Mohamed Khacha: Breaking Boundaries
Sometimes numbers only tell half of a fighter's story.
Take Mohamed Khacha (Pictures). The 23-year-old Frenchman has an average 7-4 record, yet he is one of the brightest young fighters at 170 pounds not only in Europe but perhaps in all of mixed martial arts.
Check out his highlight reel. You will see a heavy-handed kid with
great agility and good ground skills. You will see him press the
action whenever possible. And you will see plenty of fighting
spirit.
What you won't see is the story behind the man, which separates him from most fighters. You won't witness his résumé, which is filled with more experience than many men twice his age.
"The block where I grew up was a very strange place, and sometimes you needed to prove that you're a man -- so you brawled," Khacha recalls.
Marks of those difficult times can still be found on the chest of the young fighter. "If I hadn't taken up martial arts and met my coaches James and Samy Schiavo (Pictures)," he says, "I might as well not be alive anymore right now."
With the coolness and the composure that comes from training in martial arts, the then 16-year-old teenager found a new outlet for his rage.
Only one year later, at the tender age of 17, he made his MMA debut at the French Open and submitted Gerald Gay in the first round. At the same time he not only finished school, but he also took drama lessons.
"I loved the acting, putting yourself in somebody else's place," he says. "I did it for four years, but now that I train much more professionally, I unfortunately don't have the time anymore … but MMA is fun, too!"
The first three and a half years of his career went like clockwork. Due to his exciting fighting style and his big KO power, Khacha quickly won over fight fans in the U.K., where he was competing in what were then small shows like Cage Warriors and the U.K. Mixed Martial Arts Championship. The only drawback of those early years was a submission loss against Andy Cooper, an opponent twice his age with four times his experience.
With a 6-1 record, all six wins coming early, bigger shows started to take notice of "Sako." However, another submission loss to Shooto Pacific Rim champion Keita Nakamura (Pictures) in Japan was followed by a controversial stoppage against Swede Mattias Awad in Stockholm. Then an arm-triangle choke by Brazilian submission specialist Danilo Cherman (Pictures) at Show Fight 4 meant the third consecutive defeat for Khacha.
Some fighters break during such a long, hard haul, and others evaluate their weaknesses and come back stronger. Khacha, coming from the school of hard knocks that is the street, belongs in the second category.
"After those losses, I reevaluated what I wanted to do in life," he says. "I stopped seeing some bad people; I traveled a lot and opened my mind. I trained in many different gyms all around the world. That really brought me a lot -- not necessarily new techniques or skills but a new mindset."
Among the places Khacha trained was the Rio de Janeiro gym Black House, which is the home of such excellent fighters as UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures) and currently undefeated UFC light heavyweight contender Ryoto Machida (Pictures).
"I had been training at the Bushido Academie in Avignon since 1999 and I owe my trainers and friends James and Samy Schiavo (Pictures) a lot, but I really felt that I needed more and even better sparring partners to get to the very top," Khacha explains. "Black House has this excellent structure and an abundance of great fighters and trainers whom I could learn from all day long."
Nogueira and company discovered just how good the Frenchman already was during their first grappling session without the gi.
"The first time we rolled," Khacha says and grins to himself, "they all believed that I was a purple or even a brown belt. When I told them that I had never done Brazilian jiu-jitsu before, they were very surprised and didn't believe me."
Brazilian super-agent Jorge Guimaraes figured they could see how much Khacha had learned by putting him in a fight. At that time in August 2007, Fury FC had scheduled the opening round of its middleweight grand prix, and the promoter was still looking for a "gringo" to battle in the show's main event.
Enter Mohamed Khacha (Pictures). His opponent was Fabricio Monteiro (Pictures), a member of Gracie Barra Combat Team and a jiu-jitsu black belt. A veteran of such shows as Meca Vale Tudo and Jungle Fight, Monteiro had just suffered his first defeat in six fights against Satoru Kitaoka (Pictures), losing out on an opportunity to snatch the final spot for the PRIDE Lightweight Grand Prix that never happened.
Understandably, Monteiro was not happy going into the fight. Khacha, however, didn't care.
The Frenchman took it to the much more experienced local hero, beating him down in a brutal fight. After plenty of Khacha's "Gorilla ground-and-pound," the referee rescued the hapless Brazilian. Khacha had just won the first fight he really wasn't supposed to win at this stage of his career.
Praise followed, and opportunity. WEC matchmaker Scott Adams immediately offered him a spot on the promotion's next show in September. Unfortunately for Khacha, he had badly hurt his knee against Monteiro and had to turn down the invitation.
Yet, on a better note, before he boarded his plane home to France, Black House head coach and former Brazilian Top Team founding member Carlos Barreto promoted Khacha to blue belt.
So now what is next for the potential future star?
"My dream is to become a world champion, and I want to live off fighting MMA," Khacha says. "I think that my future will be to fight in the USA, although I'm a little afraid that I will have a hard time with the fans due to my race and my religion. In my view of life, you can be Algerian, Muslim and still be a good person. I want to show the world that talent has no racial or national boundaries."
It's a lofty goal, but ask the fans in the U.K., in Brazil, in France.
