Opponent's trash talk motivated Makwan Amirkhani to win, fast
Featherweight Makwan Amirkhani picked up his second first-round stoppage win in as many UFC fights on Saturday in Berlin, and he promised to use his winnings to take care of his family, just as he did after his first promotional win. "I will take good care of my family; they deserve that," Amirkhani told the press backstage at UFC Fight Night after his submission win over Macio Fullen.
"My mom, she always goes to get water from a small river (to grow vegetables). Now I can buy a pump so she can get free water from the river so she doesn't have to work that much."
Amirkhani and his family have gone through a great deal over the years. The Kurdish family was forced out of their homeland when he was just a child, during a war between Iraq and Iran.
His father died soon afterward. It was then up to the future fighter's mother to raise him and seven siblings on her own in their adopted home of Finland.
To prepare for this last fight, "Mr. Finland" relocated to Stockholm to train with the Allstars team. That meant sleeping inside the gym and lots of sacrifice for the young prospect.
Recounting it all, he became emotional and promised to give back. "Some young people, they don't understand (how hard it is) when your mom raises you all your life and you suddenly just disappear from the house and don't visit the family that much," he said.
"You don't know how much they have been doing work for you to be an adult. There has to always be something, somehow to say thank you to your parent, and this is my way to thank my mom."
On a day before Americans celebrated Father's Day, his remembering his father rang particularly poignantly. "I'm sorry my dad isn't here, but even more my mom because we are eight kids, and it's not easy to raise eight kids from in the middle of the war and come to Finland when you don't know a single word and you have eight kids with you," he said.
"Even this is not enough to describe how thankful I am to my mom."
Given his love for his family, you can imagine how upset Amirkhani was when he said he heard Fullen insult not just him, but also his family. "My opponent said something bad. Some bad words about my family. It actually bothers me because I have said some facts. I said that this would end in the first round. I kept saying that for a couple of months. I didn't say anything bad," he said.
"The fact is, he wasn't better than me, and that's what I wanted to say to everybody and deliver on my words. When I heard that he said those bad words I couldn't sleep well and I just went through everything (in his head) that I have been doing for this fight and I just promised myself that this would be a short fight."
Although at 26, Amirkhani is certainly just starting his career's journey, the man has come so far that he can appreciate the success he's already achieved.
"I have reached my goals and I have shown a lot of people there is time to work for your goals and your dreams and never give up," Amirkhani said.
"So my work in this life is done. Everything else is just bonus."
