really proud of winners, especially those who were representing Dubai Martial Arts Academy – they performed well.

Q: We congratulate you with victories of your fighters who were representing Dubai Martial Arts Academy in War on the Shore-3 – Gadzhimirza Osmanov, Magomed Idigov, and Daniel Nuamah. They showed their great skills in muaythai. However, lots of fighters are also participating in MMA events happening in the UAE. So, why winners of War on the Shore project do not take part in such competitions as ADFC and Top Fight?

Thank you. I must say that War on the Shore participants and other fighters representing Dubai Martial Arts Academy are always ready to take part in MMA competitions, and some of them already do so. For example, Malik Omarov, the winner of WMC Intercontinental Title fight in War on the Shore-2, participates in Abu Dhabi Fighting Championship. However, the problem for fighters training in our club is that there are only few people who can rival them. That doesn’t mean that these people aren’t skilled, it’s just less practice and real tournaments than our fighters have.

Q: Apart from ADFC, there’s also Top Fight MMA event, and the last time there were two fighters from Dubai Martial Arts Academy taking part in this event. Both of them, unfortunately, didn’t win. What were the reasons for that?

There are several reasons for that. First and foremost, our fighters are experts in punching, but when it comes to submission holds they don’t have enough skills, that’s why in latest Top Fight they were not as successful as their challengers. Second, there is no Weight-In for this event. Thus, our fighters had to compete with those who were in different weight category (5 to 6 kg more). However, it was still a good experience for fighters that showed us – both fighters and coaches – our flaws and things to improve.

Q: When it comes to fighters representing Dubai Martial Arts Academy and training in Generation eXtreme club, how many of them, in your opinion, can be considered as top-class sportsmen ready for professional events?

Well, I think that there’s no reason now to start counting them as it might take long time (laughing). I believe that there are more than five fighters ready for professional competitions, both muaythai and MMA. That is good enough as we are training youths that have all chances to become professionals in a short time.

Q: What can you say about the level of martial arts in the region? What is more popular and what’s easier for fighters? Which kind of martial arts is more interesting personally for you?

There is a lot of developments now happening in the sport field in the MENA region which is good. I’m sure that activities related to any kind of martial arts – kickboxing, boxing, muaythai, etc. – can be considered as one of dimensions meaningful for lots of people here. Personally, I’m more into mixed martial arts (MMA), because when I was performing myself I took part in many MMA events. However, it is one of the most complicated martial arts because you have to take into consideration lots of rules from different sport disciplines and take into consideration much more during the fight, otherwise you will not succeed. Therefore, in our club we are more concentrated on muaythai, because it can be the basis for further development in kickboxing, MMA, etc.

Q: Vladimir Burdun has announced that there’s Dubai Top Deam being created, which is the team of professional fighters that will represent Dubai on international level. Will that affect the development of muaythai and other kinds of martial arts in the region? Does any of local fighters have chances to be selected in the Team?

Definitely, that’s another big step in the developing process of muaythai and other martial arts in the MENA region. Dubai Top Team is unique as it will be comprised of A-class world champions from different parts of the world. They are real experts, and they will bring outstanding popularity to one of the best destinations in the world – Dubai. Furthermore, that will bring great opportunities for local fighters to improve their level in sports and defend national pride internationally as well. But I regret to say that today none of local fighters (UAE nationals) can be accepted to the Team – they don’t have enough practice in professional fights. That’s one of the problems we are trying to solve and as soon as we do, we’ll be proud to select UAE nationals to Dubai Top Team. By now we only have UAE National Team, which is amateur team with great potential, and again I would like to call all amateurs, especially UAE nationals, to join it!