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I saw there was a kind of a long interview about Makwan "Mr Finland" Amirkhani in a Finnish tabloid. I translated his words and thoughts to the best of my ability, keep in mind that it's monday morning and I'm working at the same time so I'm kind of half assing everything. Cheers!
----
It's a mind map.
Every UFC poster is a memory from the past. Those are the events Amirkhani fought in. This mind map is just and only about the present and the future. In the middle of it all it says "1st of July 2021 UFC Fight Night".
"I won't fight before this date." says Amirkhani.
He's not ready for it. A change is needed and that takes time. The whole six month plan is written down on the wall. "This all starts on the 1st of January. Until then I have time to think about how I'm going to actually do it. All this will be fitted in the calendar. There's a lot of things and if you leave something out you can't be in a 100% shape. Before I had none of this figured out in so much detail. We'll be looking at the next future champ in the octagon in six months time if I do all this right." Amirkhani boasts.
Amirkhani's Iranian kurdish family came over to Finland in 1993 as they were granted asylum. First they stayed in City of Vaasa, where Makwan started to train wrestling. Later on they moved to the City of Turku.
In 2012 Makwan was doing modelling gigs and took part in Mr. Finland competition where he came in 2nd place. Later on the "Mr. Finland" nickname became known to millions of Finns and sports fans around the world. Amirkhani has won six and lost three times in the world's premiere MMA promotion UFC. That's not enough for him, he wants to achieve a lot more - to win the UFC featherweight belt.
This wasn't always the case. Makwan admits to not taking his MMA career seriously, putting plenty of things ahead of it. There was too much temptations. "When I started to fight in MMA, I said I'll pocket some change from it. It went on like that for a long time. When I understood that I really could make history I thought that 'do I really want to be satisfied with what I have already done?'. Do I want to be the guy in the graveyard looking for God or do I want to have peace of mind for the rest of my life?" (the last sentence sounds like something google translate threw up, but that's apparently what he said. Sounds really weird even in finnish)
In his last fight Amirkhani faced the Brazilian Edson Barboza. The finnish star lasted through all three rounds, but lost the fight via unanimous decision. Something came up in the post fight check up as they took his blood. Results stopped him in his tracks. It wasn't a surprise, really, but how the facts were thrown at his face harder than anything inside the octagon.
A finnish doctor looked at the results and told him that it didn't look good. A bit later they took another sample and it looked a bit better. Makwan doesn't want to share what results he's talking about in detail. "I knew everything wasn't right all along. There's been so much in the past year, so much flying around for work, hundreds of interviews and TV stuff, new faces. Suddenly you realize how much advantage you have really given up to your opponents." Something had to be done.
"I had some vices in my life. I stopped them dead. These were some things that an athlete shouldn't be doing." According to Makwan, he wasn't in shape against Barboza - his toughest opponent ever. His life was a mess even if he was training with everything else going on in his life. "I had three sparring sessions before that fight." That's not much. "I was in the middle of moving out, relocating. I stayed here and there, I had some people around me that I needed gone. It was rough."
The decision was rough, too. Amirkhani had to get those people out of his life.
He swears that he'll do much better inside the octagon once he's in shape. That's exactly what he told his Abu Dhabi cornerman Leo. "I told Leo that if Edson can't knock out a guy taken aside from the queue to the bar, then let's see what happens next time when I've gotten my life together, my head and my body in right shape." He use the "wrong people" as an excuse, he admits that he's had problems with his motivation to train. He might have had a shishkebab in one of his favourite places a couple of weeks before the fight, his dieting could've been better.
He has got together a new team. His strength and conditioning coach is now Jesse Nykänen, a top finnish weightlifter. They're getting more muscle, strength and explosion out of him via training with bigger weights. His wrestling coaches will be Kalle Rantala and Marko Tuomela, the two guys that coached him since he started wrestling.
"These two have known me since I was a five year old kid. Now we are getting back to basics. New and modern isn't always the best choice." The biggest change is the gym that's being built just next door to his house. It's going to be made just for him. "I'll have everything there for me, anything from MMA training to weight lifting. Why wouldn't I do it when I have the funds to do it?"
Amirkhani has toured the world and trained at world famous gyms like the SBG in Dublin Ireland and the Allstars gym in Stockholm, Sweden. The gym and his team has changed often. Was that all planned out and was it smart? "Yes, it was. What I do I do from the heart. Many athletes are afraid of change. I'm not. You need to seek out new stimulus."
Amirkhani swings around in his chair and looks at his mind map wall. He's calm, relaxed and a bit tired from the days training. He tells that he's the happiest he's ever been. Everything is all right now.
