Philadelphia, PA
Professional
fighter and new WKA North American Lightweight
Champion Rami Ibrahim describes his induction into the
martial arts world as a therapeutic and preventative
measure. “When my family came here [to the United
States], I was experiencing problems due to the war.
So they put me into martial arts to keep me out of
trouble and off the street.” Given Rami’s growth and
successful martial arts career both as a fighter and
gym owner, this was obviously an effective step, but
it wasn’t so smooth in the beginning: “I started out
in Tae Kwon Do, but I kept getting disqualified in
point sparring tournaments. There was no contact, and
I was too young to understand control.” Perhaps,
however, Rami was simply born to be a hard-hitter
given his later martial arts career. It was fortunate
that his instructor also had a Muay Thai program; Rami
tried it, and it fit.
From there, the only way to
go was up. At only twenty-seven years old, Rami has
now had over one hundred fights since he started
competing in 1992. His professional record is 29-7-2,
with 9 KOs. His last fight, the fight for the WKA
Lightweight North American Title, ended in TKO one
minute and forty-seven seconds into the fifth round
over Dutch fighter David Duyn. Rami’s next goal in the
ring is to become a professional world champion.
This
goal Rami intends to achieve with the help of his
family. He describes his older brother Mohammad as a
role model and a lifelong support. Mohammed was a
driving force in putting Rami into martial arts as a
child and has followed his fight career all along.
“He’s always there for me at all my fights; he’s
supported me from the beginning,” says Rami. In his
own gym, Sitan Gym Philadelphia, Rami also creates a
family. He discusses his starting gym, Sitan New York,
as being run as a family rather than a business under
trainer Aziz Nabih, and he has followed this example
at his own school. “Everyone fits in, whatever their
goal. The fighters and the students who just want to
get fit all get the same attention, and they are all
just expected to give their best.” Following the
example of his brother, Rami’s personal goal is to
help others in life: “I measure success by the people
I bless.”
This philosophy sometimes makes things difficult
for Rami, as both running a gym and fighting
professionally take tremendous amounts of time,
dedication, and energy. “I have to admit, I can’t
always train for a fight the way I should, and it’s
hard being so far away from my trainer, Aziz.”
However, Rami believes that the most important thing
isn’t what you have, but what you do with what you
have. Thus, he works his own training in around both
training his students and running his school and his
day job, teaching high school English, fitting his
cardio in early each morning and getting in his fight
training the last thing each night after he has
finished teaching.
Stylistically, Rami’s style of Muay Thai is
enhanced by his experience as a professional boxer. “A
lot of Thai guys, they’re strong in the clinch, they
have good low kicks, and all of that—but I add in
Western boxing so I come to the game with strong,
effective hands, too.”
Before he shoots for a pro
world title, Rami is making an exciting departure in
his fight career: this Saturday, April 3rd, he will
make his MMA debut on M-1 Global.
