Aiemann Zahabi credits his recent win to finally being comfortable with simply being himself.
An undefeated fighter and the younger brother of Tristar Gym head coach Firas Zahabi, Aiemann Zahabi entered the UFC in 2017 with some hype. But the Canadian bantamweight had a tough time delivering on those expectations. After a successful debut, the younger Zahabi lost his next two bouts, respectively against Ricardo Ramos and Vince Morales. Zahabi believes the performances were the result of trying to prove something instead of fighting like himself.
“Being Firas’ brother and coming from Tristar and all that, there’s all these expectations for me to win by backflip spinning hook-kick or something crazy,” Zahabi said on The MMA Hour. “So I’ve always tried to do more than I could do. If I’m going to win the fight, then I must prove it to everyone — the Ramos fight was the perfect example. I feel like Round 1, I really tried forcing the wrestling and the grappling ,and it didn’t work out great, so then I took away the wrestling and grappling and Round 2, and I really picked him apart with my jab and my uppercut. And in Round 3, I was like, ‘He couldn’t hurt me the first two rounds, I’m just going to go and kill him.’ I threw caution to the wind, and I overdid it, and it cost me.
” Then, I fought Vince Morales and did the reverse. I was a shell of myself and I lost a decision. Drako [Rodriguez] was my first experience of tuning into myself. I just wanted to keep doing what I did and boom! I got him out.
The Rodriguez was a pivotal moment for Zahabi. This past Saturday, the Canadian bantamweight won a unanimous decision over The Ultimate Fighter 28 winner Ricky Turcios in a fight where Turcios landed just 27 strikes despite attempting over 200.
The performance of Turcios was extensively criticized by his fans. But Zahabi explained that because of the way he fought he left no options for his opponent.
” With Ricky, we tried the same [as against Rodriguez] thing but Ricky didn’t give us the old Ricky,” said he. “He didn’t come in with the barrage and the barnburner fight and the 1-1-2s, and the stepping in, and the takedowns non-stop. He was prepared to respond, as the more you throw, the more open you are, but I really hesitated. He didn’t seem to be open. …
“Great fight for me. He seemed like a fool to me. Defensively, I shut him out. He only landed like 10 percent of his strikes. I had him between a rock and a hard place. If he stepped in too much, I was going to crack him with an overhand, and every time he stepped out, I low kicked him. So he found himself in this in-between range, where he’s almost shadowboxing. Although he’s throwing kicks and punches, he can’t really get to me .”
This is Zahabi’s second consecutive win in the Octagon. With his winning streak, confidence and renewed energy, Tristar’s product wants to get back to work this fall and build on the turnaround.
“I’m going to do my homework during vacation,” he said. “Honestly, I was so focused on Ricky, and I really wanted to get two in a row in the UFC. It was something I had never done before and it feels great to have done that. I’m going to do my homework while I’m there, and I’m going to come back with a few names to give Firas and then we’ll reach out to [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby to see if something can work for October or November. It would be great.”