The mind map is not training schedules, dieting plans and fighting. There's "peace of mind" section that has some everyday things like taking care of the household, cleaning up, family, his pet dog 'Kingi' and friends. "If I clean up my bedroom twice a week and change the sheets, I'll probably sleep better. A organized clean house is important to me. Now we aren't leaving any stone unturned for success. The coolest thing about this all is that this all was started by me, myself. Nobody came to me and told me to do these things. That's not even how it would work. You need to understand, to get it yourself."
There's plenty of plants in Amirkhani's room that he's been taking care of, they look green and vibrant. At home there's something sports playing on the TV, but usually it's just documents. Documents about animals, pyramids or maybe about Tutankhamon's tomb. "It feels like I'm really in peace now" Amirkhani says quietly while he leans back on his chair.
On the right side of the mind map it says "taking your mind off of things in a healthy way". It means going to the cabin in the woods. "If I need to get away from everything for a bit, that's where I go. I'll go fishing and to the sauna." Amirkhani likes it a lot when he gets a moment to be just by himself and his thoughts. He's spending the Finnish independence day at the cabin, too. "There you can really appreciate the fact that you have all this peace and quiet around you. Men and women have fought for this. I can really appreciate that I'm able to live here and that I've been given asylum here."
Amirkhani has faced and still hears the stuff about him not being a Finn. "The reality is that I am Kurdish, who represents Finland and is thankful for Finland. Even if I'm not fully finnish, my kids will be, for sure." His skin has became a lot thicker for these comments. "Maybe before they got to me, when I had more of a temper. I get to enjoy finnish independence anyway, just like every other finn enjoys it. These days I'm laughing at the haters. In 2017 I got to meet the president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö. It's nice when your dreams come true. Anyone can hate or say anything, but when I tell them I've had a coffee with the president Niinistö, that says it all."
Next time Amirkhani gets in the octagon he'll be once again carrying the flags of Finland and Kurdistan on his shoulders. "By then I want to be better in everything. Everything under the sky."
"Happy independence day to everyone. Best regards from Makwan Amirkhani."
--
CLIFFS:
- He's had a lot of distractions in his life up to this point
- He's making a lot of changes, a lot more dedication to his career in MMA that he really didn't have before
- New team, new gym in the city of Turku in Finland
- Dedication dedication dedication, no more distractions and endless partying with shit diet
- Wants to squeeze out everything from himself as an athlete and a fighter, doesn't want to look back and go "what if"
- Has grown up a lot, is more mature
- Feels at peace and has great plans for the next six months
- Will fight next at UFC Fight Night in July 2021
-
----
It's a mind map.
Every UFC poster is a memory from the past. Those are the events Amirkhani fought in. This mind map is just and only about the present and the future. In the middle of it all it says "1st of July 2021 UFC Fight Night".
"I won't fight before this date." says Amirkhani.
He's not ready for it. A change is needed and that takes time. The whole six month plan is written down on the wall. "This all starts on the 1st of January. Until then I have time to think about how I'm going to actually do it. All this will be fitted in the calendar. There's a lot of things and if you leave something out you can't be in a 100% shape. Before I had none of this figured out in so much detail. We'll be looking at the next future champ in the octagon in six months time if I do all this right." Amirkhani boasts.
Amirkhani's Iranian kurdish family came over to Finland in 1993 as they were granted asylum. First they stayed in City of Vaasa, where Makwan started to train wrestling. Later on they moved to the City of Turku.
In 2012 Makwan was doing modelling gigs and took part in Mr. Finland competition where he came in 2nd place. Later on the "Mr. Finland" nickname became known to millions of Finns and sports fans around the world. Amirkhani has won six and lost three times in the world's premiere MMA promotion UFC. That's not enough for him, he wants to achieve a lot more - to win the UFC featherweight belt.
This wasn't always the case. Makwan admits to not taking his MMA career seriously, putting plenty of things ahead of it. There was too much temptations. "When I started to fight in MMA, I said I'll pocket some change from it. It went on like that for a long time. When I understood that I really could make history I thought that 'do I really want to be satisfied with what I have already done?'. Do I want to be the guy in the graveyard looking for God or do I want to have peace of mind for the rest of my life?" (the last sentence sounds like something google translate threw up, but that's apparently what he said. Sounds really weird even in finnish)
In his last fight Amirkhani faced the Brazilian Edson Barboza. The finnish star lasted through all three rounds, but lost the fight via unanimous decision. Something came up in the post fight check up as they took his blood. Results stopped him in his tracks. It wasn't a surprise, really, but how the facts were thrown at his face harder than anything inside the octagon.
A finnish doctor looked at the results and told him that it didn't look good. A bit later they took another sample and it looked a bit better. Makwan doesn't want to share what results he's talking about in detail. "I knew everything wasn't right all along. There's been so much in the past year, so much flying around for work, hundreds of interviews and TV stuff, new faces. Suddenly you realize how much advantage you have really given up to your opponents." Something had to be done.