Khacha has already showed them.
Take Mohamed Khacha (Pictures). The 23-year-old Frenchman has an average 7-4 record, yet he is one of the brightest young fighters at 170 pounds not only in Europe but perhaps in all of mixed martial arts.
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What you won't see is the story behind the man, which separates him from most fighters. You won't witness his résumé, which is filled with more experience than many men twice his age.
We go back to the early ‘90s: Khacha, the son of Algerian
immigrants, has entered primary school in Avignon, a city in the
south of France with a population of 90,000. Growing up there is
not easy.
"The block where I grew up was a very strange place, and sometimes you needed to prove that you're a man -- so you brawled," Khacha recalls.
Marks of those difficult times can still be found on the chest of the young fighter. "If I hadn't taken up martial arts and met my coaches James and Samy Schiavo (Pictures)," he says, "I might as well not be alive anymore right now."
With the coolness and the composure that comes from training in martial arts, the then 16-year-old teenager found a new outlet for his rage.
Only one year later, at the tender age of 17, he made his MMA debut at the French Open and submitted Gerald Gay in the first round. At the same time he not only finished school, but he also took drama lessons.
"I loved the acting, putting yourself in somebody else's place," he says. "I did it for four years, but now that I train much more professionally, I unfortunately don't have the time anymore … but MMA is fun, too!"
The first three and a half years of his career went like clockwork. Due to his exciting fighting style and his big KO power, Khacha quickly won over fight fans in the U.K., where he was competing in what were then small shows like Cage Warriors and the U.K. Mixed Martial Arts Championship. The only drawback of those early years was a submission loss against Andy Cooper, an opponent twice his age with four times his experience.
With a 6-1 record, all six wins coming early, bigger shows started to take notice of "Sako." However, another submission loss to Shooto Pacific Rim champion Keita Nakamura (Pictures) in Japan was followed by a controversial stoppage against Swede Mattias Awad in Stockholm. Then an arm-triangle choke by Brazilian submission specialist Danilo Cherman (Pictures) at Show Fight 4 meant the third consecutive defeat for Khacha.
Some fighters break during such a long, hard haul, and others evaluate their weaknesses and come back stronger. Khacha, coming from the school of hard knocks that is the street, belongs in the second category.
"After those losses, I reevaluated what I wanted to do in life," he says. "I stopped seeing some bad people; I traveled a lot and opened my mind. I trained in many different gyms all around the world. That really brought me a lot -- not necessarily new techniques or skills but a new mindset."
Among the places Khacha trained was the Rio de Janeiro gym Black House, which is the home of such excellent fighters as UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures) and currently undefeated UFC light heavyweight contender Ryoto Machida (Pictures).
"I had been training at the Bushido Academie in Avignon since 1999 and I owe my trainers and friends James and Samy Schiavo (Pictures) a lot, but I really felt that I needed more and even better sparring partners to get to the very top," Khacha explains. "Black House has this excellent structure and an abundance of great fighters and trainers whom I could learn from all day long."
Nogueira and company discovered just how good the Frenchman already was during their first grappling session without the gi.
"The first time we rolled," Khacha says and grins to himself, "they all believed that I was a purple or even a brown belt. When I told them that I had never done Brazilian jiu-jitsu before, they were very surprised and didn't believe me."
Brazilian super-agent Jorge Guimaraes figured they could see how much Khacha had learned by putting him in a fight. At that time in August 2007, Fury FC had scheduled the opening round of its middleweight grand prix, and the promoter was still looking for a "gringo" to battle in the show's main event.
Enter Mohamed Khacha (Pictures). His opponent was Fabricio Monteiro (Pictures), a member of Gracie Barra Combat Team and a jiu-jitsu black belt. A veteran of such shows as Meca Vale Tudo and Jungle Fight, Monteiro had just suffered his first defeat in six fights against Satoru Kitaoka (Pictures), losing out on an opportunity to snatch the final spot for the PRIDE Lightweight Grand Prix that never happened.
Understandably, Monteiro was not happy going into the fight. Khacha, however, didn't care.
The Frenchman took it to the much more experienced local hero, beating him down in a brutal fight. After plenty of Khacha's "Gorilla ground-and-pound," the referee rescued the hapless Brazilian. Khacha had just won the first fight he really wasn't supposed to win at this stage of his career.
Praise followed, and opportunity. WEC matchmaker Scott Adams immediately offered him a spot on the promotion's next show in September. Unfortunately for Khacha, he had badly hurt his knee against Monteiro and had to turn down the invitation.
Yet, on a better note, before he boarded his plane home to France, Black House head coach and former Brazilian Top Team founding member Carlos Barreto promoted Khacha to blue belt.
So now what is next for the potential future star?
"My dream is to become a world champion, and I want to live off fighting MMA," Khacha says. "I think that my future will be to fight in the USA, although I'm a little afraid that I will have a hard time with the fans due to my race and my religion. In my view of life, you can be Algerian, Muslim and still be a good person. I want to show the world that talent has no racial or national boundaries."
It's a lofty goal, but ask the fans in the U.K., in Brazil, in France.
Khacha has already showed them.
