Like many ONE Championship athletes, Hisyam “Zephyrus” Samsudin, 27, of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia has an inspiring story to share. Years ago, he was an overweight child.
“I was really fat before,” Samsudin revealed. He used to weigh 100 kilograms as an overweight child whose only exercise was getting up off the couch to use the bathroom.
“Eating was my hobby,” the Malaysian pugilist revealed. “When I was a kid, I was not very active. I was just at home being cozy and always eating. I was shy. I did not really talk to people.”
Samsudin’s fitness breakthrough finally came in 2009 when he commenced his college education at a local university in Kota Kinabalu. During his free time, he checked out the highly-regarded Borneo Tribal Squad, where he met head coach and fellow ONE Championship athlete and Malaysian fighter AJ “Pyro” Lias Mansor, 42.
Samsudin dedicated time and effort to his training, training twice a day with Mansor in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and wrestling. A few months later, the former started to see the result of his hard work, which won the commendation of his late father.
“I became stronger not only physically, but mentally,” Samsudin recalled. “My dad was so happy because he knew it was good for my health.”
Although Samsudin initially started learning martial arts for shedding excess weight, it led him to a continuous path of self-improvement. He said, “You should get physical strength by working out or practicing martial arts to protect yourself.”
“I don’t regret anything,” Samsudin declared. “Learning martial arts was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”
Samsudin ultimately earned both of his parents’ support although his father was a bit hesitant about his choice to compete professionally. The ONE Championship athlete said, “I guess it’s normal for parents to be worried because what we do is so physical.”
“After talking to them and explaining things, they understood,” Samsudin stated. “Also, they knew it started to become my passion. They ended up being my strong followers because of my persistence.”
Just one day before Samsudin’s second ONE Championship bout, his father passed away. In the post-fight interview inside the cage with Mitch Chilson, the Malaysian MMA fighter was very emotional as he dedicated his victory to his late father.
On March 24, 2018, Samsudin will have his third ONE Championship bout facing “The Terminator” Sunoto of Indonesia in Bangkok, Thailand at “ONE: Iron Will.” It will be headlined by ONE Featherweight and Lightweight World Champion Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen, 29, of Vietnam and ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes, 37, of Brazil.
CONAN Daily 