"I had some vices in my life. I stopped them dead. These were some things that an athlete shouldn't be doing." According to Makwan, he wasn't in shape against Barboza - his toughest opponent ever. His life was a mess even if he was training with everything else going on in his life. "I had three sparring sessions before that fight." That's not much. "I was in the middle of moving out, relocating. I stayed here and there, I had some people around me that I needed gone. It was rough."
The decision was rough, too. Amirkhani had to get those people out of his life.
He swears that he'll do much better inside the octagon once he's in shape. That's exactly what he told his Abu Dhabi cornerman Leo. "I told Leo that if Edson can't knock out a guy taken aside from the queue to the bar, then let's see what happens next time when I've gotten my life together, my head and my body in right shape." He use the "wrong people" as an excuse, he admits that he's had problems with his motivation to train. He might have had a shishkebab in one of his favourite places a couple of weeks before the fight, his dieting could've been better.
He has got together a new team. His strength and conditioning coach is now Jesse Nykänen, a top finnish weightlifter. They're getting more muscle, strength and explosion out of him via training with bigger weights. His wrestling coaches will be Kalle Rantala and Marko Tuomela, the two guys that coached him since he started wrestling.
"These two have known me since I was a five year old kid. Now we are getting back to basics. New and modern isn't always the best choice." The biggest change is the gym that's being built just next door to his house. It's going to be made just for him. "I'll have everything there for me, anything from MMA training to weight lifting. Why wouldn't I do it when I have the funds to do it?"
Amirkhani has toured the world and trained at world famous gyms like the SBG in Dublin Ireland and the Allstars gym in Stockholm, Sweden. The gym and his team has changed often. Was that all planned out and was it smart? "Yes, it was. What I do I do from the heart. Many athletes are afraid of change. I'm not. You need to seek out new stimulus."
Amirkhani swings around in his chair and looks at his mind map wall. He's calm, relaxed and a bit tired from the days training. He tells that he's the happiest he's ever been. Everything is all right now.
The mind map is not training schedules, dieting plans and fighting. There's "peace of mind" section that has some everyday things like taking care of the household, cleaning up, family, his pet dog 'Kingi' and friends. "If I clean up my bedroom twice a week and change the sheets, I'll probably sleep better. A organized clean house is important to me. Now we aren't leaving any stone unturned for success. The coolest thing about this all is that this all was started by me, myself. Nobody came to me and told me to do these things. That's not even how it would work. You need to understand, to get it yourself."
There's plenty of plants in Amirkhani's room that he's been taking care of, they look green and vibrant. At home there's something sports playing on the TV, but usually it's just documents. Documents about animals, pyramids or maybe about Tutankhamon's tomb. "It feels like I'm really in peace now" Amirkhani says quietly while he leans back on his chair.
On the right side of the mind map it says "taking your mind off of things in a healthy way". It means going to the cabin in the woods. "If I need to get away from everything for a bit, that's where I go. I'll go fishing and to the sauna." Amirkhani likes it a lot when he gets a moment to be just by himself and his thoughts. He's spending the Finnish independence day at the cabin, too. "There you can really appreciate the fact that you have all this peace and quiet around you. Men and women have fought for this. I can really appreciate that I'm able to live here and that I've been given asylum here."
Amirkhani has faced and still hears the stuff about him not being a Finn. "The reality is that I am Kurdish, who represents Finland and is thankful for Finland. Even if I'm not fully finnish, my kids will be, for sure." His skin has became a lot thicker for these comments. "Maybe before they got to me, when I had more of a temper. I get to enjoy finnish independence anyway, just like every other finn enjoys it. These days I'm laughing at the haters. In 2017 I got to meet the president of Finland, Sauli Niinistö. It's nice when your dreams come true. Anyone can hate or say anything, but when I tell them I've had a coffee with the president Niinistö, that says it all."
Next time Amirkhani gets in the octagon he'll be once again carrying the flags of Finland and Kurdistan on his shoulders. "By then I want to be better in everything. Everything under the sky."
"Happy independence day to everyone. Best regards from Makwan Amirkhani."
--
CLIFFS:
- He's had a lot of distractions in his life up to this point
- He's making a lot of changes, a lot more dedication to his career in MMA that he really didn't have before
- New team, new gym in the city of Turku in Finland
- Dedication dedication dedication, no more distractions and endless partying with shit diet
- Wants to squeeze out everything from himself as an athlete and a fighter, doesn't want to look back and go "what if"
- Has grown up a lot, is more mature
- Feels at peace and has great plans for the next six months
- Will fight next at UFC Fight Night in July 2021
-
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