Saiful 'The Vampire' Merican - The generous fighter

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Saiful 'The Vampire' Merican recently won his match against Cambodia’s Khim Dima in the flyweight category during the ONE Fighting Championship's (ONE FC) 'War Of Nation's at the Putra Stadium on March 14.

But what's interesting is, the 27 year-old Muay Thai practitoner with a good heart donated his winnings to his opponent who had lost his family home in Cambodia to a devastating fire.

According to Yahoo Singapore, the reason he donated his winning is because he felt grateful to his opponent for 'teaching' him and this is his way of repaying his opponent.

"The fight is a sport, your opponent is not your enemy. Your opponent is your teacher. After every fight, you learn your mistakes from your opponent. So I am thankful to all my opponents for that. This is my way to give back," said Saiful as he was quoted in Yahoo Singapore.

Saiful is also a strong believer of Karma, he said if one does good things to people the good things will return to you.

Besides that, he had already promised Khim that he would donate the prize money but didn't say anything before the fight as it was something he wanted to do quietly out of the public eye.

Saiful is also the co-owner of Merican Muay Thai Gym, a gym that he and his wife (who is also his manager), Dzianti Merican opened five years ago. According to Saiful, business is great as both he and his wife are passionate about martial arts. They will also open up a second branch, a much larger gym at Section 17 Petaling Jaya in May 2014.

So what makes this tough fighter have a heart so gentle? Why do we rarely see martial artsists pick up fights in the streets? Saiful has the answer, as Astro AWANI took up the opportunity to talk to this Terengganu-born Muay Thai veteran and find out why fighters like him have so much respect and humility inside them despite being fierce in the ring.

Astro AWANI: How did you come up with name ‘The Vampire’?

Saiful Merican: The name ‘The Vampire’ was given by a fan who suggested the name based on the way I fight. So he suggested me to use this name. And as a token of respect towards my fans, I chose to use this name.

AA: Did the name contributed to your spirit of fighting in the ring or cage?

Saiful: Well, it pretty much did added some spirit to my fights. After discussing with my manager-wife, so we thought that the name was unique, easy to remember and made people asking why I chose that name. We decided to use it.

AA: Talking about your background, you have been practicing Muay Thai since you were 12, and your idol is Samart Payakaroon. Tell me, why do you idolize him so much?

Saiful: I idolize him because he is great fighter who gets to fight fighters outside of Thailand including the USA, and he is one of the people who popularized Muay Thai in Thailand. He is also a legend and I was lucky to have had the chance to meet him two years ago in Bangkok. I have always dreamed of meeting him.

AA: Have you ever fought at the famous Lumpinee Boxing Stadium?

Saiful: Every Muay Thai fighter wants to fight there… it’s their dream. But it’s not easy when you have thousands of other fighters out there in the world who are striving on the same thing. But someday I will fight there because it’s one of my dream places to fight. Just that I don’t know when. (Laughs)

AA: Besides Samart, who else is your biggest inspiration?

Saiful: Well, other than Samart… I would say Buakaw Banchamek of Por Pramuk Gym. He is also one of the fighters who popularized Muay Thai and now he is the number one fighter that is being adored by fans who wanted to be like him.

AA: What about support from family? How is their support so far?

Saiful: Since I’ve been involved in tournament fights, my mother has always been the one worrying about me. Well, you know as a mother of course she doesn’t want to see her son get hurt… who does, right? Every time I go back to my hometown, she tells me to find another sport. But it’s not like I haven’t tried other sport, but I just don’t have the talent. My talent lies in Muay Thai and martial arts. Anyway, after 12 years of practicing Muay Thai, she’s now okay with it.

AA: Let’s talk about your transition from Muay Thai to MMA. During your first MMA fight, which was with Gianni Subba, Gianni won despite you having over 100 Muay Thai fights on your belt. Did you have difficulties moving from a full stand up style to ground game?

Saiful: Well, I’m not the type who likes to create excuses. At that time my mistake was, I was too brash and it was after my marriage. I had a month and a half to prepare for the fight. I was so used to standing up, but this time I had to add some ground game as well… so I lost. But that’s what kept me moving forward. If we lose, we look back and fix what went wrong by watching the videos and discussing about the fight. The next fight we become better and better. And I proved that by winning my second MMA fight which was against India’s Aditya Deshpande in ONE FC Super Fights during an event organized by the Malaysian Invasion Mixed Martial Arts Fighting Championship (MIMMA FC) last year.

AA: What made you want to venture into MMA?

Saiful: As a fighter, we have passion no matter if it’s Muay Thai or MMA, or any martial art. For me, I love to challenge myself to something more difficult and try new things. It’s basically the same thing just that we need to add some take downs and ground fights.

AA: How did you feel when you first got signed up by ONE FC?

Saiful: Happy, because ONE FC is Asia largest MMA organization and promotion. I was happy to be included in their family.

AA: How did you feel about representing Malaysia?

Saiful: I feel lucky and proud. But when we’re at the top, there are a lot of things that we must learn and do. The higher you are, the more challenges you will receive.

AA: How do you take care of your physical needs in preparation for the fight?

Saiful: In MMA, we need to cut a lot of weight. For me, as flyweight contender I need to cut 10 kilogrammes. I need to watch my diet, my food intakes which cannot include sugar, salt and oil. Of course as Asians our main dish is rice, but I have to eat grilled chicken without salt, and I have to eat lot of fruit and vegetables. It’s kind of stressing when you have to train six hours a day and you body doesn’t have enough sugar, so you tend to get cranky.

All these things are very challenging, but it’s my passion. Like they say, when there is a will there is a way. People who don’t want something will always find excuses, but if we want it, we will strive for it.

The preparation is tough… in the morning I have to do Muay Thai, and the evening I do wrestling or ground fighting or even strength conditioning. Sleep is very important, and you need at least eight hours of sleep or get tired easily.

AA: How do you see the importance of learning martial arts?

Saiful: Well, a lot of parents think that martial arts is violent. But it’s just like school… your trainer teaches you and at the same time advices you to do good things. Learning martial arts doesn’t necessarily mean you have to fight – some learn it to keep fit, and some learn it for self-defence. For example if you learn Muay Thai, you get two things – health and self-defence. Plus, you get a healthy body and even a six-pack ab. Like in the streets, if somebody wants to rob you, if you cannot fight at least you can defend yourself. Rarely there are cases where students pick up a fight outside the gym or ring. We also tell the students if they fight outside, they will be punished with 1000 push-ups or something like that.

In Muay Thai, the first thing you learn is respect. You learn to respect your teacher, your training partner and the people around you. This is because no matter how good you are there will always be someone better than you. In Thailand, they have a special dance called the ‘Wai Khru’. It’s a performance dance where you show respect to your trainer, audience and opponent. When you become a fighter, you don’t feel like picking up fights in the street as you only fight in the ring. You also don’t have any vengeance in you because you see it as a sport.

One more thing, do not become angry because once you’re angry you’ll only end up as punching bag – you tend to forget everything. That is why people who learn martial arts rarely pick up fights outside the ring.